Northwest Stamper

Category: Clean & Simple

  • Quick & Easy Thank You Card for a new Design Team!

    Today is the kick off for a new blog that I’m excited to be a design team member for – Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration!  It is a blog that will have daily posts to help give you new ideas and project challenges to inspire new ideas for you to try at home!  Most of the posts will have a particular theme and have many of the design team members showing you different takes on that theme.  Fun, right?

    So, the theme for today was Quick & Easy Cards and you know that is right up my alley!  I love clean and simple and with 2 small kids, quick is key.  So, here is my take on the idea:

    I will tell you this card was inspired by a card I saw from my friend, Katy Kirwan, and while the finished project doesn’t really look anything like what she created, I still like them both. Smile 

    To create my card, I created my own designer paper by using the Chevron background stamp from Stampin’ Up! and then layered on the punched out sentiment.  It still needed a little something, so I added some of the Pear Pizzazz Chevron ribbon (sshhh, don’t tell anyone I used two different greens on this card!) and while I was worried the fact that the stamped and the ribbon chevrons go in different directions, I still think it totally works!

    Card Supplies Used (all Stampin’ Up unless noted)

    Stamps – Designer Typeset Photopolymer Stamp Set, Chevron Background
    Ink – Pistachio Pudding, Baked Brown Sugar
    Paper – Whisper White, Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding
    Accessories – Petite Curly Label Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Pear Pizzazz Chevron Ribbon

    So, what do you think?  Quick? Easy?  But totally fun!  I’m actually using this for my Cute & Classic Card Class tonight, so hopefully they have fun with it too! 

    And if you are looking for more quick and easy ideas, hop on over to our Inkspiration blog and check out all the fab ideas for more great projects. 

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    Oh, and before I forget!

    It’s Here! The Stampin’ Trimmer Rotary Attachment is now Available!

    imageOk, I may be the only person on the planet who is excited about this, but I-CANNOT-WAIT to order my rotary trimmer attachment. 

    Why do I care so much?

    I have found that I really LOVE my Stampin’ Trimmer and the little blades that come with it work great.  But when you are cutting grittier material (like glimmer paper) or want to cut more than one sheet of cardstock at a time, the little blades just don’t do as good a job. 

    So I had been periodically missing my rotary cutting board (except not missing the fact that that Fiskars board could not cut a cardbase straight if I had to!).  But now I have the best of both worlds!  This replaces the clear arm and track for the little blades and the rotary attachment is available as of 8/9/2013!  So, I’ll be ordering mine today and will let you know how it goes. Smile 

     

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  • Quick Thank You Cards with Chalk Talk

    I’ve been learning something about myself this week – when I’m in the middle of a big task, I have a hard time focusing on other things.  So, in this case, when I completely pull apart my craft room,

    Messy Craft Room

    I was having a heck of a time bringing myself to do any new crafting or even work on blog posts.  Instead I have been focused on organizing my stamps, converting my woodmount stamps to the new woodmount cases, and figuring out what items I can bring myself to part with for my craft garage sale August 17th & 18th (the pile is growing for sure!)

    But my room is just about ready to go – and I promise I’ll share pictures of the reorganized space this weekend – so I wanted to stop back over here on the blog to say hello and share a set of cards that my mom, Kathy Thisted, made for me that I thought were so cute!

    I loved these little mini thank you cards and thought they were a fun way to use the new Chalk Talk stamp set.  Since the stamp set coordinates with the Chalk Talk framelits (and gets you a discount when you buy both in a bundle), many of the samples I’ve seen used the framelits with the stamps.  So I loved seeing some quick ideas using the stamps without the dies.

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    Card Supplies Used
    Stamps- Chalk Talk
    Paper- 2013-2015 In Colors, Basic Black
    Ink- Whisper White craft ink
    Accessories- White gel pen, Natural Trim ribbon, White 1/4” grosgrain (retired), striped grosgrain ribbon (retired), White embossing powder, heat gun

    Blog Hop Tomorrow!
    Join me tomorrow as it is the monthly blog hop as well the kick off of a new blog that I am an inaugural design team member for!  Should be lots of fun. Smile   See you tomorrow!

     

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  • Playing a Bit with Stamping on Vellum

    What is that item in your craft room that you completely forget about and then when you find it, you suddenly remember how cool it is?  For me, I always do that with vellum!  I never think to pull it out, but when I do, I have the best time with it.

    Take today’s card for example:

    It is simple card, but the vellum gives you a way to add a little extra pop without worrying about finding the exact right color designer paper.  Its like a frosted window in a way. Smile 

    Plus, don’t you love this message?  I need to make something for my desk with this sentiment reminding me to everyday live the life I want to be living, not doing the same old thing wishing things were different.  I love my life but I know there is always room to grow and make things even better!

    Stampin Up! Supplies Used

    Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Really Good Greetings
    Ink: Coastal Cabana, Basic Black
    Paper: Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, White Vellum
    Accessories: Scallop Trim Border punch, Basic Rhinestones, 2-way Glue Pen, Stampin’ Dimensionals

    Have an item in your craft room that you need inspiration or a reminder how to use?

    I want to start up a new feature on the blog where, based on suggestions from readers, I highlight some fun ideas and uses for an often forgotten or unused item in your craft room. 

    So, if you have a great candidate, shoot me an email at jennifer@nwstamper.com or leave a comment and I can feature your favorite soon!

     

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  • 5 Minutes to Cute–Thank You Card

    You would think that the fact that I have two toddlers running around my house would mean all the cards I make are super fast cards…. Nooooooo, that would make too much sense!  ha ha!

    But when I was working on cards for a recent card class, I came up with this simple design that is quick to make and still totally cute and pulled together (if I do say so myself!)

