Northwest Stamper

Category: Cards

  • Mixed Medley Hanging Christmas Wreath Card

    Thanks to everyone who sent their good luck wishes or stopped by my Stampin’ Up! booth at the Seattle Creating Keepsakes Convention!  It was fun to set up as a vendor this year though it turned out to be quite the eventful weekend with my entire family getting taken out suddenly by the stomach flu.  But everyone made it through and life is getting back to normal – and I look forward to having some new crafting friends in the future from the show. 🙂

    Well, today I thought I’d share a card we made in one of this year’s Christmas stamp-a-stacks.  Each month we have been doing a different set of cards and this was one of the first.

    Merry Christmas hanging wreath card

     

    The designer series paper makes it look a little like you are looking out the window to a snowy forest to me, do you see it?

    Merry Christmas hanging wreath card close upThen we made a “wreath” to hang on the bottom part of the card.  We started by taking some Cherry Cobbler baker’s twine and gluing the two ends together and under the Cherry Cobbler cardstock so that you have a loop on your card front.  Then use a Stampin’ Dimensional to glue down the twine where the wreath will be – because you are using a foam dimensional, you can make the loop spreadout so that it looks kind of like a triangle…. does that make any sense? 🙂

    Basically make your loop of bakers twine look like a teardrop and stick the dimensional across the fat base of your teardrop to hold it in place.  Then cover up your dimensional with your stamped images from the Mixed Medley hostess set.

    Come Stamp With Me!

    Just a reminder that I have a few classes coming up that I’d love to have you join me for!  Visit my events calendar or email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to RSVP and save your spot!

    • Friday – 11/16 – Build Your Stash Card Class!
      • Join me at Panera in Redmond as we make a set of fun all occasion cards using the latest cute stamps, papers, accessories, and techniques!  It’s a great night out for your and your friends.  $15 or free with a minimum order
    • Monday – 11/19 – Build Your Stash Card Class! (afternoon session)
      • Same class as the friday card class only in a convenient afternoon timeframe.  Hosted at my house in Bellevue, WA.
    • Sunday – 11/25 – Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack LAST ONE!!!
      • It’s the last Christmas Card class of the season and we’ll be finishing up our holiday cards!  We’ll be making 3 each of 4 great designs, plus you’ll be going home with your envelopes so you are ready to sign and mail before the holiday rush!  $25 early bird price when prepaid by 11/17, $30 afterwards.

    Hope to craft with you soon!

     

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

    Its INK-REDIBLE November!
    Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order or party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family! Learn more

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

    imageMixed Medley Hanging Christmas Wreath Card Recipe

    Stamps: Mixed Medley
    Ink: Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler marker, Chocolate Chip Marker
    Paper: Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Snow Festival designer series paper
    Accessories: Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, Big Shot, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, 1” Square punch, Glue Dots, Cherry Cobbler baker’s twine, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Setting Up for CKC + A Christmas Snowflake Card

    Whew!  All the crazy planning, organizing, and prepping for the Creating Keepsakes convention finally has come to a head as we unloaded into the Meydenbauer convention center today to start our set up.  So, first, a big thank you to everyone for being so patient and supportive as my head was spinner over the last few weeks. 🙂

    But I thought I’d share some of the fun of today.

    First was arriving at the convention center and learning that our booth had been moved (turns out we got a better spot, yay!) and then looking at this scene and trying to make it into something a bit more cute.

    IMAG1198

     

    But after multiple hours of unloading boxes, organizing, and decorating, I think we are ready to go!  I love how it turned out and hope people love checking out all our cute samples and displays.

    IMAG1204

     

    Plus we are offering some great promotions for CKC attendees (a show special discount for orders, a gift for scheduling a private class or party, and of course door prizes!)

    I am super excited for tomorrow and to get a chance to chat with all the other crafty loving folks who wander through.  If you are in the area and come by, I’d love to have you stop by and say hello!

    And for those of you who aren’t able to attend, I thought I’d share a card that is up on display at the event.  It is a quick but very pretty card for the holidays.  Sadly, my photo box doesn’t do the glitter paper justice.  But just a stamp, some ribbon, and the Snowflake Bigz die and you have a card!

    Silver Glimmer Snowflake SAS card

     

    This card was one we made at one of the Christmas Card stamp-a-stack classes this year.  I have one more Stamp-a-Stack left, so if you are still looking to make some holiday cards.  Check out the details and let me know that you want a space!  I’d love to craft with you!

