I have a bit of a thing for birds. Â It’s taken me a while to learn the ones that frequent my back yard, but I’ve made good if not perfect progress. Â I love to hear them when I wake up in the morning.
I watercolored this fellow using my Aquapainter and watercolor paper. Â He doesn’t look like any bird I’ve seen, he just makes me happy the way he is.
The Greetings Thinlit has sold out but last time I checked the rest of these beautiful supplies were available. Â You can shop HERE.
The soft tones in this month’s calendar welcome May to my kitchen counter:
I gave my blender pens another chance and loved the soft tones I was able to achieve. The images are smaller – just right to practice. And I’m in love with this curious little wheelbarrow!
Take a look at the calendars that Cheryl and Crystal have created this month.
I designed this card to be a multi-application “Congratulations” that I can keep in my stash for that last-minute card occasion. Â The colors are neutral but sparkly, making it celebratory for either gender.
You might be noticing a trend. Â I’ve been working towards making cards that are flat enough to mail without extra postage. Â I want to SEND them, not admire them! Â I’ve found that elements raised with Stampin’ Dimensionals fare best when an extra piece of card stock is placed over the front of the card in the envelope.
So make a card – and send it!
Shop HERE.
This sweet face is on the list of stamps to retire on May 31st. Â I’ll be keeping Kind Koala in my permanent collection:
For the most satisfying results, you really need to use Watercolor paper with the Aquapainter to color a larger image like the Koala.  Watercolor paper allows you to move the color around, to add and even subtract color.  I find I can get acceptable results on Whisper White if I’m working with small images, but if you work the color too much the finish of the paper will start to get rough.  The Watercolor paper is much more forgiving.
I used a yellow Sharpie to color the White Perfect Accent. Â It did the job, but the more I look at it the more I think it needs to be a different color. Â Or perhaps it just needs to be another COLOUR. Â That may be my problem right there.
Bring this sweet little face into your life right HERE.
Wreaths are an all-season trend and we have beautiful stamps and framelits to create them. Â However, you can make an infinitely customizable wreath with your stamps and a simple circle mask:
This very simple card could be recreated in any color palette using nearly any flower stamp set.  It could even be done with leaves, or shells, or whatever you can imagine.
I cut a circle in the center of a piece of card stock with a Circles Framelit.  I taped my card front down with some washi tape and then taped the circle mask over it, positioning the circle in the center of the card front.  From there, I played with the images until I found a balance that pleased me.  A helpful hint:  press firmly at the edge of the mask to get into the edge of the circle.
I made a few different arrangements until I was happy, so you might consider playing with this on some scrap paper until you get the results you want.
The What I Love stamp set is already retired as a 2016 Sale-a-bration selection, but you can see that many of the other products I’ve used are also retiring. Â If there’s a retiring product you love, I suggest you shop now as these things often sell out before the end of the catalog. Â Shop the Retiring List HERE. Â A PDF that you can print is available HERE.
Wonder no longer – the Stampin’ Up! 2015-2016 Retiring List has posted!
There are some great deals available, and a number of favorite products are leaving to make room for new things.  Take a look HERE and shop now.  Supplies are limited and items on this list often sell out quickly.
Click HERE if you prefer a PDF listing that you can highlight, annotate, and study.
And don’t forget that the last of the Weekly Deals end tonight at 7:50pm HST.
I’ve had a sneak peek at the new catalog, and you just might want to take advantage of some of these (framelit) deals!! Â {wink wink}
Want to see the catalog before everyone else? Â There’s only one way: Â Become a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator! Â Check HERE for more details.
Aloha and welcome to the Valley Isle, where we don’t celebrate Spring as much as we celebrate whale season, mango season, lychee season and tourist season! Â I know some of the stops on this RemARKable Spring tour have taken you to places still waiting for the sun, but here on Maui you can throw off your jacket and glide into your rubbah slippahs.
The markings on the Stampin’ Trimmer make it very easy to cut away the top panel. Â I trimmed off 2 1/8″ to create the gate effect.
The wreath is colored quickly and simply with Blender Pens. Â With this much detail, I like the ability to work with a fine tip but still have control over color saturation. Â The Blender Pen allows more color variety than a Stampin’ Write marker.
If you know me, I’ll bet you guessed this was coming! Â This is my favorite combination and it’s hard for me to pass up an opportunity to showcase how well these colors play together.
In addition to Whisper White, Crumb Cake and Wild Wasabi, I’ve used Soft Sky, Island Indigo and Daffodil Delight. Â I often choose Pool Party in a case like this, but I liked the more subtle shade of Soft Sky this time.
The slats for the fence are made by using the Hardwood background stamp and cutting them with the Stampn’ Trimmer right along the board lines in the image.  They end up being about 3/8″ wide, and I take one board and slice it in half for the cross bars.  I tuck the end of the slat into the back of the Triple Banner punch to get a perfect peak.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these cards. Â Time to head over to see what Heather Mathieson has done for this month’s RemARKable Spring Blog Tour.
Anne Matasci – YOU ARE HERE!
Drum roll…Final Weekly Deals are revealed! Â Framelits, punches, markers and embellishments!
While Supplies Last! Â Shop HERE.
My favorite combination appears to be your favorite as well! Â Thank you for your generous comments about what I’ve come to call the Flowering Fields Tile card. Â I continue exploring new color combinations with this design.
This version is Soft Sky with Pool Party. Â One of the things Stampin’ Up! does well is create tonal pairings in their color spectrum. Â I’ve stayed with Very Vanilla card stock and Sahara Sand ink and paper as my foundation. Â The Flowering Fields images can be used singly or in repetition, and I don’t copy from card to card, so each one is slightly different from the rest.
If you don’t enjoy coloring, this isn’t the card to make. Â I like to color, and because the tiles are small (1 3/8″ x 1 1/8″) if one tile doesn’t please me, I throw it out and start another. Â It’s only paper.
This version is Calypso Coral and Blushing Bride. Â I miss Crisp Cantaloupe, the retired In Color from last year. Â It was an ideal pairing with Calypso Coral, but I try to keep my published work current. Â It’s bad enough that I’m still featuring this retired Sale-a-bration stamp set!
My greens are Pear Pizazz and Old Olive, and the sentiment and Flowering Fields images are stamped in Soft Suede. Â The Timeless Textures backgrounds are stamped in Sahara Sand using the stamping off technique.
You might not notice it unless you were really studying the card, but I have a slight obsession with trying to get the floral images AND the backgrounds balanced. Â It involves a lot of muttering and staring and shifting, and I have no one to blame but myself.
It’s time to move on to current stamp sets, but I wanted to share this last group of cards to demonstrate the impact of color. Â Enjoy the creative process, and thanks again for your kind words.
The news this week is that Weekly Deals are leaving the lineup on April 18th. Â We’ll have Deals this week and next and that will be the end. Â Stampin’ Up! decided to go out with a bang, so click HERE to shop these goodies. Â Finalize your order before 7:50pm HST on Monday April 11th to take advantage of this penultimate (I’ve always wanted to use that word in a blog post!) DEAL.
The other big news out this week is that the Retiring Products list for the 2015-2016 catalog will post on Monday, April 18th. Â I GUARANTEE the 2014-2016 In Color Ink Refills will be FLYING out the door. Â Grab a couple of the Deals for this week and add the 14-16 In Color refills, ink pads, card stock, DSP, trim, and embellishments to your order before they are published on the list. Â They will be there!! Â Don’t be disappointed. Â Shop 14-16 In Color HERE.
What stamps do you think will retire this year?
The Maui Stamper 