Thanks a latte: Coffee Café

Posted on May 11, 2019 by mauistamper

We bought a new espresso machine this year. The previous one was a champ and cranked out multi-shot beverages every single day for 7 years. When the cost of repairs became unrealistic, we had to get a replacement. There was someone who walked us through the whole process, and I knew just how to say thanks:

Stamps: Hardwood, Coffee Café
Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso (OF COURSE), Grapefruit Grove, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Big Shot, Coffee Cups Framelits, Share What You Love DSP, Very Vanilla Lace Trim, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Coffee Café is retiring, but it’s an indispensable stamp set that will have a permanent place on my craft desk. It’s perfect for cards, of course, but also makes a great gift-card enclosure.

The Share What You Love DSP is really beautiful, and I think I’ve caught a glimpse of the gorgeous shimmer that is on one side of each paper. It’s those little details that make a card pop!

All of these beautiful products – with the exception of the colors – are retiring on June 3rd. Stamps are only guaranteed availability through May 24, so if you’re thinking a latte about this set, maybe you should Shop HERE.

And if you are in the market for a new espresso machine, call Jenn at Seattle Coffee Gear in Bellevue, Washington. She’s amazing.

One Last Chance for Blended Seasons

Posted on August 31, 2018 by mauistamper

Today is your last chance to add Blended Seasons to your crafting stash! These gorgeous flowers officially retire at 7:50 pm HST tonight, and Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who decide to part with their stamps are required to wait a full year before they are sold. Don’t pay ridiculous prices at third party sites when you can order from your friendly SU! demo.

Stamps: Blended Seasons, Hardwood
Color Palette: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive
Accessories: Big Shot, Layered Ovals Framelits, Stitched Seasons Framelits, Braided Linen Trim (2018 Holiday Sneak Peek), Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Skit skat skoodle doot flip flop flee! Click on the link to shop with me!

(apologies to fans of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom)

Shop HERE today!

If you’re shopping after 7:50pm HST on August 31, 2018, you can’t get this set but you can shop HERE, okay?

Blended Seasons in Poppy Parade

Posted on August 26, 2018 by mauistamper

I know there are other stamps in this set, but I just can’t get enough of these gorgeous flowers. They lend themselves so well to coloring with Stampin’ Blends, guiding you along with well-placed lines to help you shade the images. I’ve done the flowers in lots of different colors, but I keep returning to Old Olive for the leaves. We’ve got a lot of fabulous new greens in our palette with the revamp this year, but Old Olive is still my favorite.

Stamps: Blended Seasons, Hardwood, Sunshine Sayings
Color Palette: Whisper White, Memento Black, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Big Shot, Layering Circles Framelits, Subtle Dynamic TIEF, Paper Snips, Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Old Olive 1/8″ Sheer Ribbon, Braided Linen Trim (sneak peek)

The Subtles Dynamic TIEF was a leap of faith for me. The catalog images don’t begin to do it justice! It provides just what the name says – a beautiful subtle texture that sits quietly in the background making everything else look great. If you’ve wondered about it, stop. Trust me, you need it! As for the Braided Linen Trim coming in the Holiday 2018 catalog, well, you know how I feel about Linen Thread – and this is Linen Thread in triplicate. I can’t wait til you can get it too.

I’ve used the words from Sunshine Sayings much more often than I imagined I would. They’re a little bigger than many of our sentiments, the font is a perfect Goldilocks font (not too serious, not too fussy, but just right), and they cover just about anything you’d like to say. I din’t expect to use them as much as I have, and I’m really glad I bought them.Blended Seasons, the Stitched Seasons Framelits, and the Watercolor Pencil 2 assortment (Balmy Blue, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, Garden Green, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy) are only available until the end of August. Shop HERE.

Thoughtful Branches Sneak Peek

Posted on July 16, 2016 by mauistamper

There are perks to being a demonstrator, you know. One of the best perks is being able to order things before they’re available to the rest of the crafting world. The new Thoughtful Branches stamp and thinlit bundle hit my doorstep a couple of days ago and this afternoon I set aside some time to play:

Stamps: Thoughtful Branches (available 8/1/16), Best Birds, Hardwood
Color Palette: Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette, Garden Green, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Big Shot, Beautiful Branches Thinlits, Big Shot Die Brush, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Linen Thread, Fruit Stand DSP

I used Tombo the Wonder Adhesive to adhere all of the pieces – just be patient and use little tiny dots. A little dab’ll do ya!

The Thoughtful Branches set, Beautiful Branches Thinlits, and the bundle containing both items are available to demonstrators this month. (Now don’t you need to be a demonstrator?) It will be available to everyone on August 1st.

Check back tomorrow at 2pm HST – the RemARKable Blog Tour has moved to a new day – third Sunday of the month!

What a RemARKable Spring!

