Northwest Stamper

Category: Techniques

  • Experimenting with the Stampin’ Up! Letterpress Dies

    As I mentioned last week, I received the new Letterpress Dies and made my first card using the method recommended on the packaging.  However, I’m not always good with rules and recommendations and so I had to start experimenting myself with how these dies worked with different inks, paper, and BigShot “sandwich” combinations.

    I wanted to share my results with you so you could try some of these ideas out yourself or avoid the methods that didn’t work so well.

    But first – a new sample using the bigger Trick or Treat letterpress die:

    The green ribbon in the Pumpkin Pie button is actually the 1/4” Old Olive grosgrain ribbon cut in half.  If you do this to thread through a button, I highly recommend using a needle to thread it through the holes.  I was using the “wet the end of the ribbon, twist, squint, shove, and hope enough gets through to grab with your fingernails” technique.  Lets just say the ribbon frays much more easily that way.

    Experimenting with Paper, Ink, and BigShot techniques

    Click Read More to see my experiments with the Letterpress dies including photos for the different papers, inks, and techniques I used. (more…)

  • Sponging up a No Layer Card

    Each week, the Late Night Stampers group has some kind of challenge.  This week was particularly intriguing to me as the challenge was to create a single/no layer card.  When I first read this, I thought, “won’t these cards be boring?”  Well, boy was I wrong!  Folks came up with all kinds of cool ways to make a card look interesting without needing lots of layers of paper and embellishments.  So, I took up the challenge and decided to create one myself, no paper layers, no embellishment layers, just paper and ink.

    Here is what I came up with:

    Using scoring lines and sponging, this card turned out much better than I expected.  I scored the outer frame at about 1” in from the top and the bottom of the card and about 1/2” in from the sides of the card.  Then I scored the inner frame about 1/4” in from the outer frame.  I then masked at the inner frame lines and sponged with Pink Pirouette ink and stamped my flowers using Blushing Bride and Rich Razzleberry.  Next I masked the inner part of the score lines so I could sponge the outer areas with Pink Pirouette and finished it off by sponging the edges of the card in Rich Razzleberry.

    Tip:  Did you know that it is easy to score at precise measurements that don’t go to the edge of your paper using a paper cutter and a bone folder?  For a frame like I created above, grab a paper cutter that uses a grooved track for cutting like this one and position your paper to the dimension you want to score.  So, if you were scoring the sides of the frame above, you would put your paper at 3 3/4” so that you are scoring 1/2” in from the side of your 4 1/4” card front.  Then use the bone folder instead of the cutting blade and use the ruler on the cutting track to help you score the length you want – so in this case, from 4 1/2” to 1”.  Keep doing that for each side of your frame, and voila!  You are done!

    Need a bone folder or a grooved paper cutter?  You can order them here!

    No Layer Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Petal Pizazz, Just Believe
    Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
    Paper:  Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Paper cutter, bone folder, sponges

  • A Letterpress Card for the Stamping 411 Challenge #168

    If you’ve seen the holiday mini, you’ve seen one of the new products Stampin’ Up! just released – the Letterpress Plates.  These plates are made to use with your BigShot and instead of embossing your image by causing the pattern to raise up off your paper, these plates deboss your image – making empressed images that go into your page.  Add some craft ink, and you get imprinted colored images to spiff up your project.

    At convention this year, Stampin’ Up! unveiled the plates and then offered a special convention bundle of all the letterpress plates at a discount for convention attendees.  Yet another awesome benefit of being a demo (see even more benefits here).  So, I decided to try them out and after getting my bundle, spent some time this weekend playing with them.  So, today, here is the first card I made with the Northern Trim plate for the Stamping 411 sketch challenge.

    I’ve also been playing with different types of papers and inks, so check back later this week as I’ll be posting my results and offering tips for what I’ve found from using the plates.  Until then, here is the video Stampin’ Up! released to show you more possibilities with these plates.

    Oh, P.S. – if you are a demo or become a demo when attending their regional seminar, they have another special bundle just for attendees!  Contact me at jennifer@nwstamper.com for more info or find out how to be my guest when I go to the Portland Regionals in October.

