Flying Home for Mother’s Day

Posted on May 5, 2018 by mauistamper

I’m not going home for Mother’s Day – it’s a long trip, and there are conflicts I can’t re-arrange. But my heart will be there, and I have a selection of cards that will go to the wonderful women who have mothered me throughout my life. This is one of my favorites:

Stamps: Flying Home, Thoughtful Banners
Color Palette: Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizazz, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Basic Black
Accessories: Stampin’ Blends, Stampin’ Write markers, Stitched Shapes framelits, Big Shot, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Linen Thread

4 packages of Linen Thread is the acceptable minimum to have in my embellishment drawer – I get nervous if there are fewer than that. It’s my absolute favorite, go-to, never-fail choice to add that little something to a project. It doesn’t add bulk and can be mailed without any concern. I don’t even want to think about it ever retiring.

I love coloring these bird houses. Every time I do it, I choose different elements and different color combinations. I use a combination of Stampin’ Blends and Stampin’ Write markers as the tip of the marker is much finer and allows me to work inside those narrow lines.

Flying Home is retiring – shop HERE to get it before it’s gone.

You Soar Above the Rest

Posted on June 21, 2017 by mauistamper

Mr. Maui Stamper really does soar above the rest. I knew when I met him all those years ago that he would make a fabulous Dad, and my young heart really got that right. (The defining moment was when he was teaching me to ski and his extraordinary patience was on full display.)

Stamps: Lift Me Up, Thoughtful Banners
Color Palette: Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist, Dapper Denim
Accessories: Big Shot, Up & Away Thinlits, Precision Base Plate, Lemon Lime Twist Ombre Ribbon (currently on backorder), Stampin’ Dimensionals, Color Theory DSP Stack

The Color Theory DSP makes a great background – the ombre fade from top to bottom suggests the view towards the horizon. There are a couple of paper shares still available if you’re interested in sampling this paper (and a few others!)

It’s RemARKable Designer Series Paper!!

Posted on October 16, 2016 by mauistamper

Don’t you love a deal? Our RemARKable Blog Tour this month is celebrating Designer Series Paper, because it’s a BIG DEAL this month at Stampin’ Up! There are 8 beautiful color-coordinated collections from which to choose, and our RemARKable goal this month is to inspire you and make your choice a little easier.

Stamps: Cookie Cutter Christmas, Oh What Fun, Thoughtful Banners
Color Palette: Whisper White, Emerald Envy, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette, Crushed Curry
Accessories: Presents & Pinecones DSP, Duet Banner Punch, Cookie Cutter Punch, Wink of Stella Clear, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Write markers

The Wink of Stella just would NOT photograph but trust me, Santa is a-blingin’!! It’s really quick and easy coloring with the Stampin’ Write markers too.

I want to point out the Oh What Fun stamp set because in my opinion, it’s been overlooked with all the excitement of the 2016 Holiday catalog. Oh What Fun is in the 2016-2017 Annual Catalog as a returning star from last year’s Holiday catalog, and it is stellar.

I don’t know about you, but I NEVER have enough tags! Tags for packages, tags for goodies, tags for bottles of refreshing beverages…I NEED TAGS.

Stamps: Wondrous Wreath, Merry Mice
Color Palette: Emerald Envy, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Accessories: Wonderful Wreath Framelits, Bunch of Banners Framelits, Layering Squares Framelits, Wink of Stella Clear, Cherry Cobbler Silky Taffeta Ribbon, Bakers Twine Trio Pack, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue Dots, 1/8″ handheld punch

I am a Wink of Stella junkie – there isn’t a project that doesn’t benefit from a little Wink!

Designer Series Paper is the PERFECT tag base because you have a beautiful front AND back ready to roll – it takes just moments to dress it up. With 12 color coordinated designs, you too can have that perfectly coordinated Christmas.

Your next stop on the tour is Audra Monk. I know you’ll enjoy her beautiful projects and the whole tour! Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Here’s the full tour lineup:

Anne Matasci YOU ARE HERE!

RemARKably Thoughtful Branches

Posted on August 21, 2016 by mauistamper

RemARKable Blog Tour

Welcome to the August RemARKable Blog Tour. We’re featuring the exclusive, available-only-this-month scrum-tiddily-umptious Thoughtful Branches stamp set, paired with the Beautiful Branches thinlits. I’m not featuring the thinlits today, but you can see them used HERE and HERE. Instead, I’m focusing on the trees.

