May 2019 DIY Calendar: Best Birds

Posted on May 1, 2019 by mauistamper

Happy May Day! It’s the first of the month, and that means I’ve got a new calendar to share. This month, I’m featuring one of the charming birds from the Best Birds set – it retires in June and while I’m sad to see it go, I’ve seen enough to know that there are new birdies in my future!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! May 2019 DIY Easel Calendar Best Birds

Stamps: Best Birds, Colorful Seasons
Color Palette: Whisper White, Memento Black, Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Pineapple Punch
Accessories: Stampin’ Blends, White Stampin’ Chalk marker, Aqua Painter, Big Shot, Birds and Blooms Thinlit Dies, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I used Stampin’ Blends to color the bird, and I’m experimenting with some new coloring techniques. One of the things I thought I’d heard was to use circular motions to blend the colors, but as I’ve explored more it seems that short, flicked strokes layered on top of each other give a smoother result. It’s still a work in progress.

However you choose to color, it’s a lot of fun to play with different combinations. I have a couple more birds on my craft desk waiting for projects.

And yes, I know this guy isn’t exactly on the branch. Call it artistic license.

Please stop by and see what Crystal and Cheryl have done for May. We all enjoy putting these calendars together for you each month. I have both the 2019 and 2020 calendars available in PDF form for the great price of $5 each. Message me if you’d like to purchase one or both!

And if you’re ready to add this charming little avian to your next, shop HERE.

Colour Inkspiration 54: Wonderful Romance

Posted on April 26, 2019 by mauistamper

This is the first card I created for the Colour Inkspiration 54 challenge – Black and White with a POP of colour. I love how it turned out, but I didn’t feel it represented the POP very well.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Colour Inkspiration 54 Wonderful Romance

Stamps: Wonderful Romance, Itty Bitty Greetings
Colour Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Old Olive, Pear Pizazz
Accessories: Big Shot, Wonderful Floral framelits (no longer available in the US Market), Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Floral Romance DSP (no longer available in the US Market), Stampin’ Blends, 1/8″ Whisper White Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Black Rhinestone Jewels (retired)

What do you think? I love the softness of the composition, but that’s exactly why I don’t think it qualifies for a POP of colour. It’s more muted, especially with the grey tones added in.

There’s one little trick you might not have noticed. The smallest rectangle in the Rectangle Stitched Framelits isn’t that small. I stamped my greeting and aligned one end of the framelit with the beginning of the message. Once I’d run it through the Big Shot, I carefully repositioned the framelit on the other end and rolled it through the Big Shot just enough to cut off the opposite end right where I wanted it!

The Wink of Stella helps brighten these pretty white flowers. I wish there were dies of all three blooms in the set of framelits, because I think that would really enhance the composition and set off the floral aspect. I usually don’t mind fussy cutting, but I just wasn’t feeling it on this one. It is what it is!

I think this image could really work in a lot of other colour combinations. I currently have one in process on my craft desk, but it’s giving me a little bit of a fit trying to figure out how to finish it off. If I’m successful, I’ll share it with you next week. To share your own beautiful Black and White and POP project, visit the Colour Inkspiration Facebook page.

In the meantime, there are all kinds of gorgeous products at great discounts available on the Clearance Rack. The retiring stamps, bundles, and accessory products are selling quickly, and when those products are gone, they’re gone. (Hint: bundles are priced with a 10% discount – they may continue into 2019-2020, but they won’t be bundled and you won’t have the opportunity to save.) If there’s something you love, I highly recommend you take immediate action. Shop HERE if you’re feeling inspired!

Saying Farewell: All That You Are

Posted on April 21, 2019 by mauistamper

The 2018-2019 and Occasions Retiring Products Lists have been released, and it’s a bittersweet thing. There are some stamps I’m quite happy to see move on, and others that break my heart just a teeny tiny bit. All That You Are kind of breaks my heart.

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! All That You Are Occasions 2019

Stamps: All That You Are, Piece of Cake
Color Palette: Whisper White, Soft Sea Foam, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Stamparatus, Gingham Gala DSP, Versamark Ink, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Dimensionals

This is a simple technique with very satisfying results. The image is inked with Versamark ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. To get the best results, I highly recommend using the Embossing Buddy to prepare your paper. Using the Stamparatus to ink your card stock enables you to ensure even, thorough coverage with the Versamark ink, resulting in a high quality embossed image.

It’s easier than you might expect to see the embossed image. Coloring an embossed image is especially enjoyable because there is a tactile response – you feel the lines, helping you stay within them (if that’s how you roll!)

I used both light and dark Stampin’ Write markers in each color,. Sometimes I’m literally adding just a dot of color, other times a line or a full blending effort. I’m one of those people who find coloring to be very therapeutic, so it’s a pleasure for me.

