Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time.  Katrina Mayer
I am so thankful that Stampin’ Up! has given us another set of tree stamps. I was really disappointed when Branch Out was retired, but I’m delighted with Sheltering Tree.
So many trees to stamp!
If you’ll be on Maui with a little time this Saturday afternoon, come make cards with us! All cards will feature the Sheltering Tree stamp set – 5 cards, $10. You can’t beat that price! Message me for details.
These sweet blossoms just begged to be colored in pinks:
There is sad news regarding Blendabilities. Stampin’ Up! has made the difficult decision to withdraw ALL Blendabilities. Period. Because of quality concerns that cannot be overcome, they have been discontinued. While this is a super-frustrating problem for anyone who has gotten their hands on this great product, it’s also super-frustrating to receive items that do not perform to the high expectations we all have for Stampin’ Up! products.
I’m sharing this close-up image so that you can see that there is a lot of flexibility in the way you shade. I have never had formal art training, and anyone who has is likely exclaiming “Yeah, I see that!” However, with just a little practice, I found I was able to produce results that I found very satisfying.
The moral of this story? Have fun, try something new, and enjoy the process! And stay tuned…I’ll be giving this same image a try with an aquapainter and sharing the results.
I finally broke out the Butterfly Basics bundle:
The bad news is that the Butterflies Thinlets are currently unavailable. It’s a serious challenge, but it’s one that is outside of Stampin’ Up!’s ability to control – the problem is due to shipping problems through the West Coast ports. I’m taking names and details now of anyone who would like this product so that as soon as it is available I can place an order.
Just a few construction details…
I cut the butterfly in Shimmer White paper, then used the negative template to draw an outline on a piece of vellum. I hand-trimmed the shape – can’t call it fussy cut because it wasn’t very fussy as the edges are hidden behind the die cut. I carefully adhered it with Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive). Use a very light touch with the Tombo. A few well-placed Stampin’ Dimensionals hold the butterfly above the ferns.
I struggled with the details but ultimately decided that for once, less could be more. I hope you enjoy! And please let me know if you’d like to be on my Priority List for the Butterfly Basics Bundle!
Perfect Pennants is another catalog sleeper – full of great sentiments!
The Adventure Bound DSP stack is full of gorgeous outdoor papers. They’re well suited to many circumstances but are especially useful in making Manly Cards.
And a staple is sort of tool-like, right?
I’ve seen it, you’ve seen it, we’ve all seen it – but I still had to make it:
This card is so much fun to make! It’s all over Pinterest, and I’ve seen the design credited to so many different people that I can’t trace it back to one person – and I’ve tried. If this was your concept before the rest of the universe claimed it, YOU ROCK!
I chose the Host set Hello Love for this version, as my Hostess Club requested Valentines this month.
The sentiment on the inside is from the January My Paper Pumpkin subscription kit. Purchase a 3 month subscription during Sale-a-bration and save! Current Paper Pumpkin subscribers can purchase any of the available past kits or past kit refills (first comes with stamps, second does not).
This is the version that started the stampede. From the Herd was my first choice stamp set from the Occasions 2015 catalog and it is perfect for this card. We all had a pretty good laugh over the faces on these critters. I had to resist the urge to color in a face – any face. It wouldn’t be true to the concept. But i wanted to do it.
I mean, what’s not to love?
If you want to make this card just as you see it, you’ll need From the Herd and Teeny Tiny Wishes (for Happy Valentines’ Day). You’ll need Real Red, Sahara Sand, Shimmer White, Whisper White and Vellum cardstock. This card also uses the Big Shot and the Project Life Cards and Labels Framelits, a 1″ circle punch, and the Project Life Corner Rounder. The only ink you’ll use will be Memento Black.
Look through your stash and pull out your line art stamps. I’ll bet you have one that’s just perfect for this card!
Imagine me and you, I do, I think about you day and night, it’s only right,
to think about the boy you love, and hold him tight, so happy together…
Do you remember that song? If you can hum along with me, then you must also be looking forward to an epic high school reunion this summer! The Turtles.
The best part is that it goes on:
…if I should call you up, invest a dime…
This only makes sense if you can remember pay phones, and if you are able to remember when it was only 10 cents (for 3 minutes!) then I’ll see you at that reunion.
Happy Valentines’ Day!
Welcome to the February Sale-a-bration RemARKable Blog Tour! I know Valentines Day is nearly here, but I have something different in mind for you. My theme today is:
“If life give you lemons, make…a card!”
Introducing “A Happy Thing”!
