It’s time for fresh strawberries: strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, strawberries eaten out of your hand with the juice running down! The Sweet Strawberry bundle is sadly on the not available list right now, but when it comes in, you’ll want to be first in line to get yours! I shared a strawberry card on Wednesday, and today I’ve made the May DIY calendar with the same images:
Color Palette: Basic White, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Gray Granite
Accessories: Strawberry Punch, Pearl Jewels, Stampin Dimensionals, clear raindrops from the craft archive (pretty sure it was a long past Paper Pumpkin)
Can I just say that Poppy Parade could easily be renamed Sweet Strawberry? I’m not very good with alliteration, but the folks at the Head Office seem to have made it an art form.
The designs in the about-to-be-released Natural Textures stamp set are right up my alley. I stamped off the Gray Granite in this case because I wanted to showcase the berries. These textural images will be heaps of fun.
Cheryl and Crystal have a calendar to share with you too! Please stop by and give them a little blog-love. If you’d like to make your own 2021 DIY calendar, it’s just $5. Click Contact the Maui Stamper and give me your email address, and I’ll send you an invoice.
You have just 2 more days to shop the Retiring List, which would be terribly sad except that it means we are about to have access to the ENTIRE new 2021-2022 Annual Catalog! I am ready to fill my cart – how about you?
Let’s not have a review of 2020 The Year, okay? I don’t know about you, but much beyond early March the story is all the same. But there was a DIY Easel Calendar every month in 2020, and we can take a look through those! Click on the link for the details on each project.
Not my usual style, but really fun in this format. These petite easel calendars are really satisfying in that way – there’s just a little space to design, but plenty of room for creativity.
Oh, I was sad to see this stamp set and the beautiful accompanying dies hit the retiring list! It’s in my archive of favorites and I know I’ll use it again and again.
This is the smaller flower, and the way it fit made me think of sunflower fields. I colored the images with Stampin’ Blends, which are one of the most forgiving coloring tools I’ve ever used.
In August I featured Timeless Tropical, our new tropical set. While it doesn’t replace Tropical Chic, I am thrilled to have these palms in my creative stash:
A simple design for a simple setting – there’s an ocean out there somewhere! Check the original post if you’d like to see my first, more detailed version.
Stampin’ Up! has gifted us with a wonderful assortment of stitched dies, and these leaves really take it to the limit (one more tiiiiime….🎶) They’re gorgeous left plain, but they were a lot of fun to spritz and watch the color move where it wanted.
I didn’t buy pumpkins or make a jack-o-lantern this year since there wouldn’t be trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. I just wasn’t feeling Halloween, so it was a forest instead.
For November I previewed Dragonfly Garden, a gorgeous stamp set with a coordinating punch:
This stamp set will be available on January 5, 2021 as part of an entire garden suite and I predict you will LOVE it!
Finally, the beginning of this month I featured my out-of-this-word Poinsettias:
I’ve loved looking at these all month and I’m going to really have to work at it to top this one! (Who am I kidding? It’s done already and you’ll see it tomorrow 🤓)
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little stroll through my 2020 DIY year. If you’d like to make your own DIY for 2021, there’s still plenty of time! Contact me and give me your email address and I’ll send you an invoice via Square. For just $5 you’ll have a pdf of the calendars plus a set of covers so you can gift them to the people you love best.
And if you need supplies for any of the above, SHOP HERE. I appreciate it!
What is this Dragonfly Garden, Maui Stamper? It is not in my catalog!! It is not in my mini!!
Nope. You’re right. It’s a super-dee-duper sneak peek of a set we’ll all be lovin’ up big time in January. Demonstrators who signed up for our fall virtual event were given the opportunity to buy it early. And yes, I did!!
Stamps: Dragonfly Garden (2021), Right Triangle
Color Palette: Whisper White, So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Cinnamon Cider
Choosing colors for this was HARD. I went through multiple combinations, but this one felt right for fall. It was hard to keep it clean too – I started experimenting with backgrounds and quickly realized that in such a small space, less is truly more.
