Pretty Perennials and True Love

Posted on April 19, 2021 by mauistamper

There is such fabulous inspiration in the January-June mini catalog! Pretty Perennials was the first stamp set that caught my eye, and I’m an absolute pushover for black-and-white, so pairing those stamps with the True Love Designer Series paper was inevitable.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Pretty Perennials True Love DSP Scripty birthday card

Stamps: Pretty Perennials
Color Palette: Basic White, Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay
Accessories: Big Boss, Perennial Petals dies, Stitched Shapes dies (retiring May 3), Scripty Embossing Folder (retiring May 3), Matte Black Dots, Stampin Dimensionals, Paper Snips

I based this card very closely on one I saw somewhere in the interwebs, but despite spending a good thirty minutes searching, I cannot find my source. If you created and shared something that looks a lot like this, please message me and I’ll gladly update the post to give you credit! (Pandemic Brain. That’s my story and I’m standing by it.)

The Stitched Shapes dies are still available in the Online store, although they are on the Retiring Products list. I recently heard them described as indispensable to a craft room the way salt and pepper are to a kitchen, and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. If you don’t have these dies in your craft stash, I highly recommend you add them to your collection ASAP. I bought a second set for myself.

The Pretty Perennial flowers are whimsical and fresh. Stampin’ Up! has loads of realistic flowers, and flowers that are great for coloring, but these are gloriously happy What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get flowers. They stamp quickly and can be made a little more fancy with the addition of a few die cuts, but WUSIWUG with these babies.

I’ll be honest: fussy cutting the word happy is the very definition of FUSSY cutting. I love the effect, and I really love this font, but it takes some time to cut it out. Do it while you’re waiting for someone, or watching TV, or doing anything possible to avoid finishing your taxes. It works well in all of those circumstances. Or design your card around happy stamped directly onto the card! It’s your project, do it the way you want to do it. And if you don’t like the way it turned out, remember that it’s pennies worth of paper and just THROW IT OUT. Don’t hang onto it hoping to change it like you did your first boyfriend. We know how that went. Throw it out.

Oops. Guess I took a wild turn there, didn’t I?

Turn yourself to shopping and pick up Pretty Perennials. You don’t have to change them – they’re perfect, just as they are. Shop HERE. (nb: It says they’re low inventory as of right now. Don’t wait.)

One Last #Elfie

Posted on December 30, 2019 by mauistamper

I may have finally crossed the line into Crafty Craziness. I was inspired by a card in a private demonstrator group, which was fine, but then I decided to make multiples. You’ll see:

Stamps: #Elfie
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight, Mossy Meadow, Balmy Blue, Ivory (Stampin Blend)
Accessories: Retired DSP, On Film Framelit (Retired), Paper Snips, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Stampin’ Blends, Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals, Tombo (the Wonder Adhesive)

There’s a LOT of coloring and an absolutely RIDICULOUS amount of fussy cutting in this card. I don’t think I would make this many again (I made more than 10, less than 20).

But it sure is cute! I’m smitten with these elves, and I know their time is almost up. Stampin’ Up! has had versions of elves for the last 3 or 4 holiday catalogs, and they never carry over so I’m not expecting to see #Elfie after Thursday.

That said, if you want an #Elfie of your own, you’d better skedaddle on over to the Online Store and order one ASAP. You’ve got until close of business Mountain Time on January 2, 2020.

Colour INKspiration #CI40: Gorgeous Grape, Old Olive and Early Espresso

Posted on August 24, 2018 by mauistamper

I’ve missed a couple of the Colour INKspiration challenges and I was determined to submit at least one card to this fortnight’s challenge. The colours for #CI40 are Gorgeous Grape, Old Olive, Early Espresso, with neutrals or metallics. We had this gorgeous image to inspire our creativity:

I’ve been fussy cutting this image from Blended Seasons all month, so that was where I began:

A special shout out to Vicki Boucher, who frayed her Copper Trim and inspired me to do the same. It’s addicting to pull those threads this way and that and play with the shapes that result.

I used Old Olive Stampin’ Blends on the leaves, but there’s no Gorgeous Grape Blend (at least not yet!) I ordered a set of the Watercolor Pencils available this month, and sure enough, there was Gorgeous Grape! Problem solved.

Stamps: Blended Seasons, Waterfront
Colour Palette: Whisper White, Shimmer White, Gorgeous Grape, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Copper, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Paper Snips, Copper Trim, Stampin’ Blends, Watercolor Pencils 2, Versamark Ink, Copper Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Wood Textures DSP, Petals and More Thinlits, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Blender pen, Corner Rounder (retired)

I was a little challenged to add Early Espresso to the card, but when I added the Wood Textures DSP and the copper ribbon, foil and embossing powder, the tones of the card changed. I used an Early Espresso card base and tucked in a few little die cut embellishments from Petals and more. The Shimmer White card stock added to the overall gleam of the card.

To keep the intensity of the Gorgeous Grape Watercolor Pencil, I used a Blender Pen to smooth the strokes out. The Blender Pen does a beautiful job but doesn’t dilute the color in the way an Aquapainter might.

Colour INKspiration challenges are open to anyone – visit the Facebook group to see the quality images that are submitted.

Looking for supplies to create your own card? Blended Seasons and Watercolor Pencils 2 are only available until the end of August, so time’s a wasting! If you’re in the United States, shop HERE.