Northwest Stamper

Category: Cards

  • Time For the New Summer Smooches Suite

    For the first time in a long time, I didn’t preorder the sneak peek products – the Summer Smooches Suite.  I know, I know… if you get the perk as a demonstrator to get to see and order them early, why wouldn’t you?  I guess I was indecisive about what I wanted but I knew I loved the Fabric Brads (even though they will only be available in April) and the bright colors of the Summer Smooches designer paper have been calling to me since seeing them.  And finally, my shipment showed up yesterday and so this is one of the first cards I made:

     

    I’ve been wanting to try out this idea of a “peek-a-boo” designer paper and after being inspired by a card on Stampin’ Connection (the online demonstrator community) I started creating and the card kept evolving.  For this style of card, you punch a shape out of your top layer of paper and then layer a different color or print behind the holes.  I love how the fabric brad matches the print of the designer paper and the neutral-ness of the Crumb Cake cardstock lets the Tangerine Tango color really stand out.

    One fun thing I did was to punch the flower with the Fancy Flower punch and then I cut between the petals about halfway towards the center of the flower so I could curl up the petals.

     

    Now since I was working on this card for my Cards to Go kit for April as well as a local class, I wanted to make sure I had the design figured out so that as soon as my package arrived with the Smooches stuff, I could cut the right sizes of paper and be ready to go.  So, I ran my first experiment using the Sweet Shop Specialty designer paper from the Occassions mini and the retired Sweet Stitches fabric brads.

     

    I think I love fabric brads… I’m just bummed they are only here for April and won’t be returning when the new catalog arrives in June.  So if you love them too, make sure you order soon!

    Check out all of the Summer Smooches Suite here


    available as a sneak peek in April only!

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!
    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

    Peek-a-boo Smooches Card Recipe:

    Stamps: Pennant Parade
    Ink: Soft Suede Classic
    Paper: Summer Smooches designer paper, Crumb Cake cardstock, Island Indigo cardstock, Whisper White cardstock
    Accessories: Summer Smooches fabric brad, Fancy Flower punch, 2 1/2” circle punch, 1” circle punch, Sponge Daubers, Island Indigo bakers twine, Scallop edge punch, Stampin’ dimensionals

  • New Deals in the Clearance Rack!

    If you haven’t seen the Stampin’ Up! Clearance Rack, now is the perfect time to check it out!  Stampin’ Up! just added more goodies to the clearance section of the online store and you can get some great deals on items from the past holiday mini as well as punches and past Sale-a-Bration accessories!

    The only catch is that supplies are limited and until inventory runs out.  So if you see something you want, grab it now before it is gone!  And yes, Clearance Rack purchases count for punches with my Northwest Stamper rewards program!

    My favorite items in the clearance rack today:

    – Card Keeper Boxes for only $3.49
    – Ice Cream Parlor Ribbon and Button Pack $3.99
    – Cherry Trim 6×6 Designer Scrapbook Album $4.39
    – And all the punches!!!

    Shop the Clearance Rack Sale Now 

     

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, 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 Sponged Easter Egg Card

    Happy Easter weekend everyone!  I hope you have sunshine and wonderful events planned with family and friends this holiday weekend.  Today we are getting ready to go out for egg hunts and coloring some eggs at home with family.  But before we head out, I wanted to share the first eggs I colored this year…. for a card. 🙂

     

     

    I had this idea to use sponging to create eggs for my card and so I grabbed my handy dandy Extra-Large Oval Punch.  Then I punched out an oval on scrap paper and pulled a pile of ink pads and sponges and got to work masking my Easter Eggs.  Of course, I made the eggs on a piece of scrap white paper and then had to design the card around the colored eggs. 🙂  But I added some paper for grass and then threw on some Early Espresso baker’s twine and the adorable Twitterpated buttons.

     

     

    So, consider this my Easter card to you. 🙂  Have a great weekend!

     

    To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!
    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards?  Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set!  Click here to learn more!

