New 2016 Sale-a-bration AND Weekly Deals!

Posted on February 16, 2016 by mauistamper

It’s a Double-Dippin’ Good Stuff Day!!

Metallics Glitter tape! Party Pants Stamps!

And Pedal Pusher – a bicycle-built-for-two stamp set! All of these products available only as FREE items when you spend $50 in Stampin’ Up! merchandise.

There are also DEALS today:

Visit my Online Store to shop!

One more thing…rumor has it that the 3 Sale-a-bration items scheduled to be discontinued are still available while supplies last. If you missed one of these three, you may have a chance to pick it up – if you’re quick!

RemARKable Sale-a-bration Celebrations

Posted on February 11, 2016 by mauistamper

Welcome to the February edition of the RemARKable Blog tour. I hope you can BEAR what I have to share today – (groan)

I love these bears. They’re round and they have whimsical faces and then there are those honkin’ claws. Stampin’ Up! keeps it honest there.

The Bear Hugs stamp set has a matching set of framelits, but I didn’t have them available when I created these cards and chose to trim them out with my snips. This guy is inked in Soft Suede, and then I used a damp Aquapainter to blur the color and add Blushing Bride highlights to his nose and ears. The fish are sparkled with clear Wink of Stella, and they’re hanging from a linen thread rope.

I brought the whole Bear Family together for the second card – same color scheme, same Woodlands TIEF but a different scene altogether. (Note that the Woodlands TIEF will be available in the 2016-2017 Annual Catalog but is not currently available to order.)

I used the same technique for the ink on the trees, but I used a much lighter hand on the first card. The daubers allow you a lot of flexibility that way, and these two cards really illustrate the difference.

I LOVE THESE FACES!!!

Click on the image to see what Heather Mathieson has created for your crafting inspiration. The tour links are listed below if you’re looking for a particular artist. Thanks for visiting!

Anne Matasci YOU ARE HERE!

Hello, my friend

Posted on February 8, 2016 by mauistamper

I’m behaving now – this is a perfectly respectable hello.

Stamps: Apple of My Eye, Hello (2016 SAB), Timeless Textures
Color Palette: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Paper Snips, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch

This is my kind of Clean and Simple – pretty clean and kinda simple. I intended to put that lemon section on dimensionals, but I was distracted and stuck it right down onto the paper. You could just as easily stamp it directly on the card front, but that’s not what I did.

I like the subtle texture you get from the images being cut and attached. If you look closely at the first photo, you’ll see there’s a Whisper White panel (4″ x 5 1/4″) attached to the Whisper White card front. Again, it’s just a little thing but I like it.

I was at an event with Mr. Maui Stamper this weekend, and our table enjoyed an interesting conversation on the dual themes of “Happy Wife, Happy Life” and “If Mama Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy”. So if I want to put a Whisper White panel on to the Whisper White card front, I’m gonna do it. It makes me happy.

Weekly Deals!

Posted on February 2, 2016 by mauistamper

Tuesday is Deal Day and this week Stampin’ Up! is featuring one of my favorite Thinlits – the Mini Treat Bag:

Sale prices are only while supplies last – and don’t forget that every $50 you spend earns a free Sale-a-bration product! Shop HERE.

It’s “Bearly” February

Posted on February 1, 2016 by mauistamper

We’re kinda short on bears here on Maui…but I found one for February’s calendar:

Stamps: Bear Hugs
Color Palette: Blushing Bride, Soft Suede
Accessories: Paper Snips, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I love that face! And I chose to fussy-cut the hat and the heart – I wanted them to be really tight to the edge.

Bear Hugs is available as wood mount or clear mount. It’s also available in a bundle with coordinating framelits. Shop HERE!

Visit Cheryl and Crystal to see what they have done for their February calendars.

This is not your Mother’s blog post

Posted on January 30, 2016 by mauistamper

Buckle your seatbelts, my friends. If you consider yourself easily shocked, you might want to visit another blog today. There’s a story here…

I designed this card for my Hostess Club, because I really didn’t think the one I WANTED to make was appropriate. For the record, here are the supplies:

Stamps: Honeycomb Hello
Color Palette: So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Basic Black, Mint Macaron, Whisper White
Accessories: Botanical Builder Framelits, Botanical Gardens DSP, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Rhinestone Jewels, Iced Rhinestone Embellishments, Aquapainter

You have to be a little careful with this chick, because there’s attitude in that face. And this is where the story begins.