     

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

    Its INK-REDIBLE November!
    Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order or party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family! Learn more

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

  • Faux Quilted International Bazaar Thank You

    With today’s card, I was trying for something that could be “manly” or at least not pink and frilly.  So, while flipping through my designer papers, I thought the International Bazaar pack would be a great one for the guys in my life.

     

    I mixed and matched the papers from the pack in strips to glue down at an angle.  I cut a piece of scratch cardstock that was 2.5” wide and then cut my designer paper strips to 3” long.  Then I was able to glue them down at an angle so that the top left corner of the dsp strip was at the edge of my scratch paper on the left side and the bottom right corner of the dsp strip was at the edge of my scratch paper on the right side.  Then, after all the paper is glued down, I could just trim off the edges and have my pattern good to go!

     

    My sentiment uses the new Windows Framelits – so glad I got these!  The one thing that did surprise me though was that the smallest frame is much smaller than the next size frame.  But then once you are on the second smallest frame, they all are each slighter bigger than the one before.

    And finally, I thought I’d leave you with the “girly” version I came up with when I was experimenting with my design.  I used the retired Everyday Enchantment paper and some Peach Parfait for a brighter look.  Kind of cute, huh?

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

    Its INK-REDIBLE November!
    Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order or party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family! Learn more

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

    Quilted International BazaarCard Recipe
    Stamps:     Petite Pairs
    Ink: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry
    Paper: Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, International Bazaar designer series paper
    Accessories: Big Shot, Window Frame framelits, paper piercer, gold brads, uniball white gel pen, sponge daubers, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Getting Ready for CKC Bellevue 2012 + a Coupon!

    I know I share a lot of cards with you but I also love scrapbooking…and crops… and well, learning and sharing pretty much everything crafty.  So, I love when the Creating Keepsakes convention comes to town.

    Well, this year, I decided to go for it and signed up to host a Stampin’ Up! booth in their Vendor Faire.  I’ve been super excited about having a chance to hang out for 2 days with other crafty “geeks” like me…. I mean, did you hear how silly I got over getting a new paper trimmer?  Sometimes I just need to be around other people who will squeal out loud just a little when they hear about some new cool tool or get super excited by something as small as adorable new ribbon styles or embellishments.

    Anyway, this is crunch week for me and I’m getting the last few things together before the show opens on Thursday (tomorrow I’ll share with you some of the A-MA-ZING items my mom created for the display!).

    But in the meantime, for those of you close enough to come hang out with me in person, I wanted to share with you a coupon for getting into the Vendor Faire at the event:

     

    CKC-Seattle-1202-EMAIL-$3-OFF

     

    I’ll also be offering some fun door prizes as well as a show special for folks who stop by the booth!

    So, swing by and say hello!  I’d love to get a chance to see you!

     

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

    Its INK-REDIBLE November!
    Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order or party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family!  Learn more

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

  • Vellum Fun with Everything Eleanor

    How about a clean and simple card for today?  🙂  This is one of those cards that started out SUPER simple but I kept thinking it needed just a touch more here and touch more there until I made myself stop with this:

     

    This card all started because I was going to CASE a card that used vellum over the Pleasant Poppies stamp set (which I didn’t have at the time).  So I grabbed Everything Eleanor and the card just started going in a wildly different direction from there.

    But the highlight here was to stamp the flower head and stem using the NEW Firm Foam ink pads on Very Vanilla cardstock.  The new ink pads give such a strong and saturated image, that I liked using the vellum to soften the look.  Then I stamped the sentiment directly onto the vellum using Early Espresso ink (stamping it onto the vellum so you could actually read it easily!)

    Then, I used sticky strip and some Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon to cover up where I attached the vellum to the Very Vanilla cardstock.  Plus a gold brad in the center of the flower to help keep the top part of the vellum secure.

    And then, it is really hard to tell in the picture, but I also rounded the corners of the cardbase itself, sponged the edges with Crumb Cake ink, and then – when the cardbase was still too plain – I spritzed the cardstock using my Color Spritzer and the Crumb Cake marker.  I love how that combo makes for a soft speckled look, kind of like the “natural” cardstock you used to see.

    So, as you can tell, it was a little bit here and a little bit there… but it was all fun and easy stuff to do and I hope you got some ideas too!

