Tag Archives: Big Shot

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???

A Shining CASE

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THIS CARD kept popping up everywhere I looked. I love the shine of the metallic foil paper! I knew I had to create one, but I didn’t have everything that Cécile used – she originally shared it a year ago. But crafting is a flexible, versatile art and I was able to make a card that was true to her spirit:

Maui Stamper Swirly Scribbles Cheers to the Years

  • Stamps:  Cheers to the Years
  • Color Palette: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Metallic Foil Copper, Metallic Foil Champagne
  • Accessories:  Heat Gun, Copper Embossing Powder, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper, Big Shot, Swirly Scribbles Framelits, Seasonal Tags Framelits, Patterned Pumpkin Thinlits 

Maui Stamper Swirly Scribbles Cheers to the Years

Stampin’ Up! has a LOT of Framelit and Thinlit snowflakes! These are from Seasonal Tags, but you could choose something else – I really liked the clean lines on these since there was already a lot of detail in the card.

If I’d been thinking, I would have absolutely used our adhesive sheets to simplify adhering all the small parts on this card, but I used Tombo the Wonder Adhesive and it worked beautifully – I just had to give my fingers a good scrub when I was done.

Be sure to give Cécile a little love for her fabulous inspiration. (Her blog is in French, but Professor Google will translate if you ask.)  It was a delight to CASE her card.

One more Avant Garden Welcome

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Sometimes I’m astonished by the difference a color palette can make. Sure, I’ve rearranged the images a bit, but this card is quite similar to the two previous versions found HERE and HERE.

Maui Stamper Avant Garden Sale-a-bration 2017

This is a brighter, warmer color scheme, and as much as I love my Pool Party combos, this card in Calypso Coral and Blushing Bride really makes me happy. The circular design of the flowers around the Stitched Shape sentiment circle was really simple to do.  Blushing Bride is such a soft tone that I didn’t even mask the flowers: I just stamped away!

Maui Stamper Avant Garden Sale-a-bration 2017

  • Stamps:  Avant Garden (Sale-a-bration 2017), retired demonstrator exclusive stamp set (sentiment)
  • Color Palette:  Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Watermelon Wonder
  • Accessories:  Metallic Ribbon (Sale-a-bration 2017), Sequins from the 2016 Holiday catalog, Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue dots

There are just a couple more weeks left to earn free Sale-a-bration products.  When it’s over, it’s really over – these stamp sets and exclusive accessories DO NOT go on the Clearance Rack!  Shop now.

 

Sparkle and Shine for Christmas

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Forgive me if I bypass Halloween and Thanksgiving for a bit…I’ll be back, but the Holiday catalog has such beautiful Christmas things:

Maui Stamper Home for the Holidays Christmas Greetings

  • Stamps:  None!!
  • Color Palette:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, GOLD
  • Accessories:  Big Shot, Precision Base Plate, Christmas Greetings Thinlits, Very Vanilla 1 1/4″ Subtle Stripes Vanilla Ribbon, Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Home for Christmas DSP, Banner Triple Punch, Glimmer Paper, 2 1/2″ Circle Punch

Yes I fussy-cut the poinsettia.  It’s very forgiving.

Maui Stamper Home for the Holidays Christmas GreetingsLet me tell you about cutting out these words with the Christmas Greetings Thinlits and the Precision Base plate.  The words pop right out of the Thinlit.  There are no funny bumps from the holes meant to help you poke them out.  The skinny bits don’t get twisted and pulled out of shape.  You need this.  I certainly do!

Shop HERE.

Weekly Deals – How about Circles Framelits?

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Maui Stamper Weekly Deals August 26 to Sept 1, 2014Those framelits would be a great add-on to the Big Shot deal – buy a Big Shot, get a free framelit and stamp bundle – available through August 31st.  Or just get the framelits 🙂  That’s pretty sweet too.

Maui Stamper Big Shot Bundles through August 31, 2014However you look at it, there are great savings this week!  The Holiday catalog goes live on Thursday and the Short and Sweet Sign-up promotion is good through Thursday as well – you can add any of the Weekly Deal products to your Starter Kit!

