Category Archives: Tips and Techniques

Watercolor Backgrounds on Blocks

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You know how some techniques look simple but just don’t turn out right? I’ve always felt that way about the watercolor background. I watch the videos, I study the instructions, and STILL…

If you’re anything like me, you will LOVE this technique (sorry, the Mister and I are still staying at home and I find myself shouting quite a bit when I have the chance to talk to someone else). Anyway…I started using blocks to apply color to paper and discovered to my delight that I could make it work!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Acrylic Block Watercolor Technique Love of Leaves
  • Stamps: Love of Leaves
  • Color Palette: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Cinnamon Cider, Sahara Sand
  • Accessories: H Acrylic block, Stampin’ Spritzer, Linen Thread, Stampin’ Write markers

The technique is just about fail-proof. Choose your colors, scribble on an acrylic block, spritz with water and stamp. Voila! If you add color to the block while it’s on a piece of white paper, it’s easy to see where you’ve added color and where the block is blank.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Acrylic Block Watercolor Technique Love of Leaves

You can see that I created pretty regular color patches. I’ve since experimented a little more (stay tuned!) and found larger, less regular patches and more water give more “watercolored” results. I thought the way this one turned out was interesting as it reminded me of granite. Do you see that, or am I imagining things? (This would not be the first time.)

The font used in this set is something a little different for Stampin’ Up! and it reminds me of a printing style I used when I was in school. This particular sentiment is one I will use over and over. In fact, it may be my theme song for 2020.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Acrylic Block Watercolor Technique Love of Leaves

There are coordinating dies for this set but I chose to keep it super simple and stamp that leaf – maybe a Hawthorne? – directly on the card. I can’t remember the last time I made a one-layer card.

Could you please help me with something? In the past I’ve added a direct link to the store for every product I’ve used. It takes a little extra time, and I’m wondering if I should continue investing my time that way. If you use those links, I’d love your feedback. And if you don’t, well, you can tell me that, too!

In the meantime, you can shop my beautiful, new, easier-to-navigate Online Store here.

Technique Tuesday: Split Card

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You’ve probably seen it – stamp once, split the results, and BOOM! two cards. It’s been on my list of things to try, and today I can share the happy results.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Beautiful Friendship Split Card Technique

This is an easy technique. In order to make your double card front, you start with a half sheet of card stock, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. I use a pencil to make a light mark at the 4 1/4 inch point along the top and bottom of the paper. (If you have eagle eyes, you can just see it in this image.) Then just stamp down the middle…

Just like that! You might notice a couple of things: I used two different accent leaves in different colors from left to right, and I smudged on the right. Smudges are not always an insurmountable problem! It depends on the location of the smudge, and this one was easy to cover

The next step is to cut your half sheet of card stock into quarters. This yields two pieces, 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches – the perfect size to create a card front!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Beautiful Friendship Split Card Technique

I love this gold trim – just tie a knot where you want it to stop fraying. It frays all by itself, such a time saver!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Beautiful Friendship Split Card Technique

This side of the split panel uses Gray Granite ink instead of Cinnamon Cider, so my accessories and accents use that color. The ribbon is retired, and I’m sorry, but I have been waiting since Moses signed up to be a demonstrator for my 1/4 inch Gray Granite shimmer ribbon!! This was in the archives and I dragged it out for this card. I used the Layering Ovals dies for the sentiment on this card.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Beautiful Friendship Split Card Technique

Adding a little extra color to the sentiment panel helps to tie it together with the rest of the card.

Ready to make your own? Grab some stamps, ink and a half sheet of card stock and have some fun. I used some sticky notes to mask my images, creating a sense of depth, but do whatever it is that makes you happy. Try monochromatic color schemes as I used here, or go big and bold with bright colors. Flowers are a great way to start, but other images will work too. Just a note: I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory card using images of people or animals. They look odd cut in half, and inevitably one side gets stuck with a “back side”.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Bonus Days Promotion July 2020

Just 10 more days to earn Bonus Days Bucks! Beautiful Friendship is one of my all-time favorite stamp sets for the lushness of the images and the many different types of cards they allow you to create. Shop HERE.

Cutting and Pasting: Scrappy Strip Technique

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These cards have been everywhere – I’ll bet you’ve seen them too. Kylie and Bruno Bertucci in Australia popularized this technique they call #ScrappyStripTechnique and created a video to show how it’s done. It’s just as easy as they say!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Scrappy Strip Technique Paper Piercing
Maui Stamper Stampin Up Scrappy Strip Technique Paper Piercing

Once I got started, it was hard to stop! I had a desk full of strips cut every which way and spent a delightful afternoon arranging, adhering, and adding sentiments to my cards. (The sentiment and dies are from the So Sentimental Bundle.)