     

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

    Its INK-REDIBLE November!
    Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order or party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family!  Learn more

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

     

    Vellum Everything Eleanor Card Recipe
    Stamps:     Everything Eleanor, Petite Pairs
    Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso, Gumball Green, Crumb Cake, Crumb Cake marker
    Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple, Cardstock Vellum, First Edition Specialty designer series paper
    Accessories: Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, Sticky Strip, Gold brads, corner rounder punch, sponge dauber, color spritzer, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Fabulous Fall Card with Emboss Resist

    I don’t know about you, but when I was walking around with the kiddos yesterday, it hit me how the trees have seemed to go from green with some reds and yellows, to almost bare with some reds, oranges, and yellows barely hanging on!  I guess I can’t pretend that Fall isn’t totally here. 🙂

    So, when I was working on cards for my Fabulous Fall class, I had to go for those warm and cozy tones to fill up the card.  And this is what I came up with:

     

    I played with textures and golden colors in this card.  I swear, More Mustard cardstock gets so neglected at my house until fall time!  But here are some of the touches we did to put together this card:

    1.  We stamped the leaf image from Lovely as a Tree with Versamark and then used Clear embossing powder to emboss the image.  Then we sponged with Cherry Cobbler and More Mustard ink to make the glowing color.  You can also see where we took the Natural Composition specialty designer series paper and colored it in with ink and a water brush/pen.  It makes a really pretty subtle color effect.

     

    2.  We also spritzed the card base with Gold Smooch Spritz.  It is always so hard to capture that in a photo but you can kind of see it here.

     

    3. Finally, I had made a version of this card that didn’t have the extra Chocolate Chip cardstock matting the cardfront (and acting as the cardbase); but just having More Mustard as the cardbase didn’t quite work.  So, I went with the dark cardbase and just added an insert with a fun stamped touch.

    So in the end, we did lots of different little things that came together for a pretty and rich effect!  What do you think?  Is it “Fall” enough for you?  🙂
     

     
    Did you see November’s Ink-redible special?
    Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order/party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family!  See the details here

     

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

    Its Ink-redible November!
    Get a FREE set of 10 ink pads with a qualifying order or party; or get them free when you join the Stampin’ Up! family!  Learn more

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

  • Quick Halloween Card Idea from Guest Artist- Pam!

    I have a tendancy to overthink my projects and card designs.  Even when I’m CASE’ing a card, I often find myself trying to mix it up a bit and tweak it and what should be a quick card turns into much much longer.  Usually it is a fun journey, but sometimes you just need a quick idea, and I love this one that one of my Fun n’ Crafty team members shared with me recently for our monthly card swap:

    card designed by Pamela Wu

    Pam is a super fun and happy person and that fun always seems to translate into her cards.  I love the quick and easy idea for using up scraps of your favorite patterned papers (in this case, last year’s Frightful Sight designer paper) and mixing it with cute stamps (the bat from Googly Ghouls).

    But don’t the Googly Eyes make the card??!

    Seriously, they crack me up everytime I look at this card. Love it!

    So, thank you, Pam, for the great idea!  I can’t wait to try it out for other seasons as well.  I think I’ll have to dig through my scrap pile and see what I can come up with… and what stamps I have for those awesome googly eyes!  I’m taking suggestions if anyone has found some good stamps for this challenge. 🙂

    The ONE DAY Stamp Sale is on NOW!

    Just a reminder that today only you can get those stamp sets that have been hanging out on your wishlist for 15% off! 

    Visit the ONLINE STORE to shop the great deals
    or
    contact me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to make sure you get your discount!

    Yay for sales, right?!?   And yes, sale orders count for my Northwest Stamper Rewards program where every $40 earns you a virtual punch and 10 punches = 1 FREE stamp set of your choice!  Just in case you were wondering. 🙂

    Shop for Stamps and More Online, click here!

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

  • A Birthday Card for the Men in your Life

    It can be a struggle sometimes to make masculine cards… there are just too many pretty ribbons, flowery stamps, and sparkles!  But as part of my Fabulous Fall card class, I tried to throw in some cards for the guys; and this was one that we made:

    See, no ribbon!  No flowers!  🙂

    Yes, I went the other way and got into the distressed look, but I think it works.  We started with punching 1” squares from Ridinghood Red, Not Quite Navy, and Basic Gray cardstock, and adhering them down in a grid pattern.  We attached that to a piece of Early Espresso Core’dinations cardstock that we sanded with the Sanding Block to give it the distressed look.  Then we pulled out the Be Amazing stamp set for the sentiment and hot air balloon… cause every guy likes hot air balloons, right?