Message me with questions or get straight to work HERE.

A tisket, a tasket

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Try to get away for a little anniversary weekend and what happens?  Captain Stupidhead thinks he’s been abandoned (he wasn’t, my son was here) and hasn’t left me alone for a second today.  He’s like a two-year-old, and if you could see me this very minute you would see his big orange cat-self leaning on the keyboard.   In case I miss that, he gets up every few minutes and sticks his head in my face.  This has the effect of showering me with cat hair, which is oh-so-pleasant. (It’s better than him yawning, because his cat-breath is indescribable.)

Earlier today, when I was putting dishes away, he wrapped himself around my legs and cried like a baby.  I swear he’s saying “UP! UUUUUPPPP!!” in that briefly endearing but quickly annoying way that toddler’s have.  Prior to that, I was trying to take some photos for you:

Square Eastern trimmed basket

This is the “before” basket,  a 2-4-6-8 basket trimmed with retired Designer Series Paper bits and pieces run through the Big Shot with the Tasteful Trim die.  I had a better idea and my plan was to show you the two projects, but I had “help”:

Hmmm...what have we here?

The photo is  blurry because he is in motion, rapidly approaching my “photo shoot”.  This is after a lot of whining and winding around under my feet.  Since I failed to acknowledge him, it became necessary to move in a little closer.

The head-butt

I’m attempting the photo of the second basket, but it’s impossible to get a picture because A) there is a cat in the way and B) he is giving me the “head-butt” treatment so it is impossible to focus the camera.

Action Jackson

I tossed him to the floor but he must have hit the trampoline, because before I could get a photo HE WAS BAAACK.

Say, what's this?
However, I’m experienced in the art of diversion and found some shreddies for him.  They make a great rustling sound, which always gets his attention, and I can get them to wiggle just a bit which means he has to inspect.

Just plain silly

He’s checking the shreddies to see if they’re tasty.  This photo cracks me up, because he looks like a fat orange Easter bunny – sans the ears.

The trimmed Easter basket

  • Flourish stamp set
  • So Saffron and Bashful Blue card stock; retired Designer Series Papers
  • So Saffron Classic ink pad
  • Designer Button and Pretty in Pink 1/8 taffeta ribbon
  • Oval Scallop Frame and Tasteful Trim XL Bigz dies and the Big Shot
  • Eyelet border punch
  • brads (to attach the handle)

THIS is the project I was trying to photograph.  I apologize for the crimped handle, but as you can imagine, I was happy to get this picture as it was.  The Flourish stamp set is one of the single stamps that were available as a Sale-a-bration option, and you can see it better from the side.  You realize, of course, there isn’t a photo of the side.

And yes, Mr. Maui Stamper and I had a lovely weekend on Lanai celebrating our 30th anniversary, which is actually today.  We stayed at the amazing Lodge at Koele, and did whatever we felt like doing.  Apparently next year we will be expected to take a companion with us.  Oh, as if that would ever happen.

 

P.S.  Ha!  Just as I was about to click publish, he leaned over and hit the speakerphone button with his chin.  It’s very childish of me, but I always crack up when he does this as the dial tone is loud and he looks around to see who or what did this annoying thing.  Serves him right.  Knucklehead.

Simple Circles

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I brought home a lot of great samples from convention.  They’ve been a source of inspiration for classes and workshops, and this card is a double dipper.  There were two different cards that used the “circle-as-flower” technique, and I adapted it even further:

Circle Circus Flowers

  • Circle Circus and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
  • Sahara Sand, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stock
  • Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
  • Big Shot and Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder
  • XL Two Step Bird  and Modern Label punches;  1 3/4, 1 1/4 and 3/4 inch circle punches

This is about as easy as it gets.  Stamp 3 circles,  punch 3 circles, add 3 little scraps for stems and 3 little leaves (do you recognize the wing and a leaf from the XL Two Step Bird punch?)  Sahara Sand is such a neutral color that it takes what could be a very femine card and makes it relatively neutral.  If you wanted it to be masculine, you’d need to pull out your Shades-of-Blue stamp pads but that wouldn’t be so difficult, would it?