If you’re as fond of All That You Are as I am, shop HERE before it’s retired for good. While you’re shopping, there are a few additional products you might want to think about:

The Paper Piercing Tool – aka Pokie Doodle – is being retired now that we have the fabulous all-in-one Take Your Pick tool. I’ll be stocking up on a few Pokie Doodles to have handy.
There’s a bundle of two Stampin’ Write markers in Coastal Cabana and Lovely Lipstick. I like to stock up on singles when I have the chance.
Stampin’ Trimmer cutting blades are currently unavailable, but you can add your email address to be notified when they come back in stock. The trimmer is retiring.
All of our Designer Series papers are retiring. I’ve stocked up on Wood Textures, Gingham Gala, Tropical Escape and Share What You Love.
All 2017-2019 In Color Products – Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst, Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink and Fresh Fig – are retiring. Don’t forget the ink refills!

Stay crafty, my friends. Shop HERE.

SO MUCH NEWS. But first, the Cling Wrap Technique

Posted on April 10, 2019 by mauistamper

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

Stamps: Wonderful Romance, Picture Perfect Birthday
Color Palette: Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, Highland Heather, Basic Black, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories: Stampin’ Blends, Big Shot, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Wonderful Romance Framelits (no longer available, sorry!) and HEAPS of Stampin’ Dimensionals!!!

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!

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!

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.

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???

Cling Wrap Part Two: Wonderful Romance

Posted on April 9, 2019 by mauistamper

One of the serendipities of the Cling Wrap Frame technique is that it’s a “two-fer”: when you cut the frame, you get an extra piece that functions as a beautiful focal point on a second card. Today I’m sharing that card!

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Wonderful Romance Cling Wrap Technique Wonderful Romance

Stamps: Wonderful Romance, Itty Bitty Greetings
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Highland Heather, Granny Apple Green, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories: Stampin’ Blends, Big Shot, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Wonderful Romance Framelits (no longer available, sorry!) LOTS and LOTS of Stampin’ Dimensionals!

The Stitched Rectangle shape was the middle of the frame from THIS post, and I was pleased with the balance of color and shape. It really didn’t need much embellishment, but I decided to emphasize it a bit by adding a narrow black mat.

The sentiment was stamped on a little strip of paper and trimmed to fit. I kept it small and simple to offset the detailed design and images from the focal panel.

Are you ready to try this for yourself? It’s not hard and the results are so satisfying.

And there’s more good news! The Bunny Builder Punch and the Best Bunny Bundle are back in stock, just in time for your Easter crafting. Shop HERE!

All That You Are – March 2019

Posted on March 1, 2019 by mauistamper

If you’ve followed the Maui Stamper, you’ll know that the first of each month I share my version of a small desktop easel calendar. It’s a delightful format precisely because it is so small, and I’m finding that I enjoy coloring these little pages.

Stamps: All That You Are
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Mint Macaron, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Petal Pink, Flirty Flaming
Accessories: Memento Ink, Stampin’ Blends, Sticky Notes

I often have help in the craft room these days, and even more so in the morning when the sun streams in the windows. It’s been a cold winter on Maui – this morning it was 61°.

(Before you tell me how cold it was in Minnebraska this morning, remember that we live in sundresses and rubber slippers and don’t have heat in our homes. Our bodies are accustomed to 78°, partly cloudy with scattered showers. I live on the dry side of the island where annual rainfall is 11 inches and it seldom gets below 76°. 61° is cold!)

Ahem. So, back to my helper. She’s adorable, but she’s a big pest. I can’t tell you how challenging it is to color with Bella “helping”. She’s never still for long, and she likes to bump things to tell you how much she likes them. I’ll bet there are plenty of you who can relate:

Crystal and Cheryl and I have a mini-blog hop with our DIY Calendars each month, and I hope you’ll visit them as well to see what they’ve created for March. You can search DIY Calendar or click on the tags to see years worth of these little calendar pages! I have the pdf available for you to create your own as well – message me and I’ll send you an invoice. It’s just $5!

There’s news on the Sale-a-bration front as well! Stampin’ Up! has added product from the Annual Catalog to the $50 Level Sale-a-bration rewards. There are also new coordinating products for Sale-a-bration available. I’ll be back soon with more details. Happy Crafting!

February 2019 DIY: Hey Love

Posted on February 1, 2019 by mauistamper

Welcome to February at the Maui Stamper! I’m celebrating with these crazy long-legged birds from Hey Love in the Occasions 2019 catalog. You don’t see them there? Well, I do have a little trick…

Stamps: Hey Love
Color Palette: Memento Black, Flirty Flamingo, Granny Apple Green, Balmy Blue
Accessories: Sticky note, Paper Snips, Stampin’ Write marker, Stampin’ Blends

I masked off the little short legs that this birdie was given by the (awesome) artists at Stampin’ Up! using a sticky note. I inked them in Memento Black and stamped them up and down across the calendar – and as you can see, one of them is on the way out. Using a Basic Black Stampin’ Write marker, I drew legs on each bird. I was inspired by Sharni Haines in THIS POST.