    Finally, we grabbed the sanding blocks and used them to rough up the edges and curl them in on the sentiment.

     

    It works for masculine, don’t you think?  And if you didn’t see, this Happy Birthday sentiment is one of the NEW single stamps  that were just released.  Just an FYI. 🙂

    Do you have your wishlist ready for Monday?

    Just a reminder that Monday is the big 24 hr stamp sale with pretty much every stamp set (including the Be Amazing stamp set or just the Happy Birthday single stamp that I used on this card) on sale for 15% off!

    So get your wishlist ready and be ready to shop, or send it to me early and I’ll be sure to get it in during the sale hours.

     

    Shop for Stamps and More Online, click here!

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

    Be Amazing Masculine Birthday Recipe
    Stamps:     Be Amazing
    Ink: Early Espresso, Basic Gray
    Paper: River Rock, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray, Early Espresso core’dinations cardstock
    Accessories: 1” square punch, sanding block, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Button Buddies Flower Fun

    I know we are in fall time and so a lot of the projects are rich colors and holiday themes, so I hope you don’t mind me going off in a completely different direction with this bright and cheery card!

    This was one of my “scraps” cards.  As in, I have a terrible time throwing in my recycling bin any stamped scraps, embossed papers, or other rejects from working on one card that I just know could be used on another card later.  But then those half used papers pile up and I start to go a little bit crazy.   So, I’ve been trying to periodically make a card mostly or completely out of scraps I have left over.

    So, first I had these flowers from when I was trying to pick a pink color for a different card.  Turns out they go great with a homemade glitter brad I created for a Crystal Effects class.  (That is a Cameo Coral In Color brad that has been covered in Crystal Effects and dipped in Dazzling Diamonds glitter!)

     

    I had left over Wisteria Wonder cardstock that had been embossed with the stripes going the wrong way for a card I was prepping for a class one time and so it worked perfectly here.  And then I decided to break out my FAVORITE paper right now – Early Espresso Coordinations cardstock.  If this paper doesn’t stick around after the Holiday Catalog I will be (1) surprised and (2) so very very sad!

    I ran a scrap through the Woodgrain embossing folder and my Big Shot and then punched out a Modern Label punch to use as a mat behind my sentiment punched out with the Word Window punch.

    I really was happy with how the card turned out AND the fact that I used up a number of scraps!  It still doesn’t put too much of a dent into my scrap pile, but it’s a start!

     

    Shop for Stamps and More Online, click here!

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

    Button Buddies Flower Thank you Recipe
    Stamps:     Button Buddies, Teeny Tiny Wishes
    Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
    Paper: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Early Espresso core’dinations cardstock
    Accessories: Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, Woodgrain embossing folder, Sanding block, In color printed brad, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Stampin’ Dimensionals

     

  • Manly Monday Card–Happy Hour

    So, I’m coming off a fun weekend where my Fabulous Fall class focused on fall colors and cards that could be used for guys.  So, while I go take pictures of those cards, I thought I would share another card that I love that follows in that theme of fall and/or manly cards.

    (I would say this is a masculine card – makes me think of an old style man’s home library with old books, the leather back chairs and brandy on the shelf…. but then I think if you squint it could be fall colors too… or is that too much of a stretch?) 🙂

    designed by Lori Staley

    I actually received this card as a swap and loved all the textures and patterns.  It was also what make me fall in love with the Naturals Designer Buttons.  I thought these buttons were actually wood but really they are a resin that is made to look like wood… just so you know what to expect if you see them in person.  But I think they are still great looking anyway!

    Another thing I loved about this card is the scoring around the stamped image in the middle.  You can just take your Simply Scored tool or a bone folder and your trimmer and score lines about 1/4” from the edge of your mat (in this case the Early Espresso cardstock) on all sides to create that frame.

    Here is another picture to help show the scoring:

    And finally, isn’t it cool how the Argyle embossing folder, International Bazaar dsp, and Happy Hour stamp set all have similar patterns so they look perfect all stuck together?  Got to love when you can coordinate like this.

    So that is what I like about this card, but I’d love to hear what you think.  What is your favorite part of the card?

     

    Shop for Stamps and More Online, click here!