     

    Demonstrating the Letterpress Dies

    Kind Thanks Recipe:
    Stamps:     Thank You Kindly
    Ink:  Always Artichoke Classic ink, Always Artichoke Craft Ink, Rose Red Craft Ink
    Paper:  Elegant Soiree DSP, Basic Black CS, Rose Red CS, Confetti White CS, Always Artichoke CS
    Accessories:  Basic Black Satin ribbon, Scallop edge punch, Basic Rhinestones, Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware, Modern Label punch, glue dots, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Jack-o-Lantern Gift Card Holder

    As I was thinking about projects for the Halloween Punch Art Blog Hop, I came up with this idea in my head for an interactive Jack-o-Lantern.  I had ideas for making it hold a gift card and some other stuff, but when I sat down to make it, it just wasn’t coming together.  Finally today I got some more time with it and this is what I came up with:

    He may look small in the picture, but he is actually made using the Scallop Oval Bigz Die for the BigShot.  I think he is about 5”x4.5” or something like that.  But you see the scallop cut at the top of the pumpkin?  That’s because…. Surprise!  He’s a gift card holder.

    I wanted this to be a stand alone card/project but at first I had a hard time making it work.  I even have a card base all ready to adhere him to; but after I had the sticky strip in place, I was inspired to try one more time to make him all pumpkin.  So, 3 more ovals later….

    This entire card was made using punches and BigShot dies.  Once I had the design down, it was really easy to make and fun too.  The gift card rectangle part actually slides into and out of the pumpkin, so when you have the gift card in place, it just looks like a pumpkin front and back.  So, something a little different, but a lot of fun.

    Funny side note – I don’t actually have the scallop oval Bigz die, so I made this guy by tracing the oval from a swap I had received and then using that to trace and hand cut out 6 ovals!  What we do for the love of our craft. 🙂

    Punches used –
    Bigz die (Scallop oval), Large Star punch (eyes & nose), 1/2” circle punch (eyes),  Large Oval punch & Wide Oval punch (mouth), Modern Label (stem), Corner Rounder (gift card holder), Slit punch (gift card holder), 3’/4” circle (spider), Curly Label punch (spider legs)

    Want the tutorial?
    I have had numerous requests for the instructions and so I’ve created a full tutorial with step-by-step instructions and photos for each step.  The 14 page, full-color pdf will be emailed to you for only $1.95.


    In the San Francisco Bay Area? I’d love to stamp with you!  Check out my calendar of events at http://nwstamper.stampinup.net/events or drop me a line to schedule a time for your own personal crafting time!

  • Halloween Punch Art blog hop

    Man, can you believe the stores are already putting out their Halloween decorations and candy?  I guess that means the holiday season is creeping up on us.  But that also means fun holiday projects like a ton of fabulous Halloween Punch art.  I’m participating in a blog hop with 13 other extremely creative folks.  I had a ton of ideas and they are mostly half done on my craft table.  So, while I work on figuring out what to do with my little creatures on the table, here is a quick card I created after being inspired by a skull image I saw online.

    I have to say that Mr Bones here  looks even cuter in real life. 🙂 I made his head by punching out a 1 3/4″ circle and then using the word window punch to cut out the sides of his face for cheeks.  I used a few different circle punches to get his eyes and the small heart from the Heart to Heart punch to make his nose.  His jaw is made using the wide oval punch.  You punch out an oval from white cardstock and then punch the center of the oval out using the wide oval punch again.  His bow tie is the modern label punch that I trimmed in the top and bottom to make the bow tie shape and then added some additional circles for the knot.  Kinda snazzy, huh?  I love what a few basic punches can do!

    Check out these other amazing projects that folks have posted for you today.