Maui Stamper RemARKable Blog Tour Thoughtful Branches

I elected to keep this card on the simple side. You could use just about any sentiment – thanks, sympathy, hello or even Christmas. I made it a birthday card because, well, #imbringingbirthdaysback. Aren’t you?

Maui Stamper RemARKable Blog Tour Thoughtful Branches

The color palette is Pool Party, Island Indigo, Whisper White and Crumb Cake. I’ve used the Thoughtful Branches stamp set and the Thoughtful Banners set for the sentiment. The Designer Series Paper is from the Subtles Stack. Oh, and of course I’ve used Stampin’ Dimensionals!

I love that you can stamp the trunk independently of the branches. No more fussy markering the stamps! (Ha!! My spell-check doesn’t think MARKERING is a word. Silly spell-check.)

Maui Stamper RemARKable Blog Tour Thoughtful Branches

This card is slightly stepped up – but not too much. I used the Floral Boutique DSP and the Softly Falling TIEF for texture, and added a little sparkle with the Wink of Stella clear brush. The image is cut with Ovals framelits, and I added a greeting cut from Silver Foil paper using the Christmas Greetings thinlits.

Maui Stamper RemARKable Blog Tour Thoughtful Branches

This beautiful, versatile set is only available this month. You can purchase the stamps, the thinlits or the bundle, but whatever you do, don’t wait!

Next up on the tour is Audra Monk, and you know she always has a great RemARKable post. Enjoy the tour!

Mary Jo Price Williams

Fabulous Figgy Flora

Posted on August 14, 2016 by mauistamper

There’s a group of stamp sets that get sold short in the Annual Catalog, at least in my opinion. The Host Rewards sets don’t seem to get the same attention that the rest of the catalog enjoys. Fabulous Flora is a host set, and I think it deserves a better look:

Stamps: Fabulous Flora (Host), Thoughtful Banners, Best Birds, TImeless Texture
Color Palette: Crumb Cake, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Pear Pizazz, Soft Suede, White (I used watercolor paper, not Whisper White), Basic Black, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Watercolor paper, Wink of Stella Gold, Aqua Painter, Linen Thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I’m not as big a fan of Wink of Stella Gold – I prefer the Clear version. However, I’ve found a use for it that I really love – the flick. You know. You get the brush end loaded up with the color and then flick it against your finger over the paper to get some spatter.

It’s easy to do as long as you remember to load up the brush end. If it’s dry, you can do a whole lot of flicking without seeing much in the way of results.

I played a bit with the Aqua Painter here too, layering the color and adding a light Smoky Slate wash around the images to set them off. Since this card has very limited layers, I wanted to create more texture with the watercoloring.

In order to own a Host Rewards stamp set, you need to be the host of an event/party/order/group order that reaches $150. Let me know if you’d like help in figuring out how to make that happen! I think Fabulous Flora is worth the effort.

It’s RemARKably Foxy around here {wink}

Posted on July 17, 2016 by mauistamper

Welcome to the new Sunday RemARKable Blog Tour! I hope you’ll enjoy our new day – third Sunday of the month, still 2pm HST (8pm EST – we won’t go into the business about when and how that changes. I just use world clocks on my phone to keep track!)

This month I’m sharing a project I did for a dear friend who is expecting a baby boy in August. I started by making her a card:

I used a lot of different products, but the foundation is the Foxy Friends stamp set, the Fox Builder punch, and the A Little Foxy DSP stack. You could spend DAYS (ask me how I know) playing with all of the variations of the stamps and punch. And I kept it to a simple color palette – if I had started experimenting there I would still be stamping!!

I cut an oval in the DSP and added a bit of background. The Duet Builder punch gave me a frame for my sentiment, and the little toadstools from the Foxy Friends set were the perfect accent.

Stamps: Foxy Friends, Thoughtful Banners, retired sentiment
Color Palette: Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray
Accessories: Big Shot, Ovals Framelits, Fox Builder Punch, Duet Banner punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

The next step was to create some Thank You notes for the new Mama. I used our Note Card sets – the cards are cut and scored and come with envelopes – and created three designs. The grayscale images in the DSP stack are perfect when you’re working with this much color!

I had a lot of fun playing with the tilted heads on these little guys. Some of these poor critters may need a chiropractor.

It’s a tough call, but I think the raccoon might be my favorite. We don’t have any of these critters on Maui, but I have lots of raccoon memories from my mainland days. Some are fond, and some are not so fond (trying to defeat a very determined raccoon intent on dumping our trash at 1am).

I can’t imagine this sweet face digging in my trash!

The third and final member of the the Thank You Trio is this little stinker. Each card uses an identical layout, but has slight color and DSP variations.