With a $50 US product purchase, this stamp set is yours for free in either wood (#139131) or clear (#139134).
I used the Daffodil Delight and Old Olive Blendabilities to color this image, and enjoyed the differences in each lemon – just the way you would find them in nature!
Perhaps you haven’t purchased those Blendabilities yet – no worries. Stamp the lemon on any of our yellow toned cardstock – this is Crushed Curry. This card is intentionally minimalist, as I often find myself short on cards for men. No ribbons here!
Trim it and adhere it over the base lemon with Stampin’ Dimensionals. There’s a little highlight on the Crushed Curry cardstock done with our Chalk Marker.
The entire image – leaves plus lemon – is a little fussier to cut but it won’t ruin your day if you choose to go that route. A few gold sequins from the sequin trim and some stamped dots create a little Bokeh effect.
Three cards, three different sentiments, one color palette and one gorgeous lemon. Almost as refreshing as hand-squeezed lemonade – enjoy the rest of the tour!
Nancy Amato – http://stampinallnight.blogspot.com/2015/02/remarkable-stampers-blog-tour-sale.html
Melissa Bolinger – http://creativeblessingsbymissy.blogspot.com/2015/02/remarkable-blog-tour-sale-bration.html
Tamra Davis – http://www.theCardLadies.com/remarkable-blog-tour-sale-a-bration-sponging-fun/
Connie Diebler – http://www.conniestamps.com/2015/02/its-sale-a-bration-time.html
Becky Jensen – ttp://www.stampthat.com/blog/sale-a-bration-blog-tour-2015/
Anne Matasci – http://wp.me/pCcBw-1Nq  YOU’RE HERE
Audra Monk – http://thecraftyyogi.blogspot.com/2015/02/sale-bration-blog-hop-its-remarkable.html
Maria Pane – http://stampinandscrappinwithriri.blogspot.com/2015/02/remarkable-stampers-blog-tour-its.html
Andi Potler – http://www.absolutekreations.com/2015/02/12/remarkable-stampers-blog-tour-sale-a-bration
Michele Reynolds – http://inspirationink.typepad.com/inspiration-ink/2015/02/sale-a-bration-blog-tour.html
Pam Staples – http://wp.me/p3p2VA-Tz
Janet Wakeland – http://wp.me/pHIQD-789
One can never have enough birthday cards!
I LOVE coloring with Blendabilities. I’m sure I wouldn’t be the star pupil in art class, but I don’t really care – I enjoy the process and the end result!
In my family, no one needs to be told to do this. I think it’s kind of hilarious.
Do you have a birthday soon? Celebrate with cake!!
I like your face…You know the friend for whom that expression is meant.
I guess I’m a pretty lucky girl, because there were two friends that came to mind IMMEDIATELY when I saw that stamp, and naturally I had to make two cards.
I used the narrow end of the Blendabilities to color in random squares.
Same card, different layout. The Polka Dot TIEF circles are 3/4″ circles, so you can punch a template in a scrap and place it over the embossed circle so that you can add color with a dauber.
I hand-wrote the “Hey Chick” part. I mean, honestly. What else could I say?
Speaking of liking faces, I had the tremendous pleasure of meeting one of my blog readers. Annette and her husband have been regular Maui visitors for a number of years, and she contacted me late last year to say she would be here. We had breakfast and talked long enough that our server hinted broadly that they needed our table 🙂 We weren’t done, so we took a long walk up and down South Kihei Road. Thanks so much, Annette, for sharing your holiday with me!
I’m kinda smitten with all these Stampin’ Up! Critters!
Crystal and I stamped together last week in her new studio. She’s gonna kill me for this…
She’s been stamping in her garage since the arrival of The Littles (her twins) last April. (They came a month early, and she was supposed to be off that month, and We Had Plans for that time. Oh well. I digress.) We had a great set-up out in the garage, but it was chilly by Maui standards and we had to bundle up.
But back to the Critters – we were cracking up over the images and the sentiments. She kept saying “I LIKE YOUR FACE” in one of those all-caps kind of voices. It’s not a sentiment you’d send to your great-aunt, unless you are very fortunate to have That Sort of great-aunt.
I used a Stampin’ Write marker on just the words from the You Plus Me set. Can’t you just see this little guy standing on the side of the road holding this sign? I am truly smitten.
Be sure and stop back on Monday. I’ve been invited to be part of a Creative Blog hop, and in addition to sharing a project I’ll be sharing a little about how and why I craft. I was invited by the talented Lisa Young, who is absolutely one of the dearest, sweetest people you could ever hope to meet. See you on Monday!
The Maui Stamper 