    Paper Punch Addiction
    Blinkin’ Thinkin’ & Inkin’
    It’s A Stamp Thing
    Kelli’s Korner
    Northwest Stamper
    Ink Paper Stamps
    Gwen’s Paper Expressions
    Stamping My Life Away
    Gettin’ Crafty
    Krafty Kate’s Kupboard
    Brenda’s Stamping Corner
    Beth-a-Palooza
    Bonnie’s Creative Place
    Craft Chaos
    Stamping with Heather


    Mr Bones Recipe:
     Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
     Ink: Rich Razzleberry
     Paper: Basic Black CS, Whisper White CS, Rich Razzleberry CS, Old Olive CS, Wicked Fun DSP
     Accessories: 1 3/4″ circle punch (head), wide oval punch (jaw), 1/2″ circle punch (black eye, razzleberry bow tie), itty bitty shapes punches circle (white eye,black bow tie), crop-a-dile 3/16″ punch (sm black eye), Heart to Heart punch (nose), Modern label punch (bow tie), word window punch (sentiment, cheeks cut out), Stampin’ Dimentionals

  • Kicking it up with Interactive Scrapbooking

    At convention this year, I had the chance to participate in a class taught by Sherrill Graff on Interactive Scrapbooking.  It was one of those times when I found myself going, “WOW!” over something that was fairly easy but so cool.  So, when I got home, I knew I had to share it with others.  So, today I held an interactive scrapbooking class.  We made two 12×12 pages consisting of layering page protectors and filling them with designer paper.  It was so much fun and since everyone had picked different designer paper, it was cool to see how everyone put their pages together.

    So, here is the first layout we did.

    I loved this page because I thought the hinge using the Round Tab punch was so clever!  We cut a 9 1/2” x 11 inch piece of paper and glued that to our base 12×12 paper.  Then we punched 4 tab punches and folded them in half to make our hinges.  You glue half of the tab punchout to half of your 2nd punch out, then make the part that is not glued together (so it looks kind of like a mouth) glue it down to either side of your 6×6 page protector.

    Then we did the mother of all interactive layouts!  This uses one 12×12 page protector and 5 6×6 page protectors.  Is like a mini-album in your scrapbook!

    You adhere your 6×6 page protectors to the 12×12 page protector and then glue a 1”x6” piece of paper over the tab of plastic that has the holes for putting it in your album.  Its so fun because you can have elements from the lower pages be exposed on the right side when you first open to this page.  In my case, I have a curly label punch that says “Party Hearty” on page 2 and the CKC from page 3.  Here is what it looks like from the inside:

    Too much fun!

    And while we’re talking about fun and convention – did you hear that when you join the Stampin’ Up family you get this uber-cute tote bag for FREE!

    crafttote

    Yep, that’s right… not only do you get stamps, ribbon, buttons, adhesive, paper, and possibly even My Digital Studio for only $175 (a $330 value!), but you now get this awesome tote and shipping for it all FREE!  Check out all the details and everything you can get in the starter kit here.

    Whether you are looking for 20% off everything you buy, or you want to start earning extra money doing what you love.  Stampin’ Up! is an amazing company filled with so many opportunities to expand your creative horizons.  I’d love to tell you more!  Contact me if you have any questions or you can get started now (recruit password – nwstamper)

    Project Supplies:

    • 1 pkg 12×12 ring page protectors – item 104522 ($10.95)
    • 1 pkg 6×6 ring page protectors – item 104521 ($ 6.95)
    • 1 pkg designer series paper – I used Celebrations, item 117164 ($9.95)
    • round tab punch – item 119864 ($16.95)
    • sticky strip – item 104294 ($6.95)
    • snail – item 104332 ($6.95)
    • paper cutter – item 104152 ($24.95)

  • An Owl Punch Flower Pendant Card

    When I was visiting my mom last week, we got a chance to try out some different stamps and punches.  (One of the fun things of having an upline/downline – you can share stamps and products so you can try them out without having to buy everything yourself).  One of the items she had just received was the new Owl Punch.  This punch makes really cute cards – like this one that was shown at convention 2010.

    But one of the other things you can do with it is make other neat punch art like bats and even a flower.  So, we decided to try out making a flower with the punch and once I had the flower, I then built a simple card to use it with.  We use the description found on the blog Flowerbug’s Inkspot to create the flower.  Her blog has a great description and photos but here is the quick version: 
    Start by punching out 7 owls.  Take the main body of the owl from the punch and trim off the legs.  Then you fold the body in half so you have a centerline.  Fold the rounded bottom part of the owl in towards the center line so it looks kind of like a pie wedge.  Trim a curved lines starting from the point of the ears into the center line to make the white petals you see below.  Then glue the 7 pieces to a base piece of paper in a circle to make the flower.  I then added a vintage tag to the center and pierced two holes in the base cardstock to run the string through.  This allows the flower to swing like a pendant.