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Scrappy Strip Technique Paper Piercing

I think this one is my favorite. I used all neutrals with a few Bermuda Bay strips added in for contrast and no DSP. It would be a great masculine card, but I think it works for anyone. I love the way the neutrals are so, well, you know, neutral.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Scrappy Strip Technique Paper Piercing

This one is based on the Lily Impressions DSP offered as a SAB 2020 choice (and no longer available, I’m sorry!) This was one of the first cards I did and it has a decidedly chaotic feeling.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Scrappy Strip Technique Paper Piercing

The fun thing is that this is the reverses side of the above DSP. Even though some of the colors are repeated, the feeling of the design is completely different.

Honestly, I could go on and on (actually, I did!) I hope you’ll pull out some scraps and your paper trimmer and have some fun. The video gives great instructions so I’m not going too replicate the Bertucci’s fabulous effort – just cut up some paper and get started with cut and paste!

LAST CHANCE products are available WHILE SUPPLIES LAST or through June 2, 2020, whichever comes first. Don’t miss out.

If you happen to be flat out of paper (SERIOUSLY? Is that possible?) or perhaps if you’ve used the last of your Multipurpose Glue, I’d be delighted if you chose to shop HERE.

Triangle Fun Fold Swaps

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I made a big stack of cards to swap at an event…that has been deferred. This was to have taken place a couple of weeks ago, and I was so discouraged that I set the entire project aside for a while, but they’re done now – and I’m quite happy with them, if I do say so myself:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

This is an exceptionally easy fun fold to do, especially with our paper trimmer. Score a sheet of 8 1/2″ x 11″ card stock both horizontally and vertically. Place it diagonally along the cutting edge of your trimmer, making certain that you’ve centered the top and bottom corners. (The “X” in the center of the scored lines should be along the cutting line of the trimmer as well.) Cut your card stock diagonally – the trimmer cutting edge isn’t quite long enough to make it to the ends, but if you slide the cut piece of card stock out of the trimmer, you can finish it up with your snips – it’s less than 1″ on either side.

Cut your DSP into 4″ x 5 1/4″ rectangles, and cut them diagonally as well. One design goes on one triangular panel, the other design goes on the other. A focal point/shaped image attached to one panel finishes the card and helps to keep it closed at the same time.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

Here’s what it looks like with one panel open. And here it is with the other panel open:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

I used the Stamparatus to mass-produce those white die cut sentiment panels. It’s MUCH easier to cut them without the sentiment – you don’t have to position the die so precisely, and if it wiggles a little before it goes through the die cutting machine it’s NBD (No Big Deal). If you use the lighter weight Whisper White card stock, you can even cut two at a time!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

Now you have a stack of die cut panels ready to be stamped.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

Create a template by cutting your die cut out of the center of a good sized piece of card stock. Place your mass-produced die cut blank in the center of that template.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

Align the clean sentiment stamp you have chosen on top of the positioned die cut and close your plate, picking up the stamp.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

Add ink to your stamp, press the plate, and lift. Perfect placement every time – and you can do a stack of these in a hurry!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

Since this design was being mass produced for a swap, I used two different DSP combinations to finish them. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I oriented the card stock on the opposite diagonal between the batches, so they open differently. Here’s the second version:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

You can see the difference in the way the card opens:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

This opens up instead of down compared with the card above, but the side still opens to the left – the shape is just inverted.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Triangle Fun Fold

This card uses the gorgeous Peaceful Poppies DSP, and the sentiment is from Love What You Do. The two cards are the same layout, with the same embellishments. The difference is the DSP and color palette, and the sentiment on the focal point.

There are just a few more days until Sale-a-bration 2020 is in the rear view. We have one final release of SAB Rewards that include current catalog product, so be sure and take a look at the choices available as a free reward for your $50 purchase. You can start shopping HERE!

The Woodland is Rooted in Nature

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It’s been a delightful summer in my craft room, and I’m ready to get the show back on the road and share some of it with you. Would you like to see what I’ve been doing?

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Woodland is Rooted in Nature

I seldom use Very Vanilla card bases, and when I look at this one I wonder why! I especially like the way it works with the braided linen, which is just an abundance of linen thread – and you know I love linen thread!!