    Sponged Easter Egg Card Recipe:

    Stamps:  Delightful Dozen
    Ink:  Chocolate Chip classic, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Wisteria Wonder, So Saffron, Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride
    Paper: Daffodil Delight CS, Pear Pizzazz CS, Whisper White CS
    Accessories: Twitterpated buttons, glue dots, Early Espresso baker’s twine, yellow sponge

  • Using Up Those Scraps!

    So, I recently reorganized my craft room yet again.  I’ve been fine tuning it for efficiency for how I find I craft in my space.  Well, after the last clean up, I realized I had a ton of useful looking scraps lying around on my table.  Now, normally I brush them into a pile and put them in a bag to “use later”.  Though really what happens is that my scrap bag gets bigger and bigger and I always forget what I have.

    Today I decided to use up those scraps now so that I didn’t have them hanging around for years to come. 🙂  So, I did not cut one single thing for this card… everything was already cut and lying around.  I just had to glue, stamp, and add a brad.  Not too bad, huh?

     

     

    The card base was a “whoopsie” that I did for a class sample.  The other pieces were all left over scraps from making other class samples as well.  Even the ribbon I just needed to trim the ends and I was good to go.

     

     

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

     

    Everyday Enchantment Thank You Card Recipe:

    Stamps:  Thank You Kindly
    Ink:  Chocolate Chip classic
    Paper: Everyday Enchantment designer paper (SAB), Crumb Cake CS, Tempting Turquoise CS, Pool Party CS, Lucky Limeade CS, Calypso Coral CS
    Accessories: Everyday Enchantment brads and organdy ribbon (SAB), Big Shot, Framlits Labels, Blossom Triple Layer punch, Paper Piercer, SU Glue stick, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Summer Smooches Sneak Peek is Here!

    It may be April Fool’s Day, but there is no foolin here!  🙂  (Ok, and honestly I just couldn’t think of a good April Fool’s Day joke to play, so you just get the straight stuff from me today. hee hee).

    If you are on my mailing list, you’ve seen this flyer in last month’s newsletter; but now its finally time for everyone to have a chance to check out all of the sneak peek goodies from the upcoming 2012-2013 Stampin’ Up! catalog.  Introducing the Summer Smooches collection:

     

    Summer Smooches Sneak Peek

    summer smooches flyer page 2

    Most of these items will be available in the catalog that starts June 1st (yes, that is 1 month earlier than in years past!) but for the month of April, you can get them early and start playing with them now.

    I will give you the heads up, the décor stencil (picture #3 on the first page of the flyer) and the adorable fabric brads (picture #5 on page 2 of the flyer) are available in APRIL ONLY.  So, they will not be in the upcoming catalog.  So if you love them, you may want to snag them now.

    So, want to see these bad boys in action?  Check out this fab sample from Stampin’ Up!

    summer smooches sample wm

    Seriously, how summery fun is that?  You have the cheery Summer Smooches designer paper, the matching Summer Smooches fabric on the flower, the Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon – yep that’s right, a new color of seam binding! yay! , and the cutsie patoosie Summer Smooches fabric brads.

    I’m thinking I need to do a giveaway this month… and I really ought to giveaway something from the Summer Smooches collection.  Leave me a comment with what your favorite new item from the Summer Smooches sneak peek and help me pick what I should giveaway this month.   Based on what I hear from folks, I’ll pick a fabulous prize and share the details of the drawing here on my blog soon.

    But until then, enjoy browsing the new goodies!

     

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

  • Framelits Window Card with Vellum

    Once again, I had a card idea that I’ve been sitting on for a while and this week I finally got around to trying it out.  I love how it turned out so much that this will be one of the cards featured in April’s Cards to Go kit (so if you want step-by-step instructions with photos or to have the supplies sent to you to make this card, make sure you sign up by April 5th)!

    Well, I’ve loved how vellum looks when you run it through an embossing folder and the framelits make a perfect window, so I put them together and this came out:

     

    This card also uses the Everyday Enchantment designer paper from the Sale-a-Bration catalog (last day to get it is today!!) and it shows that just because most of the designs look vintage, doesn’t mean you have to make a vintage card with it.  Anyway, used the 2nd and 3rd smallest framelits to make my window and cut all the way through to the inside of my cardbase.  Now, if I had been paying attention, I would have moved the dimensional on my balloon down a little bit… but oh well! :p

     

    And finally, to add a bit of whimsy to my card, I punched out a couple of balloons with baker’s twine cords and attached them below my window.