    If you’ve found other fun ways to use this punch, I’d love to see them.  Leave a comment with a link to your blog or site with the sample and I’ll check it out!

    Recipe:
    Stamps:  Watercolor Trio
    Ink:  Elegant Eggplant
    Paper:  In Color DSP – Peach Parfait (Hostess), Crumb Cake CS, Very Vanilla CS
    Accessories:  Owl Punch, Lg Scallop Circle Punch, Baja Breeze double stitched ribbon, vintage tag, Adhesive Pearls, Paper Piercer.

  • Technique night – Masking and Reverse Masking

    Last night was my August technique night with my meetup group and we focused on masking and reverse masking.  For those of you not familiar with masking, this is the technique for using paper to cover (or mask) the area you don’t want to get inked.  So, in this first card we did, you stamp the colored cupcake on your paper and then stamp another copy of the cupcake on scratch paper.  Cut out the scrap cupcake and place over your original stamped image and then stamp your next cupcake, overlapping the scrap paper and your original image.  This gives the illusion of one cupcake being in front of the other without seeing the overlapping ink.   We also used the scrap cupcake to mask the frosting area when we stamped the candle so that you could choose the height of the candle and not have it overlap the top of the cupcake.

    Next we did reverse masking.  This is where you cut out your scrap image and set your image aside and use the cut-out frame to let you add ink to the inside of the framed area.  In this case we sponged first and then while still keeping the frame in place, stamped our leaves images. This card was inspired by a card I found on the Stampin Up demo resource – Stampin Cconnection.  The origional was created by Allison Ohran. 

    Finally we did one more card that combined both techniques.  We used reverse masking to make the sun and then placed the cut-out circle back on the sun and a scrap cutout of the treetop to mask the areas before sponging our sky.

    Now, some tips:

    Tip: When cutting out smaller shapes and circles, post-it notes work great for giving you something that can stick in place and then come up without leaving a mark.  For bigger shapes and frames, use a little bit of Dotto.  This adhesive lets you put your mask down and then pull it up an rub off any adhesive that gets left behind.

    Tip: While I normally recommend stamping on Whisper White cardstock because it holds ink much better than standard white cardstock and computer paper, for the scrap image you are going to use for your mask, I would recommend in that case to use computer paper.  Because the paper is thinner, you tend to be able to get ink closer to the edge of your mask and so get a cleaner look.

    Card Recipes:

    Cupcake Card Recipe
    Stamps:     Party Hearty
    Ink:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
    Paper:  In Color pattern pack – Hostess set, Daffodil Delight CS, Whisper White CS, Pacific Point CS
    Accessories:  Peach Parfait marker, Daffodil Delight marker, Pacific Point marker, Early Espresso marker, Dotto

    Thank You Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Just Believe
    Ink:  Wild Wasabi, Basic Black
    Paper: Wild Wasabi CS, Basic Black CS, Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Dotto, Basic Black 1/4” grosgrain ribbon, snail adhesive, Stampin Dimensionals

    Thinking of You Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Bouquet Bunch, Teeny Tiny Wishes
    Ink:  So Saffron, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Soft Suede
    Paper:  Bashful Blue CS, Soft Suede CS, Old Olive CS, Whisper White CS, So Saffron CS
    Accessories:  Adhesive back pearls, Dotto, 1 1/4” circle punch

  • Punch Art Flower for my August Meetup

    Yesterday was the August meet and greet for my Meetup group here in the Bay Area.  A few of us got together and had some pie at Marie Callender’s and I brought a free make and take for everyone to do.  This month I decided to do some punch art and so I modified a past card I had made to use some new stamps and colors and came up with this card.

