2020 DIY Calendar Review

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.

First up, January and The Gang’s All Meer from Sale-a-bration:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up The Gang's All Meer SAB 2020
RETIRED!!!!

Those happy faces put a smile on my face every time I see them! In February it was Lovely Lilypad for Leap Year 2020:

RETIRED!!!!

This was one of my favorites – another beautiful Sale-a-bration selection for 2020. I loved the soft colors with that crazy pop of Lovely Lipstick.

In March, I went back to critters and featured the Little Ladybug Host Set:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Little Ladybug March 2020 DIY Easel Calendar
RETIRED!!!!

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.

Next up is April with the Chunky Lamb from Welcome Easter:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar April 2020
RETIRED!!!!

She’s so fluffy! And she’s sparkly, too.

In May I chose a retiring favorite – Tropical Chic:

Maui Stamper Tropical Chic May 2020 DIY Easel Calendar
RETIRED!!!!

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.

In June I previewed Birds and Branches. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ll know I have a soft spot for birds:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar June 2020 Birds & Branches

These aren’t colored after any particular species, they’re just happy, pudgy little brown-and-yellow birds!

For July I decided to Celebrate Sunflowers:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Celebrate Sunflowers DIY Calendar July 2020

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:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar August 2020 Timeless Tropical

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.

September was created with Love of Leaves:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar September 2020 Love of Leaves

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.

October featured the Stitched Triangles and my favorite DSP ever:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up October 2020 DIY Easel Calendar Stitched Triangles

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:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar November 2020 Dragonfly Garden

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:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Poinsettia Petals December 2020 DIY Easel Calendar

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!

Mix and Match: Birds and Leaves

Every now and then I get in one of those “CLEAR THE SHELVES I’M USING IT ALL” moods. Today’s card was the result of a recent episode – I used Free as a Bird stamps, Love of Leaves stamps and dies, and the Well Written dies.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Love of Leaves
  • Stamps: Free as a Bird, Love of Leaves
  • Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Bumble Bee, Shaded Spruce, Gold
  • Accessories: Stampin Cut and Emboss machine, Stitched Leaves dies, Well Written dies, Gold Hoops Embellishments, Gold Foil, Stampin’ Blends and Color Lifter, Paper Snips, Bumble Bee Gingham Ribbon, All Purpose Glue, Stampin’ Dimensionals
Maui Stamper Stampin Up Love of Leaves

I used the Color Lifter quite a bit to shade the bird. Even when I used both the light and dark Shaded Spruce blends, the colors were too strong for my eye. The color lifter allows you to shade and adjust tones almost infinitely.

Construction note: Use multipurpose glue to adhere your Gold Hoop Embellishment to your project. The sides of the hoop are flat, and if you put tiny dabs around the entire perimeter of the hoop, it will stay good and stuck!

Don’t you love those stitched lines I used in the background? They give the paper a lot of dimension without being too distracting. And look where else they fit:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Love of Leaves

I had to make two passes through the Cut & Emboss machine to cover the back flap but I’m pretty doggone pleased with the result.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Get&Go September 2020 join the team

Wish your Stampin’ Budget went a little further? Become a demonstrator and you’ll make EVERY SINGLE purchase at a discount – clearance rack, pre-release products, all of it! This month you’ll also get an additional bonus when you join the team: two beautiful stamp sets and the supplies to make two sets of cards for yourself or as a project with your friends. I’m here to help you achieve whatever goals you set – message me with questions or click HERE to learn more.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Love of Leaves

Ready to shop? The Online Store is open 24/7!

September 2020 DIY: Love of Leaves

Are you as stunned to discover it is September as I am? My sense of time is completely disoriented, and that makes me really grateful for calendars. I have the feeling that I need a big board in my kitchen that says TODAY IS TUESDAY. IT IS SEPTEMBER 1, 2020. And then it needs a big picture of, oh, LEAVES:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar September 2020 Love of Leaves
  • Stamps: Love of Leaves
  • Color Palette: Shaded Spruce, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody
  • Accessories: Stampin’ Cut and Emboss (available TODAY!), Stitched Leaves dies, Watercolor paper, Ink Refills, Stampin’ Spritzer, 2020-2022 In Color Enamel dots, Linen Thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Yes, I’m still smitten with the Love of Leaves bundle. If you follow that link and add it to your shopping cart and wait for it to arrive on that big Brown Truck, you’ll be smitten too, I promise you!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar September 2020 Love of Leaves

I got my Watercolor paper pretty wet with the Stampin’ Spritzer and added color from the Ink Refills. The design was pretty random, but I enjoyed moving the Stitched Leaves dies around the paper to visualize how best to use it. (Prepare yourself, it’s pretty bold!)