Posted on April 14, 2016 by mauistamper

Aloha and welcome to the Valley Isle, where we don’t celebrate Spring as much as we celebrate whale season, mango season, lychee season and tourist season! I know some of the stops on this RemARKable Spring tour have taken you to places still waiting for the sun, but here on Maui you can throw off your jacket and glide into your rubbah slippahs.

Stamps: Circle of Spring, Hardwood, Butterfly Basics
Color Palette: Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Accessories: Big Shot and Wreath Framelits, Stampin’ Trimmer, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Triple Banner Punch, Blender Pens, Pink Rhinestone Jewels (retired from a kit so old I can’t begin to tell you it’s age!)

The markings on the Stampin’ Trimmer make it very easy to cut away the top panel. I trimmed off 2 1/8″ to create the gate effect.

The wreath is colored quickly and simply with Blender Pens. With this much detail, I like the ability to work with a fine tip but still have control over color saturation. The Blender Pen allows more color variety than a Stampin’ Write marker.

If you know me, I’ll bet you guessed this was coming! This is my favorite combination and it’s hard for me to pass up an opportunity to showcase how well these colors play together.

In addition to Whisper White, Crumb Cake and Wild Wasabi, I’ve used Soft Sky, Island Indigo and Daffodil Delight. I often choose Pool Party in a case like this, but I liked the more subtle shade of Soft Sky this time.

The slats for the fence are made by using the Hardwood background stamp and cutting them with the Stampn’ Trimmer right along the board lines in the image. They end up being about 3/8″ wide, and I take one board and slice it in half for the cross bars. I tuck the end of the slat into the back of the Triple Banner punch to get a perfect peak.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these cards. Time to head over to see what Heather Mathieson has done for this month’s RemARKable Spring Blog Tour.

Anne Matasci – YOU ARE HERE!

Inspire.Create.Share.2014: Christmas in July

Posted on July 24, 2014 by mauistamper

I signed up for a Christmas Card swap at convention before I realized that there were no Christmas stamps in the 2014-2015 catalog. I had to get creative:

Stamps: Tape It, Hello Love (Hostess), And Many More, Hardwood
Color Palette: Whisper White, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede
Accessories: Gold Bakers Twine, Red Glimmer paper, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Watercolor Wonder Washi tape, Banner punch, Stampin’ Sponges

I adore the fat little birds from the Hello Love Hostess set. I thought this one looked sort of Partridge-y. You know, in the Pear Tree. Use your imagination.

I had to mask off the end of that last Tape It strip, the one on the bottom – it was too long. I just used a sticky note and then drew a little line across the edge to finish it off.

Honestly, lately I don’t seem capable of making anything without Stampin’ Sponges and Dimensionals.

I’ve shared this tip before but it’s worth repeating: When you’re working with the Gold or Silver Bakers Twine, tie a pair of little knots around the spot where you’re going to cut the twine. It takes an extra moment or two but it saves the frustration of chasing those gold wrappings – they’re stiffer than the twine and they unravel instantaneously.

Inspire.Create.Share.2014: In Color Card Swap

Posted on July 18, 2014 by mauistamper

Today at Convention 2014 I’m swapping this Blackberry Bliss card:

Stamps: Lots of Thanks, Hardwood
Color Palette: Blackberry Bliss, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Spiral Flower Originals Die, Flower Frenzy Bigs L Die and the Big Shot, Project Life Cards and Labels Framelits, Fancy Fan TIEF, Two-Way Glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Stampin’ Sponges, Gold Bakers Twine, Gold Sequin Trim, Glue Dots, Hot Glue Gun, Silicone craft sheet

Loads of thanks to the GLORIOUS Crystal Kondo who shared her new stamps with me 🙂 I get by with a little help from my friends.

Did you know that our Glue Dots are the EXACT same size as the Sequins in the Gold Sequin Trim? That is serious happy news.

My secret for these roses is the Silicone Craft Sheet, #127853. It’s only $5.95 and I think it’s the best kept secret in the catalog. If you’re making these flowers you NEED this mat! You can blop all the hot glue you want onto the back of your flower and then smush it down onto the Craft Sheet and do your shaping before the glue goes solid – and then pick that puppy right up! No sticking!! My other secret is that I always run the spirals through a TIEF before I roll them. I put them through in pairs just because it’s faster that way. The all-over pattern helps break down the fibers and you don’t need to scrunch up the paper before you roll the flower.

If you live on Maui and you’re interested in this card, leave a comment below. I’m thinking about a class but I’m checking the interest levels first.

The Maui Stamper

papercrafts, my stories, and the occasional insight

Tag Archives: Hardwood

One Last Chance for Blended Seasons

Blended Seasons in Poppy Parade

Thoughtful Branches Sneak Peek

What a RemARKable Spring!

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