I have a few great tips for you when you’re working with vellum:

  • The Fine Tip Glue Pen is VELLUM MAGIC. Use it to adhere vellum to any project and it doesn’t show through!!!
  • When I run it through my die cut machine I layer a piece of waxed paper between the paper and the die (and yes, I have a Big Shot, which Stampin’ Up! no longer sells – but something BIGGER is coming!) It helps to release the vellum from the die, especially the Stitched Shapes, which have a tendency to hang onto the die cut.
  • I use my trusty Bone Folder when I’m removing a vellum die cut from the die, since it’s thin and helps to avoid creases in the vellum.
Maui Stamper Stampin Up Woodland is Rooted in Nature

I used sponge daubers to ink the foliage in Granny Apple Green and Shaded Spruce. Once they were inky, I colored the trunk with the Soft Suede Stampin’ Write marker. If you try to color the trunk first, it’s easy to accidentally cover the ink with the daubers. Coloring it second allows you to push off any GAG or SS ink (yup. That’s what I call it. GAG. Love that color.)

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Bonus Days July 2019

Today is the FINAL BONUS DAY!! Skedaddle on over to my Online Store to earn your savings – a $5 voucher for every $50 in merchandise you choose! You’ll be glad you did.

SO MUCH NEWS. But first, the Cling Wrap Technique

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This technique has been making the rounds again as the Press’n’Seal Floating Frame card, and if I had Press’n’Seal I would have used it…but my entire kitchen is Furnished By Costco, so it’s the Kirkland Cling Wrap technique today, my friends!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Wonderful Romance Cling Wrap Technique
Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Wonderful Romance Cling Wrap Technique

This is a really enjoyable technique, but it takes time and patience to color all of the elements you need to create the floating frame. It’s a great project for when you’re at home recovering from the flu (ahem). One of the complaints I read when crafters used Press ‘n Seal was that it stuck too well to the card stock, causing the surface to tear. Trust me, that’s not a problem with the Kirkland wrap!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Wonderful Romance Cling Wrap Technique

As you can see, when I ran everything through the Big Shot it cut the pieces quite nicely, but things moved around quite a bit once I removed the cutting plates. I had to be patient when I adhered the pieces to the frame, but by using the corner shapes as anchors everything else fell into place nicely. It’s quite similar to assembling a puzzle! You’ll want to be VERY VERY generous with the Stampin’ Dimensionals on this one – be prepared to find a lot of those little paper hexagons floating around your craft room!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Big Shot

Speaking of the Big Shot, you may have heard the announcement that Stampin’ Up! is terminating its relationship with Sizzex at the end of the 2018-2019 Annual Catalog period, effective June 3, 2019. This change will streamline design and production, and allow Stampin’ Up! to work directly with a manufacturer. This in turn will provide a more nimble response to inspiration, supply and demand. While Stampin’ Up! will still sell dies and embossing folders that are compatible with the Big Shot, we will no longer market the machine itself or any accessories (cutting pads, specialized platforms, etc). A new die cutting machine is in development, but it is not ready for the 2019-2020 catalog. If you need any accessories, I encourage you to shop soon, as supplies of retiring products are not guaranteed.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Stampin' Trimmer

Similarly, Stampin’ Up! is also discontinuing the Stampin’ Trimmer. While this product has been extremely popular, recent concerns with blade quality have caused Stampin’ Up! to seek an alternate supplier. Again, a new Trimmer is in development but will not be available in time for the 2019-2020 Annual Catalog. If you would like to stock up on cutting blades, I urge you to act quickly as these accessories will also retire at the end of the catalog. As we all know too well, supplies of retiring items are not guaranteed! There is currently a limit of 3 packages of cutting blades per order, but that limit will be raised to 6 when the Retiring Products List is released on April 15, 2019.

2019-2021 InColor What Do You Think

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations – you get a bonus question! Lyssa Zwolaneck, a generous demo friend, created a fun graphic now that demonstrators have seen the NAMES of the 2019-2020 In Colors but not the shades!! What do YOU think???

Cling Wrap Part Two: Wonderful Romance

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One of the serendipities of the Cling Wrap Frame technique is that it’s a “two-fer”: when you cut the frame, you get an extra piece that functions as a beautiful focal point on a second card. Today I’m sharing that card!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Wonderful Romance Cling Wrap Technique Wonderful Romance

The Stitched Rectangle shape was the middle of the frame from THIS post, and I was pleased with the balance of color and shape. It really didn’t need much embellishment, but I decided to emphasize it a bit by adding a narrow black mat.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Wonderful Romance Cling Wrap Technique Wonderful Romance

The sentiment was stamped on a little strip of paper and trimmed to fit. I kept it small and simple to offset the detailed design and images from the focal panel.