The 2021 Easel Calendar pdf is for sale! For just $5, I’ll send you a pdf and cutting instructions to make your own calendar. If you start this month, you’ll have plenty of time to make them as gifts, and this small format (3.5 x 3.5) is an easy size for creating. Don’t put your email in the comments – click on Contact the Maui Stamper to send it to me securely, and I’ll send you an invoice via Square. Requested one in the past and never paid it? No shame, I don’t judge, send again and we’ll get it done!
It will be time to order this soon enough – but this month there’s another sneak peek with a Christmas bonus!
This sneak peek bundle is available with benefits – you’ll get the stamps and dies that will be featured in the January – June mini catalog PLUS a coordinating Christmas stamp set and a stack of holiday Designer Series paper! Shop HERE and have it first on your block (Zoom block? It could happen!)
Ready for more November DIY Calendar inspiration? Visit Cheryl and Crystal to see what they’ve created this month. And join us with your own!
I visited two Maui State Parks and a National Park last week, and big trees were on my mind when I started thinking about my October DIY Easel calendar. Stampin’ Up! has Designer Series paper on SALE this month, and the Stitched Triangles dies gave me a way to tie it all together:
I used a Stampin’ Sponge and Seaside Spray and Soft Sea Foam ink pads to create a light color wash on the calendar page. I cut a bunch of tiny triangles (our new Stamp Cut & Emboss machine is a dream!) and started arranging them on the sponged page..and arranging them…and arranging them.
Eventually I settled on this arrangement, but honestly, any of them would have worked!
Visit Cheryl and Crystal to see what they’ve done for October.
The Forever Greenery DSP is my absolute favorite this year, and it’s one of many on sale in October! Check the list HERE, and shop HERE to see the gorgeous designs included in the sale.
Finally, here are a few pictures from our adventures last week:
Waimoku Falls at the top of the Pīpīwai Trail in Haleakalā National Park (Kīpahulu District)Pīpīwai Stream in Haleakalā National Park (Kīpahulu District)The Black Sand Beach at Wai’ānapanapa State ParkThe Maui Stamper – with Mr. Maui Stamper – on the Redwood Trail at Polipoli State Park
Hope you enjoy! We certainly did – one of the small pleasures of the pandemic has been how calm the island has been. Tourism is our lifeblood, but we have enjoyed this little silver lining in the Covid Cloud.
If you’d like to make your own DIY Easel calendar, click on Contact the Maui Stamper above and send me your email. The pdf is just $5 and you can make as many as you’d like!
There are SO MANY GORGEOUS FLOWERS in the 2020-2021 Annual Catalog! I am a complete pushover for a gorgeous flower stamp set, and Celebrate Sunflowers definitely sent me over the edge. Two sizes of flowers, lots of leaves, great sentiments – well, what’s not to like?
These sunflowers are really fun to color with Stampin’ Blends. I have a pretty simple formula: follow the lines, start dark in the center and end up light on the ends.
It’s hard to see, but I added a l’il Wink of Stella to the center of the flowers. Stella makes EVERYTHING better. I’ve also used the masking technique to add a little dimension. There are die cuts for this set if you prefer that look, and they’re sold as a bundle with the stamp set so you can save when you choose both!
These little calendars are really fun to design, and they’re gratifyingly small when you need a little project to start and finish all in one go. I have both the 2020 and the 2021 calendar pdf available, and if you’d like one please click on Contact the Maui Stamper to securely provide your email address. Each pdf is $5 and you can make all the copies you like, making it a great purchase for a crafty gift. Be sure to let me know if you want 2020, 2021, or both!
Please visit Crystal and Cheryl to see their July calendars. It’s our pleasure to share these images with you every month for your inspiration and amusement!
Ready to add some sunflowers to your crafty stash? It’s a great day to do it – July marks the return of BONUS DAYS and you’ll earn a $5 reward to spend in August for every $50 in merchandise you purchase in July. You can get started right HERE.
I’ve got a little preview for your today. On Wednesday the 2020-2021 Annual Catalog will be live and available for your shopping pleasure, but I have a peek at a charming new stamp and die bundle that’s all about feathered friends.
I sponged the leaves on the branches for a little depth – it’s amazing the impact you get from a small step like sponging.
And there’s NEWS!!!