When I looked at this result I was pretty skeptical. But I Kept Calm and Cut and Embossed On, and was pleased with the end result.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Love of Leaves bundle

That long strip die is what I used to create the background on the paper. It works on the flap of an envelope, tooo. Each leaf can be cut out, leaving a stitched leaf-shaped opening behind, and the solid dies create the stitched vein pattern in the leaves. This set has covered ALL the bases!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up DIY Easel Calendar September 2020 Love of Leaves

September…wow…hard to believe we are here! I have the 2021 pdf available for just $5 if you’d like to create your own calendar. Click Contact the Maui Stamper at the top of the page and send me your email, and we’ll get you started!

Cheryl and Crystal create these fun little calendars too, and I hope you’ll stop by and see what they’ve done for September. If you’re ready to browse, SHOP HERE.

Hope Changes Everything: Love of Leaves

This past week I’ve had a number of friends and family members experience changes in their relationship with the Big C: Cancer. It’s such an insidious disease, and when you add in the uncertainty of life caused by the pandemic, things can get a little uncomfortable. I’ve been leaning pretty heavily on HOPE, and made this card yesterday to send to someone dear to me:

Maui Stamper Stampin Up HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING Love of Leaves
  • Stamps: Love of Leaves
  • Color Palette: Very Vanilla, Cinnamon Cider, Cajun Craze, Calypso Coral, So Saffron
  • Accessories: Stampin’ Cut & Emboss (available September 1, 2020), Stitched Leaves Dies, Stitched Shapes dies, Old World Paper Embossing Folder, Metallic Pearls, Cinnamon Cider ribbon, Gold trim (Forever Greenery Combo Pack), Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I’ve had the Love of Leaves bundle on my desk a lot recently. We don’t really have autumn leaves here in Hawaii, but some trees do experience an autumn change of color. I love these beautiful shapes and the way they work so well together (it’s what Stampin’ Up! does best!).

Maui Stamper Stampin Up HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING Love of Leaves

I made a huge mess of my ink pads creating this project. I kept pressing stamps with dark ink into the light ink pads without cleaning them – I was really into the process! I’ve found if you use a paper towel to blot the place in an ink pad where the “stain” has appeared, you can generally pull out most of the offending ink. A quick re-ink and the pad is *almost* as good as new.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING Love of Leaves

I was inspired by a card shared on Instagram by the Stampin’ Up! concept artists @stampinup. This color palette is similar to theirs, but not the same. I’d love to see it in shades of pale greens for spring, or even reds and burgundies for December. I guess it’s back to the drawing board!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Love of Leaves bundle
# 155195 $47.50 usd

If you’ve got fall leaves – or a heart filled with hope – on your mind, shop HERE.

Watercolor Backgrounds on Blocks

You know how some techniques look simple but just don’t turn out right? I’ve always felt that way about the watercolor background. I watch the videos, I study the instructions, and STILL…

If you’re anything like me, you will LOVE this technique (sorry, the Mister and I are still staying at home and I find myself shouting quite a bit when I have the chance to talk to someone else). Anyway…I started using blocks to apply color to paper and discovered to my delight that I could make it work!

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Acrylic Block Watercolor Technique Love of Leaves
  • Stamps: Love of Leaves
  • Color Palette: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Cinnamon Cider, Sahara Sand
  • Accessories: H Acrylic block, Stampin’ Spritzer, Linen Thread, Stampin’ Write markers

The technique is just about fail-proof. Choose your colors, scribble on an acrylic block, spritz with water and stamp. Voila! If you add color to the block while it’s on a piece of white paper, it’s easy to see where you’ve added color and where the block is blank.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Acrylic Block Watercolor Technique Love of Leaves

You can see that I created pretty regular color patches. I’ve since experimented a little more (stay tuned!) and found larger, less regular patches and more water give more “watercolored” results. I thought the way this one turned out was interesting as it reminded me of granite. Do you see that, or am I imagining things? (This would not be the first time.)

The font used in this set is something a little different for Stampin’ Up! and it reminds me of a printing style I used when I was in school. This particular sentiment is one I will use over and over. In fact, it may be my theme song for 2020.

Maui Stamper Stampin Up Acrylic Block Watercolor Technique Love of Leaves

There are coordinating dies for this set but I chose to keep it super simple and stamp that leaf – maybe a Hawthorne? – directly on the card. I can’t remember the last time I made a one-layer card.

Could you please help me with something? In the past I’ve added a direct link to the store for every product I’ve used. It takes a little extra time, and I’m wondering if I should continue investing my time that way. If you use those links, I’d love your feedback. And if you don’t, well, you can tell me that, too!

In the meantime, you can shop my beautiful, new, easier-to-navigate Online Store here.