     

    It isn’t a super fancy card, but I think it has enough cool touches to make it a special card for a special person. Would you agree?

    And, finally, my last reminder…..

    LAST DAY to take advantage of the Sale-a-Bration deals!!

    Don’t miss the great deals:

    • Free product with every $50 you order… this includes stamps, paper, brads, ribbon, embossing folders, cardstock, card kits, etc.  Your choice!  Shop online now.
    • Save $50 when you join my team as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator!  Get over $345 in supplies for only $125 plus designer paper of your choice for FREE each month for the rest of the year.

    Plus, you earn a punch on your Stampin’ Rewards card for every $40 you spend with me .  So you’ll be stacking awesome deal on top of awesome deal!  Gotta love that!

    So, hope you enjoyed the card today.  I can’t wait to send it out to my Cards to Go folks.  Hopefully it will brighten up their day like it did mine. 🙂

     

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

     

  • 2 Days Left of Sale-a-Bration!

    Oh my, where has the time gone? I was talking with someone yesterday about how we had time to get their Sale-a-bration order in so they could get the Fresh Vintage stamp set and they reminded me that the 31st is Saturday!! Crazy!

    So, since I know there were some folks out there who had been considering taking advantage of the amazing deal that is the starter kit, I just wanted to remind you that you have until tomorrow night to sign up to get this killer deal. So what is it you get?

    Get over $345 worth of supplies for only $125 plus free shipping!

    and… everyone who signs up by the end of day tomorrow also gets a free package of designer series paper each month for the rest of the year!

    I know, crazy, right?!? And don’t forget, the starter kit is totally customizable too. So, you can swap out stamp sets, paper, ink, ribbon, even the punch for something that is perfect for you.

    So if you are looking at becoming a demonstrator as a hobby to get the sneak peeks and a discount on everything you order – or if you are interested in starting your own business where you set your own hours and can work in your jammies and earn money too – now is a great time to sign up! Check out all the benefits of being a demonstrator and let me know if you are ready to go by Saturday night!

    And now I thought I’d share another idea for how to use some of those cute Sale-a-Bration exclusive items like the Outlined Occasions stamp set and the Everyday Elegance organdy ribbon:

     

    outlined occasion card copy

    Cute, right? Well, I’ll be back tomorrow with another fun card idea but until then…

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

    Everyday Enchantment Thinking of You Card Recipe:

    Stamps: Outlined Occasions*
    Ink: Black Staz on, Poppy Parade classic, Blushing Bride marker, Pool Party marker, Poppy Parade marker
    Paper: Whisper White CS, Blushing Bride CS, Pool Party CS, Poppy Parade CS, Everyday Enchantment designer paper    *

    Accessories: silver mini brads, in color designer printed brads, Everyday Enchantment ribbon & brad pack*, Blossom Bouquet triple layer punch, Big Shot, Polka Dot embossing folder

    * Sale-a-bration exclusive item only available through 3/31/12

  • Faux Tiling with Fresh Vintage

    I’ve been wanting to try out Faux Tiling for a while and thought the big flower image from the Fresh Vintage stamp set was perfect for this look!

     

    To make the Faux Tiling look on your cards, I grabbed my Simply Scored score board and the matching Diagonal score plate to get the grid lines.  For the sample above, I started by having my paper positioned long side along the top of the score board (so with one edge stretching from 0 to 4.5”) and started doing a diagonal score every 1”.  Then, you just rotate your paper to finish out the grid lines so that they go both ways to make your diamond shapes.

    tip: For the faux tile look, do your score lines first and then stamp on your paper.  If you don’t press your stamp down too hard, this will keep the ink off the grooves giving you those nice white lines in your image, reinforcing the tile look.