I am AMAZED by how many of you are chomping at the bit for your 2021 DIY Easel Calendar pdf. As of today, the pdf fairy is granting your wishes! Please use the contact me button at the top of the blog to send me your email, and I’ll invoice you for just $5. When your invoice is paid, I’ll email you the pdf with the 2021 monthly calendar pages (4 to a sheet), a page of covers should you choose to give the calendar as a gift, and a sheet of cutting instructions.
Ready for more inspiration? Stop by to see what Crystal and Cheryl have created for June. You can still shop the Last Chance list at the Online Store through 11:50pm MDT/6:50pm HST on June 2, 2020. The 2020-2021 Annual Catalog will be available by noon MDT/8:00am HST on June 3, 2020.
Tropical Chic is one of my favorite, go-to suites, and it’s retiring on June 2, 2020. It will have a permanent place in my archives, for both practical and sentimental reasons. This set is the one I am most sorry to see retire this year.
The Tropical Dies are on sale for $18.90, and I can highly recommend them even as a standalone product without the stamps (although why you would do that is beyond me, but a lot of things are beyond me, especially lately). There are beautiful tropical leaves and a versatile “leaf window”.
I used these dies to create the Save the Date cards for my daughter and son-in-law’s wedding this past January, and I cut a LOT of Tropical Leaves!!! It’s amazing that my dies are still working so well, because I really put them to the test.
I used the last few Grapefruit Grove Enamel Dots from my stash of Happiness Blooms embellishments for the center of these hibiscus. A true hibiscus has a gorgeous, feathery style, but that’s a very difficult thing to create out of paper, much less embellishments. I’m happy with this look even if it’s not perfectly botanically correct.
As always, Cheryl and Crystal have creations to share in our little monthly Blog Tour. I hope you’ll stop by and see what they’ve come up with for May. If you’d like to add a set of Tropical dies or any other Stampin’ Up! product to your craft archive, please shop HERE.
I’m smitten with this little sheep, with her posture and her fluffiness. I can’t decide if she’s doing a seated wide angle yoga pose (Upavista Konasana) or if she’s a cheerleader doing the splits, but I know this: she’s pretty flexible!
Crystal and Cheryl have calendars to share as well on this April morning. Please stop by and say hello! And if you need a little Wink of Stella or your own Chunky Lamb, please shop HERE. There’s also a brand new early release suite from the 2020-2021 Annual Catalog called Ornate Garden – be sure you check it out! That big bold THANK YOU is going to be amazing.
I used my Snips to fussy cut all the Ladybugs (Officially Lady Bird Beetle, from the family Coccinellidae. (There are dies, I just didn’t have them at hand!) If you are using anything other than Stampin’ Up! paper snips, do yourself a ginormous favor and spend the $10. You won’t believe how they will Change Your Life.
I’ve seen a lot of them colored with red wings, but I just couldn’t do it. This girl clearly has her hands full with those four roly-polys, and she needs a little sparkle to get through the day. I certainly would.
I’ ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (and again, and again). That field of poppies image from Peaceful Poppies might just be the best image in the entire January – June spring catalog.
If you’d like your own 2020 template, click on “Contact the Maui Stamper” and I’ll send you an invoice. For $5, you can print all the calendar pages you’d like! And for those of you EARLY BIRDS who are looking for 2021, hold on! We’ll get there, I promise, and you’ll be the first to know.
Stop by to see what Cheryl and Crystal are doing for March. If you’re ready to do a little shopping to start the month of right, head over to the Online Store.
February is upon us and January is in the rear view. I’m glad there will be an extra day in February this year, because I need it! (See previous post, lol.) Here’s to the turn of the calendar:
I wanted to use the embossed image technique for the Lilypad, but I wasn’t happy with what I was coming up with using the Blender pens, the Aqua painter, or the Stampin’ Blends, so I pulled out the actual, bona fide, genuine article – the paintbrush.
I’m not trained by any stretch of the imagination, so this was absolutely trial and error, but I had a great time and I’m happy with the results so I count it for a win! A little Wink of Stella gives it a little shine.
Do you make your own DIY Calendar? It’s quick and easy, and so gratifying to see on your craft desk every month. Click on “Contact the Maui Stamper” above if you’d like to purchase your own calendar – I sell the pdf for just $5 so you can make as many as you like.
Stop by to see what Crystal and Cheryl are doing for February. And if you’re ready to shop, visit the Online Store!
The Maui Stamper 