Are you ready to try this for yourself? It’s not hard and the results are so satisfying.

And there’s more good news! The Bunny Builder Punch and the Best Bunny Bundle are back in stock, just in time for your Easter crafting. Shop HERE!

Making my own Bokeh

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The bokeh technique has been a very hot look for quite a while, and I wanted to try to create it on my own. Stampin’ Up! does have a stamp that creates this technique, but it’s not quite a full card size and I’m stubborn about things like that.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Dandelion Wishes Bokeh Technique

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Dandelion Wishes Bokeh Technique

I punched a number of circles from scrap card stock and put some SNAIL on the back of them. (You could cut them with framelits, but punches are faster. I recommend card stock over sticky notes because you’re going to accumulate ink on them, and the sticky notes get saturated.) Then I tapped the SNAIL with my fingers so it wouldn’t stick fast, but would be tacky and hold in place. Then it was sponge, sponge, move the circles, repeat!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Dandelion Wishes Bokeh Technique

You can do this with multiple colors, but I chose to stay monochromatic. I embossed the image and sentiment with Black Embossing Powder to make it pop a little. (When was the last time you re-inked your Versamark Ink Pad? Seriously…it makes a HUGE difference!)  Since I chose to make this into a sympathy card, I kept it very, very plain. (Maybe too plain. I’m still debating.)

Want to play with your own version? Shop HERE.

 

A little Brusho experiment

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WEEKS ago, Crystal and I got out some watercolor paper and the Brusho and experimented. We were both a little unsure and apprehensive, and you’ll see we started pretty small. We stamped a bunch of small flower branches from Petal Palette (still one of the best stamp sets in the entire catalog) and started playing with the concept of watercolor. I’ve had the results sitting on my desk ever since, waiting to become something greater.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Petal Palette with Brusho

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Petal Palette with Brusho

I know I’ve mentioned the Subtle Dynamic TIEF before, but friends, YOU NEED THIS.

We used Ink Refills to watercolor the images, and then used Brusho to create a background. We were really experimenting more with the concept of a watercolored background than with Brusho as a product, but it ended up working extremely well and we were pleased with the control we achieved.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Petal Palette with Brusho

Adding the doily and the leaf embellishments takes this card up a notch while still making it absolutely mailable. I love ribbon, but I’m frustrated when any embellishment makes a card hard to mail. I don’t hand deliver many cards and they really need to go in an envelope and go out in the world!

Don’t miss that Marbled background stamp. It’s another sleeper. Shop HERE.

CASEing the Piggy

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July 1 brings Bonus Days back to Stampin’ Up!  Spend $50 in July and earn a $5 reward to spend as you choose in August – with no limit. What’s on your list?

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! July 2017 Bonus Days

If I didn’t have it already, I’ll tell you what would be on my list:  This Little Piggy.
Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

This piggy makes me happy! Today’s card is a CASE (Copy And Share with Everyone) of the talented Rachel Tessman. I loved her design, and made just a couple of small changes to her creation.

Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

Coloring the Piggy was a learning experience for me – and in a good way. I was certain I wanted to use Whisper White card stock, but I haven’t had good experience using the Aquapainter with either ink or the Coloring Pencils on large images on Whisper White card stock. I was looking for another option and thought I’d try sponging. This first pig got a little sunburned, but the second one has a lovely, pale complexion:

Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

I used Powder Pink to sponge, and the Blushing Bride Stampin’ Write marker to add shadows.

Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

This is the first card I made using the Aquapainter and ink. You can’t see the distortion of the paper, but it’s there. I also wasn’t successful in getting even coverage:

Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

A Post It note creates the perfect mask for sponging, because it sticks in place and the paper is thin. I stamped the Piggy and trimmed him out of the center:

Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

I suppose I could have been really tricky and used the insides for the Soft Sky sponging, but it wouldn’t have had any “stick”. I stamped the Piggy again and cut out around the image so I could sponge in the sky:

Maui Stamper This Little Piggy Stampin' Up!

Has your wishlist grown? If it’s near $100, consider joining the Maui Stamper team. There’s no obligation, and in July, Stampin’ Up! is making the deal even sweeter. Your $99 (no additional tax or shipping) always includes your choice of $125 in Stampin’ Up! product. In July, it will include an additional $52 in essential tools – snail, snips, bone folder, grid paper, and two D blocks – PLUS the not-yet-released Carols of Christmas stamps from the Holiday 2017 catalog. Check it out!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! July 2017 Christmas in July Join My Team