    This was an easy card that used 7 punches in all, though you could modify this card to use fewer punches or more stamps.  Here are the steps to create it yourself:

    1. Punch the base of the flower using the extra large Fancy Flower punch
    2. Stamp the five petal flower image from Punched Posies hostess set, once on colored cardstock and once on white cardstock
    3. Punch out stamped images using the Five Petal punch
    4. Stamp the smaller six petal flower image from the Punched Posies hostess set on white cardstock and punch out the center using 1/2” Circle punch
    5. Layer these punched images together and glue
    6. Punch the leaf using the Small Oval punch
    7. Fold the oval in half and trim one side to form a point
    8. Stamp the vase using one of the ornament images from the Delightful Decorations stamp set on white cardstock
    9. Punch out using the ornament punch and trim the bottom of the ornament to form the flat base of the vase
    10. Stamp the sentiment from the Because I Care hostess set on white cardstock
    11. Punch out sentiment using the Large Oval punch
    12. Punch corners of base white cardstock with the Ticket Corner punch
    13. Stamp the stem using the stem image from the Punched Posies stamp set on base white cardstock
    14. Glue down onto your card base and your done!

    Punched Flower Recipe:
    Stamps: Punched Posies, Delightful Decorations, Because I Care
    Ink: Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive
    Paper:  Old Olive CS, Whisper White CS, Poppy Parade CS, Daffodil Delight CS
    Accessories:  Fancy Flower punch, Five Petal punch, 1/2” circle punch, Ornament punch, Ticket Corner punch, Small Oval punch, Large Oval punch

  • Stampin’ Up! Convention 2010– Punch happy swaps

    I had a few more swaps that I had to share so here is one more post including my second swap I took to convention.

    So, you remember my first swap I showed you (recipe in this post) –

    Well, after punching out the leaves and the flowers from the BigShot, I was going to recycle the scraps when I looked at them and said, “I could totally punch out stuff using these scraps”.  So, I started punching out little hearts using the small heart punch and managed to actually get 5-6 hearts per scrap.  So, from there was born the idea for my second swap.

    This card uses the new Occasional Quotes hostess set.  It is a perfect set for an outside and matching inside sentiment for your cards.  Anyway, I had made 40 swaps and so had 40 of each color scrap, I watched a movie with my hubby and drove him crazy punching out hundreds of these little hearts.  Then, the night before I left for convention, I punched out the scallop rectangles using the new Scallop Rectangle Clearlits die and then did the assembly from my hotel room.  These took a bit of work to assemble but again, I felt very happy with them.

    hearts swap
    Finally here is another round of some of my favorite convention swaps.  Pretty cool huh?

    card by Mary Booker                                       card by Valerie Taylor

    card by Lorri Heiling                                     card by Jill Kelley

    card by Kathy Kuffel                                      card by Diana Curtis

    card by Terry Bolender

    Hearts Swap Card Recipe:
    Stamps: Occasional Quotes (hostess)
    Ink:  Concord Crush classic ink
    Paper:  Concord Crush CS, Pear Pizzazz CS, Whisper White CS, Crumb Cake CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Blushing Bride CS
    Accessories: Small heart punch, Scallop trim border punch, Scallop rectangle clearlit

  • Simple holiday cards with a side of bling

    Well, December is finally here and like usual I suddenly realize that I need to get my Christmas cards put together and my mailing list organized.  Thankfully I was running a technique night this last Tuesday and so we created three fun holiday cards.  The actual card designs aren’t too complicated as the focus was more on some fun techniques to add some bling to your cards.  These cards were tons of fun to make and look much better in person than in the photos. 🙂

    Technique 1 – Stained Glass Window

    For this card, the bling came in the form of sparkle on a colored window sheet image.  To do this, start by stamping your preferred image onto a window sheet using Staz-on ink.  Squeeze some crystal effects onto a piece of plastic or some waxy paper (I like using the backing that is left behind when you peel off the sticker labels for your stamp sets).  Add a drop or two of reinker dye and some dazzling diamonds glitter.  Mix together and apply to your stamped image with a paintbrush.  Once that has dried, attach your window sheet (ink side down) to your card front using brads or your favorite adhesive (just note that if you use adhesive it will show through unless you cover it up with another card element.