    This stamp image is from the Easy Events stamp set.  Of course they are retiring this stamp set on me!  I love having stamp sets that have images and sentiments for a bunch of different occasions.  Sure there is For the Birds and Embellished Events… but I have a soft spot for Easy Events.

    Anyway, I kept the overall design of the card simple and instead focused on little touches here and there

    Some piercing around the circle (using the Essentials Piercing Pack) and a Designer Build a Brad for an extra accent.  And if you are curious, I just stamped the flower image again and then colored it in with the Certainly Celery marker and punched out just the flower head to go in the center of the designer brad.

    Add some sponging and you are done!

     

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

    See the Latest Availability & PDFs of all the retiring stamps and accessories here

    Supples Used
    Stamps     – Easy Events
    Paper – Whisper White, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
    Ink – Basic Black, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink marker, Certainly Celery marker
    Accessories – Designer Build a Brad, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Bitty Punch Pack, Essentials Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer, 2 1/2” Circle Punch, 1 3/4” Circle Punch

  • Clean and Simple Any Occasion Card for the Button Buddies Class

    Since tomorrow is the last day to get in on the Early Bird pricing for my All Occasions Stamp a Stack featuring Button Buddies, I thought I would share another card we will be making next Friday.

    This may be my favorite card from the set, just because of the simplicity of the card but all the pops of color keep it from being boring.

    Button Buddies Clean and Simple Flower Vase card full

     

    The thing I really liked about this stamp set is that it literally is made to match the designer buttons.  So this card has flower images coming out of the vase, but they are the right shape and size to be perfectly covered up by the flower designer buttons (which, I might add, I am very sad to see retiring this year.  Sure the new buttons are cute, but I like my little flowers Smile)

    Button Buddies Clean and Simple Flower Vase card

    So if you want to make this or want a kit to make all the cards we will be creating in the class next week, let me know asap!

    Early Bird Savings ends Tomorrow!

    Like I mentioned, we’ll be making 8 cards!  Yup, one for each stamp in the Button Buddies set.  And you get to make them all for only $20 if you RSVP with your prepayment by tomorrow!  After that it goes up to $25 for the class fee.  Oh, and did I mention you’ll be entered for a drawing to win a Button Buddies stamp set?!

    So, don’t miss out!

    Button Buddies Class Options

     

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

    See the Latest Availability & PDFs of all the retiring stamps and accessories here

    Supples Used
    Stamps     – Button Buddies, Petite Pairs
    Paper – Whisper White, Old Olive
    Ink – Old Olive, Real Red
    Accessories – Brights designer buttons, Whisper White baker’s twine, Glue Dots, Paper Snips

  • Elegant Thank You Card using Emboss Resist

    Ever have one of those days where your mojo is kicking in and you are able to make some projects that just make you smile?

    I hope so!  Yesterday was one of those days for me and I was having such a blast finishing getting ready for my Awesome Embossing class this weekend.  I had such a hard time narrowing down what I wanted to showcase for the class since there are so many cool embossing techniques and so many variations on what you can do with many of them.  But I focused down to 4 different ideas that I loved.  However, my absolute favorite was the card I’m sharing today – the Emboss Resist card!

    Emboss resist

     

    I had just gotten my new Lacy and Lovely stamp set…so glad I got this set!…and I thought it would be perfect for this technique.  I tried to stick to a more monochromatic style card even though I added a few other hits of color; and so my focus was on the Calypso Coral elements around the white embossed doily image.

    Seriously, this is so quick to do and such a pretty result!  I’ve decided I’m going to do this card for my swaps at the Stampin’ Up! regionals in Tacoma in a couple weeks.  So if you are going to Tacoma, find me and I’ll swap with you. 🙂

    And this isn’t the best picture, but I thought I’d share a sneaky peek at my first Halloween card and another embossing card for the class:

     

    I promise I’ll share the full card soon!

    Well, I’m off to take my family to the Puyallup fair.  This will be Nicholas and Caitlin’s first time at a big fair and hopefully they love seeing the animals, displays, and other fair favorites while we are there!  Wish me luck that I don’t get sucked into too many “you’ve never seen a knife that cuts like this!” demos and displays.  🙂  I love all the too-good-to-be-true stuff that seems to always be offered at these events.

    Now just ask me how many of the items like that that I’ve bought at fairs have actually gotten use after I’ve gotten home… no wait, maybe you better not. 😉

     

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  • Yet Another Betsy’s Blossom Card…now with Framelits

    Ok, apparently I’m a fan of the Betsy’s Blossom stamp set. 🙂  Here is another card that I made recently with it…. again, highlighting some of the new and cute designer series paper. 🙂  Though this time it is the Floral District paper.  I thought it could stand on it’s own pretty well don’t you think?

     

    I stamped a Rich Razzleberry bird from Betsy’s Blossom and then a sentiment from the Bitty Banners stamp set.  Then the coolest part… BANNER FRAMELITS!!!  Yay for cute banners that are no work at all to cut out!!!  See, look at how nicely they match:

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    Itty Bitty Banners Stamp set

    Banners Framelits

    See, how stinkin easy is that?  🙂

    Any way, I also pulled out my trusty vellum for a nice way to help the stamped images stand out without distracting from the patterned background.  Sure I know this card is simple but I love it anyway!

    Have you tried the Banner framelits and if so what do you think?  Do you love them as much as I do?

     

    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!

    Floral District Thank You Card Recipe

    Stamps: Betsy’s Blossom, Itty Bitty Banners
    Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Basic Grey
    Paper: Floral District dsp, Whisper White cs, So Saffron cs, Rich Razzleberry cs, Vellum cs

    Accessories: Big Shot, Banner Framelits, Glue dots, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Basic Rhinestones