I’m gonna let my BFF tell it – actually, she practically demanded that I let her write this post.

This card is not for the faint of heart. Or for the Fragile Friends.

So… a bit of background. Imagine. Late night in a stampin’ garage dodging insects. (And by late night, I mean, 9:00…cause my normal bedtime is 7:30… so we are talking LATE). And a couple of stampers, who shall remain nameless to protect their identities, were perusing the new Occasions Catalog. And at this time of night, delirium has set in. Severe case of the funnies has set in. We get to Honeycomb Hello. Love the bird, the stamps, but decide how USEFUL an OH HELL sentiment could be. And how we are apparently missing this sentiment from our stampin’ arsenal. Well, don’t you love the markering stamp technique?? Allows you to put ink where you want and not where you don’t. So…you can make whatever sentiment you like.

This is the perfect card for your bestest bff of all time. Cause they are the ones you call when you have the phrase… “Well, you’ll never guess what I did today….” or when you forgot something significant, or when you are needing comfort… but in ALL those situations, OH HELL works!! And cause she is your bestest BFF, she totally gets it. And jumps right into the madness and sits with you (brings the wine and chocolate) until life is normal again. And she is also the one, when opening this card will understand that it is the perfect card at the perfect time. It’s a PERFECT I’m sorry card. Or Birthday… or well… ANYTHING. This is the best BESTEST BFF CARD.

Don’t you just love those little honeycomb embellishments!?! They are the perfect accent to add to this little chick.

Now, I LOVE kind and pretty and delightful cards that uplift and make people’s day. But even though we live in paradise, life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. A good OH HELL and a glaring chick will make your BFF smile. Every time. I promise. Cause it’s the reminder that she gets it. And, really, she doesn’t even need to say anything for you to understand that that fact.

Seriously? Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Flowering Fields

Posted on January 28, 2016 by mauistamper

This is turning into my favorite stamp set from the 2016 Sale-a-bration catalog:

Stamps: Flowering Fields (SAB 2016), Timeless Textures (clear and wood mount), And Many More (clear and wood mount)
Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Pear Pizazz, Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Soft Suede
Accessories: Linen Thread, Stampin’ Trimmer, Stampin’ Write Markers, White Gel pen

I stamped all the Timeless Textures backgrounds first. Most of them were stamped off (inked, then lightly stamped on scrap paper, then stamped onto the project). I added the Flowering Fields images with Soft Suede and then hand colored them. I’m really getting into hand coloring.

If you look at the image in the top left corner, you’ll see the White Gel pen highlights. I find so many uses for that pen, and I’ve learned to keep a brand new one as backup. Maybe it’s the warm Maui weather, but I find they dry out before they are used up. I used to do all kinds of crazy things to make them last longer, but I finally gave up. They’re $4. I’m worth it.

Weekly Deals!

Posted on January 26, 2016 by mauistamper

Happy Days are here again! It’s Tuesday – time for Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals!

Shop HERE!

Spend $50 US and receive an Exclusive Sale-a-bration product absolutely FREE. See your choices HERE.

Beautiful Ride

Posted on January 24, 2016 by mauistamper

Did you ever count VW Beetles on road trips? Scour the highway so you could be the first to spot one and earn the dubious right to slug your fellow passenger? Wish you could be lucky enough to ever own one?

Some cars seem to evoke more powerful memories than others. As a kid, I used to count them, but it was my kids who played the “Punch Buggy” game until either someone was in tears or I was hollering or both.

Stamps: Beautiful Ride
Color Palette: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Watercolor paper, Aqua painter, Mini-brads, Black Bakers Twine, Botanical Gardens DSP, Stampin’ Dimensionals

You can see I have mad water coloring skills – ha! It’s fun and I’ve learned to Let It Be (cue the Beatles. See what I did there?).

I’ve added links to Stampin’ Up! products right in the card “recipe”. Let me know what you think! Of course, you can always just shop HERE. And while you’re at it, cruise through the Sale-a-bration options…because everybody loves FREE.