    Stamps: Christmas Classics
    Inks:  Staz-on black, Soft Suede classic ink, Old Olive reinker
    Paper: Soft Suede CS, Whisper White CS, Merry Moments DSP
    Accessories:  Gold brads, Scallop edge punch, paper piercier and mat pack, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Close to Cocoa marker (to color in the trunk)

    Technique 2 – Brayer Resist

    I had been seeing some fabulous samples using the new Bride specialty DSP.  If you haven’t seen the paper before, it is a white (or black or ivory) paper with either stripes or the swirly pattern in shiny foil of the same color.  While this is pretty and elegant on its own, it is also perfect for coloring because the shiny part resists ink.  So, for this card, we inked up our brayer and rolled it over the paper to create the design on the bottom half of the card.  It can take a few rolls to get the color coated evenly but gives you tons of options with only one package of paper and a few ink pads.

    Stamps: Sweet Season, Sincere Salutations
    Inks: Night of Navy classic ink
    Paper:  Bridesmaid DSP, Whisper White CS, Bashful Blue CS
    Accessories:  Organza ribbon, Scallop circle punch, brayer, Frost Crystal brads, paper piercer, Stampin dimentionals

    Technique 3 – Shimmer Paints

    So, this is the hardest effect to see in a photo but adds a subtle shine to your projects.  It is also the easist and fastest technique of all.  Ink up your image (don’t you just love the Dasher stamp from the under $10 section of the catty??) and set the stamp aside BEFORE you stamp.  Next, take your shimmer paint container and shake it up.  Open it up and set the lid in front of you.  Now, you should be able to take a sponge dauber and pick up the shimmer paint from the inside of the paint container lid.  Sponge the paint on top of your inked stamp (in my case I just sponged over the antlers).  NOW, stamp your image onto your paper.  You will see the color come through but with a shimmery effect where you applied the paint.  I then used the dauber which had some ink and some shimmer paint left on it from daubing the stamp rubber and used that to distress the edge of my square paper.  It gave it a really nice shimmery brown all around the edge.

    Stamps:  Dasher
    Inks: Chocolate Chip classic
    Paper:  Merry Moments DSP, Real Red CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Very Vanilla CS
    Accessories:  Sponge Dauber, Frost Shimmer Paint, Chocolate Chip 5/8″ ribbon

  • Trying out the BigShot – a card, a box, and the matchbox

    I wanted to put up a quick post before I had to run into work.  This week has gone by so fast and has seemed so busy, but the rest of the week should be more relaxing.  On Tuesday, I was hosting a Technique Night focused on using the BigShot.  Unfortunately, that night I had some folks cancel because of illness, unexpected time conflicts, delays, and getting lost, so it ended up not happening.   One the upside, my friend Jennifer recently decided she wanted to make a baby book for her daughter but had been overwhelmed by where to get started.  So, since she had come over, I helped her figure out what she needed.  She ended up deciding to get the Stampin Up! Baby Girl simply scrappin kit, and after looking at it more closely, I can’t wait for her to get it because I think it is going to be so stinking cute.  Then last night we went to Michaels and picked out an album to go with it.  So, I’m feeling good that we got something productive done. 

     

    So, since the Technique Night didn’t happen this week, I rescheduled it for next Tuesday.  I’m trying something different this time.  I created a meetup group called Portland Card Makers recently and since some of those folks were going to come, I thought I would try out a public location that most people could easily get to and find parking.  So, I ended up finding a Round Table pizza that had side sections with long tables that you could reserve for free.  It may seem odd crafting in a pizza place, but I’ve been to an event at a Fuddrucker’s so, hopefully this will work out.  I guess we’ll see!

     

    Here are some samples I was playing with for the BigShot.  The first is a card using the Top Note die.  It was an interesting and different way to create a card since the inside of the card is the inside of the Top Note die.  Then, I was going to do a box/basket using the Scallop Envelope die and some ribbon.  The last thing we were going to do at the technique night was a card using texture plates and an embosslit but I’m reworking that card right now.  And then finally I thought I would share a box I made with the new Matchbox die.  It was sooo easy to make since everything is cut and scored for you.  You only need to use one piece of sticky strip or snail and its together!  Plus the die punches out the label that I stamped and put on top.  Easy peasy.

     

    bs_technight_wmbs_matchbook_wm