It’s not too late to create your own 2019 DIY Easel Calendar. I’ve made the pdf available for your personal use at a cost of $5. It includes 12 months plus a cover should you choose to gift your own version of a DIY calendar. Just message me your email and I’ll be glad to send you an invoice.

My favorite crafty buddies in the whole wide world have February calendars to share with you too. Visit Crystal and Cheryl for more 2019 goodness.

If you’d like to draw legs on your own set of birds, shop HERE.

Sale-a-bration: So Hoppy Together

Posted on January 11, 2019 by mauistamper

Granny Apple Green is one of my favorite new greens in our color palette, and immediately presented itself as the perfect Frog color as I contemplated my options for So Hoppy Together. I’m no herpetologist, but I know a happy frog when I see one, and a Granny Apple Green frog is a Happy Frog!

Stamps: So Hoppy Together (SAB), Forever Lovely, Little Elephant
Color Palette: Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black
Accessories: Big Shot, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Stampin’ Blends (Granny Apple Green light and dark), All My Love Ribbon Combo Pack, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Animal Expedition DSP

Does anyone besides me remember that weird cartoon about the singing frog? And the guy who finds him and thinks he’ll be famous? And the frog won’t sing for anyone else? This little frog needs a top hat and I think he could play that role. (If this makes no sense to you, ignore it. That happens to me a lot. After they give me The Look.)

The handful of hearts reminds me of a bouquet, or a balloon, or even a scatter of those little cutout things that people put on the table when they’re decorating for a party and then you find them EVERYWHERE later on. They’re not quite as bad as glitter, but they’re up there. You know what I mean.

I’m delighted with the Stitched Rectangle Framelits. The set includes nesting sizes in different aspect ratios so you have a lot of options. The framelits leave stitching on both the positive and negative sides of the die cut – Stampin’ Up! really did their homework on this one!

I folded the Lovely Lipstick ribbon from the All My Love ribbon pack and left a tail hanging. I actually stapled the top together so I wouldn’t have to try to hold it in place as I was adhering it between the DSP and the focal panel. There’s Tear ‘n Tape on both sides of the ribbon embellishment holding it in place.

Ready to do a little Sale-a-brating? You earn exclusive free items when you spend $50 in merchandise HERE. There are lots of great choices!

Need a catalog? Message me, and I’ll get one right out to you. Happy shopping!

Tricks? Treats? All through October!

Posted on October 1, 2018 by mauistamper

Seasonal Chums is a bit of a sleeper. It was featured in last year’s Holiday catalog, and to my surprise and delight was continued in the 2018-2019 Annual Catalog. The images are presented in pairs, front and back, and the coordinating framelits let you cut them out to create tags. The jack-o-lantern is an absolute classic!

Stamps: Seasonal Chums, Petal Palette
Color Palette: Whisper White, Basic Black, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede
Accessories: Big Shot, Seasonal Tags Framelits, Petals and More Thinlits, Black Glimmer paper (retired), Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Wink of Stella, Aquapainter

How could you NOT love that face? I wanted to add a few more leaves behind it, and after a very thorough search of my stamps, I spotted the leaves in Petal Palette. They’re surrounding the blossoms images, and even had a thinlit to cut them out. I was pretty pleased when I found them!

The bats are from the Seasonal Tags Framelits and are the perfect accent to this not-so-spooky October calendar. There are lots of great little embellishments there – I’m telling you, these stamps and framelits should see more limelight!

If you’d like to make your own DIY Easel Calendar, this year I have permission to sell the PDF. It includes the12 months of 2019, a 2019 cover page, and cutting instructions. The calendars are quick to stamp since the format is 3 1/2″ square, making them ideal gifts. The easels are available online as well as in most brick-and-mortar craft stores, and an easel plus calendar pages fit perfectly in the Stampin’ Up! Acetate Card Boxes.

Cost for the PDF is $5. If you’ve purchased Calendar Kits or Refills from me in the past, I have your email on file and you can just leave a comment to let me know you’d like the PDF. You can also leave your email in the comments, or email me directly at AnneMatasci@gmail.com to let me know you want in on the deal. I’ll send you an invoice via Square, and once you’ve paid I’ll email your PDF. You don’t need an account to pay via Square. It’s easy as can be!

Just a note…this is the honor system. $5 is a very reasonable price for this PDF, and there are no limitations on your personal use. If your friends admire your calendars, please direct them to this post to purchase their own PDF. It would be easy to forward the PDF, but it’s not right.

Cheryl and Crystal have created delightful October calendars to inspire you – I hope you’ll visit both of them. If you’re ready to add Seasonal Chums to your holiday stamp choices, shop HERE.

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