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

    Happy Hour Masculine Card Recipe
    Stamps:     Happy Hour
    Ink: Lucky Limeade, More Mustard, Early Espresso
    Paper: Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso, Whisper White, International Bazaar designer series paper
    Accessories: Big Shot, Argyle embossing folder, Simply Scored, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Naturals designer buttons, glue dots, White baker’s twine

  • Pennant Parade “Framed” Christmas Card

    I hear from almost everyone I meet when stamping the infamous phrase “I’m not creative”… so I thought for this month’s team meeting, I’d share an idea for a card that was completely inspired by a card in our demonstrator magazine Stampin’ Success.  It was all about taking an idea you see somewhere, getting inspired by the idea, and then making it your own.

    In this case, the idea was to punch or die cut a hole in a piece of cardstock and popping it up on dimensionals (foam dots) to give you a frame.  Then placing a cut or punched element in the middle of the frame.  In my case, I was inspired to pull out my Pennant Parade stamp set!

    Pennant Parade Christmas Tree full card

     

    So, all the folks who attended my meeting in person got to make one of these cards themselves and everyone else I shared how to make the card via webcam.  But the key elements is to take a piece of Gumball Green cardstock (in this case a 4”x4” piece) and slide the 2 1/2” circle punch as far in as it will go towards the center of the cardstock.  Punch out your hole and run the remaining square through your Big Shot to add texture.

    Pennant Parade Christmas Tree card

    I added a piece of patterned paper from the Festival of Prints designer paper stack behind the circle cut out – directly on the card base.

    Then everything else was popped up for dimension.  It looks like a lot but is actually a really fast and easy card since the tree is punched out with the Pennant Builder punch and the Merry was punched out with the Word Window punch.

    But try this card idea with layering other punch shapes or your favorite framelit for different looks and styles!

     

    New Updates in the Clearance Rack! ~ they are going fast!

    Everyone loves a great deal right?  Well, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that the Clearance Rack in the online store has been updated with a lot of awesome stuff including new Big Shot dies, new paper, ink spots, and more!

    Remember items are limited and while supplies last.  I know a number of items have already sold out, so if you see something you really want, make sure to grab it.

    Check out what is left in the Clearance Rack

    Shop for Stamps and More Online, click here!

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

     

    Pennant Parade Framed Christmas Card Recipe
    Stamps:     Pennant Parade
    Ink: Gumball Green, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler
    Paper: Gumball Green, Whisper White, Festival of Prints designer series paper
    Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Cherry Cobbler Scallop dotted ribbon, 2-1/2” Circle punch, Pennant Builder punch, Word Window punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Halloween Colors but not a Halloween Card

    This afternoon, I finally got to have some quality time with Photoshop on my computer and finished editing a bunch of project photos to share here on my blog.  However, when the time came to pick what to share with you tonight, I kept gravitating towards Christmas cards, and while I can’t wait to share more holiday ideas with you, I just wanted to give Halloween and pretty fall colors their time too.  🙂

    So I thought I would share this card I received as a swap at convention that I just loved.  I thought it was so pretty and a great way to show that a few simple punches and some tied ribbon can make a big impression.

     

    I don’t know who the designer was of this card since there is no name or contact info on it (though if you do know, please let me know so I can give proper credit!) but whoever you are, thanks for the great inspiration!

    All the butterflies are from the Papillion Potpourri stamp set and the main butterfly was punched using the new butterfly punch.  Yes, I know what is going on my Christmas and Birthday wish list!  I just love the versatility I see in this stamp set and punch.  Does anyone really miss the old butterfly punch?  🙂

    Anyway, hope you enjoyed this non-Christmas inspiration.  I’ll be back again with more Christmas cards soon!

    PS – Ready for the new Stampin’ Trimmer?

    I just want to make sure everyone had heard… Stampin’ Up! is finally ready with their new and very improved paper trimmer.  It is available for demonstrators to preorder now and will be available for all orders starting in November.  So get your wish lists ready!

    If you have any questions about the trimmer and why it is so awesome, let me know and I can fill you in.  I got to play with one at Convention and have been impatiently waiting ever since :).

     

    Shop for Stamps and More Online, click here!

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

    Papillion Potpourri Orange and Black Card Recipe
    Stamps:     Teeny Tiny Wishes, Papillion Potpourri
    Ink: Tangerine Tango, Basic Black
    Paper: Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
    Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Basic Black Scallop dotted ribbon, Tangerine Tango 1/8” taffeta ribbon, 1-3/8” circle punch, butterfly punch, scallop circle punch, word window punch, modern label punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, basic rhinestones