    I kept it simple with my colors and just added some sponging to the white strip and punched circle.  Finally, it may be hard to tell in the picture but I added a rhinestone to the center of the flower for a little bit of sparkle. 🙂

    Did you want this stamp set? Only 3 days left to get it!

    image

    I’ve had a few people ask me about buying this stamp set and so I wanted to make sure everyone realized that this is a promotional stamp set that is only available to be earned during Sale-a-Bration.  So, while you can’t buy it, you can order $50 of whatever you’d like from any of the catalogs and get it for FREE.  You just have to place your order before the evening of March 31st; after that, it will be no longer available.

    You can shop online or shoot me an email at jennifer@nwstamper.com and I’ll make sure you are all set up.

     

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

     

    Everyday Enchantment Thinking of You Card Recipe:

    Stamps:  Fresh Vintage, Just Believe
    Ink:  Real Red classic, Basic Black classic
    Paper: Whisper White CS, Real Red CS, Basic Black CS
    Accessories: Simply Scored score board, Simply Scored diagonal plate, 3/4” circle punch, sponge, Stampin’ dimensionals, basic Rhinestones

  • Everyday Enchantment CASE

    Last night was my Creative Card night and it was the perfect opportunity for me to try out a few different card ideas that I had been wanting to play with.  One of those ideas was to play around with a design by my downline, Pam Wu.  She had made this very cool card using the Sale-a-Bration Everyday Enchantment designer paper and framelits, and so when I was trying to create something for my class; it was the perfect place to start.  In the end I changed things up a bit, but its clear the inspiration came from her!

     

     

    I loved her idea for using the Everyday Enchantment brads in the center of the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch.  I also really liked how the designer paper looked with the scallop trim border punch on each side of the paper.  So I started with those elements and went from there.  I had wanted to play with the organdy ribbon that came with the Everyday Enchantment brads and so I wrapped it around and through the scallop trim.

     

    Finally, I had the hardest time deciding how to do a sentiment (though I think it would look just fine without one).  I ended up pulling out my Curly Cute stamp set and getting a little creative.  Because the words are so close together on the stamp, I used a marker to color one word at a time and stamped them spaced out on my cardstock.  Then I could cut them out with extra padding around the words and sponge the edges to help them blend.

    Only 4 Days Left to Earn Sale-a-Bration Products!

    If you are loving this designer paper (or the Organdy ribbon and brads) like I am, just a reminder that they are only available for 4 more days.  After the 31st, they will not be available again!  So, don’t miss out.  Shop online or email me and we’ll make sure you get your favs.

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

    Everyday Enchantment Thinking of You Card Recipe:

    Stamps:  Curly Cute
    Ink:  Chocolate Chip marker, Lucky Limeade classic
    Paper: Everyday Enchantment designer paper (SAB), Chocolate Chip CS, Pool Party CS, Lucky Limeade CS, Calypso Coral CS
    Accessories: Everyday Enchantment brads and organdy ribbon (SAB), Scallop Trim Border punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers

  • A Rainbow of Thanks

    I don’t know if you’ve heard, but while a lot of the country is seeming sunny and warm, Seattle has been getting strange bouts of hail and snow.  Rain, i would understand in Seattle in March, but snow??  Weird.  Anyway, I needed to put together some thank you cards for some recent orders and I guess I was thinking bright and sunny because this is what came out:

    Aren’t they so cheerful?!

    I grabbed my square punch, some scraps, and my always by my side Big Shot and pulled these together.  I glued the colored squares in a row to some scrap white paper before running them through my Big Shot with the Lattice embossing folder.  then just glue to your card front, add a stamped image and some ribbon and you have a bright sun-shiny card!

    Don’t forget! This stamp set – Outlined Occasions – is only available for another week as part of Sale-a-Bration.  You can get it free with your $50 order and it is a totally fun set to have since it is perfect for coloring in to match the rest of your card.

