Northwest Stamper

Tag: bouquet bunch

  • One More Summer Card–Just for You

    Ever have a project that you see in your head…you start cutting/stamping/punching and then suddenly go “that doesn’t work”?  That is what happened to me on Monday.  I wanted to get in one last farewell to the Summer mini card and was thinking how I got the Bouquet Bunch stamp set because I loved the squirrel and then ended up using just about every stamp in the set but the squirrel.

    So I had a vision in my head, and proceeded to stamp and punch 6 squirrels and matching dsp.  Then I laid it out and….bleah!  Then my 8 mo old wanted my attention, and you know how life goes.  So, today, I got my new holiday mini order in the mail and OH MY!  I was so excited to start playing (I CAN”T WAIT to use my new big buttons!) but when I sat down, my half done card was staring at me and I just had to finish it.  So, after some fiddling, this is what I came up with.

    I used the retiring Travel Journal DSP and on the left edge stamped the tree leaves from the Bouquet Bunch set (stamped off once before stamping on the card) to make the background.  As I was tweaking, I decided it would be fun to have the squirrel on the right be actually peeking through a hole from the inside of the card.  So that is what you can see here:

      I added the green for a touch of color and then the soft suede ribbon.  It still needed something so a scrap of linen thread finished it off. 

    I loved this sentiment from the new hostess set Afterthoughts.  It seemed appropriate somehow with all the squirrels running around.

    Finally, if you know me, you know I’m a terrible hoarder of scraps.  The thinnest strip of paper or a scrap that “I could totally get at least one punch out of” seems to make it in my scrap folder.  So, when I was done and I had one squirrel left, plus the dsp and cardstock from punching the hole in the front of the card… well, I couldn’t throw them away!  But I need to use up my scraps so they became a perfect little button to hide the seam where I glued down the ribbon on the inside of the card.  I think it works.  Don’t you agree?

    Ok, with that done, I can now dig into my new goodies guilt free.  So, watch for some new stuff showing up on my blog this weekend!  Till then…. happy stamping!

  • 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

  • An altered notebook gift for my upline

    One of the fun traditions of going to the Stampin’ Up convention is often uplines and downlines make little gifts for each other.  My way-upline, Julie Gunhus gave everyone personalized notepads and decorated pen.  My direct upline gave me a bag tag, some custom labels, and a cute box made using the new petal punch.  This is what I made to give to my upline:

    I found some Spongebob spiral bound notebooks with hard covers in the dollar bin at Target.  I wish I had bought more because they were great for altering.  I picked cardstock that was similar in color to the covers since i was going the quick and easy route of only covering to the spiral binding.  I measured my cardstock to be about a 1/2″ longer on three sides so I could wrap the paper around the cover.  I used the Tombow liquid glue to coat the paper and then glued to the cover.  When folding the paper around to the inside of the cover, I folded the parallel sides over first and then finished by wrapping the side opposite the binding.  I then glued down a piece of white cardstock to the inside to finish off the inside.  Once the covers were wrapped, then I started stamping and embellishing.  I assembled the center image including the ribbon and then adheared the whole piece to my cover with sticky strip.  I waited until the cover was wrapped so I could make sure I had everything centered.  I then stamped the phrase “notes” so it was centered under the image.  I think that was the most stressful step because I was nervous it would get messed up but the stamps worked great and I love how it turned out!

    I used the Rough Type Alpha and the Bouquet Bunch stamp sets for the covers.  These ended up being the perfect size for taking in our bag for convention and so I’ll be keeping my eye out to get more for future gifts.

    If there is interest in more step by step instructions for making these, let me know and I’ll put something together.

    Altered Notebook recipe:
    Stamps:      Rough Type Alphabet, Bouquet Bunch
    Ink: Basic black, Old Olive
    Paper:  Melon Mambo CS, Basic Black CS, Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Melon Mambo marker, Black Satin ribbon, Watercolor pen, Tombow liquid glue