Back to the Circle Circus

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When is a circle more than a circle?  When it collaborates with others to form a topiary:

Circle Circus matter of Moments

  • Circle Circus and Elements of Style stamp sets; Vintage Vogue wheel
  • Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake and Certainly Celery card stock
  • Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake and Certainly Celery Classic ink pads
  • Modern Label punch, XL Decorative Label punch (Holiday Mini), various circle punches
  • Big Shot, Top Note die and Lattice Impressions folder
  • Hemp twine, Antique Brads, Stampin’ Sponges and Stampin’ Dimensionals

I had the brilliant idea to twist two strands of Hemp Twine together to make the trunk of the topiary, but my execution was flawed – there’s not enough space between the “topes” and you can hardly see it.  This card is finished, but I’ll be back to the drawing board to try that one again.

The new XL Decorative Label punch makes a pretty terra cotta planter, doesn’t it?  I cut it in half and sponged it with Cajun Craze and Old Olive.  I was trying to get a moss-stained look but I think it would be more effective on a lighter color of cardstock – next time I’ll try Peach Parfait.  Oh, and please don’t judge Daffodil Delight – that’s operator error with the camera.  It’s a lovely buttery shade, not that bright yo yo color!

Circling around the Mojo

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It’s been ages since I’ve played a challenge.  I’ve had a lot of specific projects on my inspiration board and there wasn’t room for anything else.  Last night I finally had a chance to browse through some of my favorite blogs – talk about a pleasure! – and when I got to Mojo Monday I decided I’d done enough looking and headed up for some ink-to-the-paper stamping!

Mojo Monday 151 Circle Circuis

There’s a lot going on here, so bear with me:

  • Circle Circus and Fabulous Phrases stamp sets
  • Cornelli Lace Jumbo Stampin’ Around Wheel
  • Whisper White, Real Red and Basic Black card stock
  • Real Red and Basic Black Classic ink pads
  • Real Red 1/8″ taffeta and 5/8″ satin ribbon; Basic Black 5/8″ satin ribbon
  • 1 3/4″ Circle, Modern Label and Scallop Edge Border punches
  • Big Shot and the Square Lattice and Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folders
  • a small hand-held circle punch and Stampin’ Dimensionals

I’m sure I forgot to list something!

I’ll tell you the truth:  that greeting is adhered with Dotto repositionable adhesive.  I’m not certain I like it, but time will tell.  The stamped Real Red image from Circle Circus is hand cut (gasp! I know…) because I wanted it to fit Just So on the black circle.  It had to be done.  I used tiny black circles of cardstock for the faux brads on the sentiment because the real thing overwhelmed the project.    There are a lot of discarded bits and pieces on my craft table left over from this project, but it was satisfying to finish.

I didn’t buy Circle Circus when it was released as a preview set a year or two ago.  Because it was a sneak peak, there were Circle Circus cards everywhere and I grew weary of it.  I finally gave in and bought it with this year’s new catalog because I saw something really creative and had a brilliant inspiration to make that idea better.  (It’s coming, it’s just not done yet – Mojo Monday got in the way.)  I’m glad it’s on my shelf now.  You’ll see it again soon.

Beautiful Wings In Color

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A couple of weeks ago, I CASE-d a card using all of the new In Colors in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog. Laurie Zoellmer at www.stampingnut.blogspot.comstampingnut.blogspot.com had such a great idea that I wanted to try a couple of other versions. Of course, I wasn’t thinking about cutting out all of those butterflies – even with the help of the Big Shot – when I decided to do this for a swap that turned out to have 25 participants:

In Color Butterflies

I worked on this one at Boy Scout camp too – a friend was there, and she helped me with the stamping. Each card is a little different since I just mixed and matched the butterflies. They’re made with the In Color selections for 2010-2011: Concord Crush, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade. Just a couple of dots of Tombo Adhesive holds each one in place. That stuff is amazing. I wish it had been around when my kids were small! (JUST KIDDING. Don’t report me.)