     

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

    Rainbow Thanks Card Recipe:

    Stamps:  Outlined Occasions
    Ink:  Basic Black classic, Real Red marker, Peach Parfait marker, Daffodil Delight marker, Pear Pizzazz marker, Marina Mist marker, Concord Crush marker, Perfect Plum marker
    Paper: Crumb Cake cardstock, Whisper White cs, Real Red cs, Peach Parfait cs, Daffodil Delight cs, Pear Pizzazz cs, Marina Mist cs, Concord Crush cs, Perfect Plum cs
    Accessories:  Pear Pizzazz 1/2” Poly Stitched ribbon, Big Shot, Lattice Embossing folder

  • More Watercoloring Card Samples–crayons & markers

    Today I wanted to share a couple more samples from my watercoloring class.  In my last post, I shared a card we did using chalks and for today, I thought I’d show some cards using watercolor crayons and markers.  As you can see, the medium you use for your watercoloring gives you totally different effects!

    Also, one more PSA – I always tell folks that the paper you stamp on makes a huge difference in your image quality and with watercoloring that is especially true.  Both of the techniques I ‘m showing you today need watercolor paper.  With the crayons, your image will not stamp well on the semi-gloss of Whisper White paper and with markers, you’ll tend to have your paper pill up or curl.

    Watercolor Crayons

     

     

    This card uses the watercolor crayons and I’ll admit it isn’t the best sample in the world; but it shows you how the crayons give you a more artsy watercolor look. With the crayons you color directly on your stamp and then mist it with water before stamping.  So, depending on how much you color on your stamp and how much water you use, you will get a more or less “blurred” image when you stamp.

    tip: Be careful not to completely douse your stamp with water when you are wetting it because you can either have your colors run together or become so diluted that they barely color your page.

    Watercoloring with markers

     

     

    This is one of my favorite watercoloring techniques because it is so easy and I really like the look you get from it.  This technique uses markers to lay down your color and then using your blender pen to pull the color around to fill in your stamped area.  When I was a kid, I used to outline my pictures in my coloring books and then color in lightly inside the lines and so it gave me a similar effect as I got on this card.  So, maybe this has always been my thing. 🙂

    tip: You will want to pick a medium to dark color marker for this technique.  If you use a lighter shade, you won’t really see the colors very well as you blend them into your open spaces.

    Well, I hope this gave you some new ideas to try!  They are all so different and fun that it is worth trying them all!

    If you haven’t done any watercoloring before, pick up some blender pens, watercolor paper, and your favorite color method (like ink pads, markers, chalks, etc).  Need help deciding which to start with?  Send me a note at jennifer@nwstamper.com and I’ll help you figure it all out and get them on their way to you!

     

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

     

    Are you earning your rewards points?  With each purchase, you can be earning your way to free stamps!  Check out all the details on my Customer Rewards here.

  • Watercoloring with Chalks Card Sample

    One of the things I love about teaching technique classes is that I’m often reminded of how cool a technique or a product is that I haven’t used in ages.  In this case, it is using my Stampin’ Pastels (chalks).  I ran a watercoloring technique class this weekend where we used 5 different methods for watercoloring on your card and when I do this, one of the mediums I always use is chalks.  And I think this is the first time in about a year my chalks go pulled out.  Well, it won’t be another year I can tell you that!

     

     

    I kept my cards simple so that folks would have more time to focus on the actual technique.  When I was making this sample, I was struck with how vibrant of a color you can get with chalks!  I use a blender pen to apply the color and when you are using chalks(just take the pen directly to your chalk), the pen actually picks up some of the chalk itself – so it is more like you are painting on your color.  Plus, since you are depositing a thicker layer of color (a thin layer of the chalk), when you try to layer your colors, you can get rich colors on top of another color.

     

     

    It was so easy to do, I wished I had stamped a more complicated image or tried to use more colors in my sample.  So, I know I’ll be playing with this more since I love how it turns out!  If you have any quesitons about how to use your Stampin’ Pastels for watercoloring, let me know and I’ll try to answer them in an upcoming blog post!

     

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

    Watercoloring with Chalk Card Recipe:

    Stamps:  Easy Events
    Ink:  Basic Black classic
    Paper: Watercolor paper, Pear Pizzazz Cardstock, Chocolate Chip CS, Concord Crush CS, River Rock CS
    Accessories:  Concord Crush 1/2” Poly Stitched ribbon, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Blender Pen, Stampin’ Pastels