Northwest Stamper

Tag: jennifer blomquist

  • An Everyday Enchantment Valentine

    Hopefully you had a chance to enjoy the blog tour earlier this week.  I loved playing with the new Sale-a-Bration items for my projects and so I reached for them again when I was working on a card for a long-distance workshop I have coming up.

    I was working within the constraints of what stamps, ink, and tools my hostess had; but since I was providing the paper and embellishments – I knew I really wanted to work in the Everyday Enchantment designer paper and Calypso Coral Organdy ribbon.

    I also was excited to use the Fun Flowers Bigz L die for the Big Shot. I don’t use mine nearly enough but I started playing with a Very Vanilla flower and thought it really went with the vintage look when I sponged the edges. Then I was told that the scallop circle punch from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack fit perfectly in the scallop circle from the Fun Flowers die, and that gave it just the right amount of Pop!

    This is one of those cards that looks complicated but is actually really easy to pull together.  So hopefully the girls getting together for the workshop will have a lot of fun making their own copies!

    Interested in hosting a workshop even if you aren’t local?

    I’m happy to work with you to put together a long-distance workshop so that you can earn all your hostess benefits at your own convenience.  Email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com for more details!

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

     

    Fun Flowers Valentine’s Day Card Recipe:
    Stamps:  French Foliage, Teeny Tiny Wishes
    Ink:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
    Paper: Everyday Enchantment designer paper**, Lucky Limeade cardstock, Very Vanilla cs, Calypso Coral cs
    Accessories:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers Bigz L die, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Adhesive Backed Pearls, 1/8” Calypso Coral Organdy ribbon**, Sponge Daubers

    ** FREE items as part of the Stampin’ Up! Sale-a-Bration promotion

  • Vintage Fresh for Today’s Sudsol Blog Tour!

    SUDSOL Blog Tour, February 1st!
    Hi everyone!  Today is the day for the big SUDSOL blog tour.  I love all the ideas you can find on a blog tour and hopefully my projects today will give you some new ideas to try at home.  For this tour, the focus is on the fun new things in the Occasion Mini and the Sale-a-Bration catalogs.  I decided to show you some of my favorites with 3 different projects; and since I have a lot to share…lets get this show on the road!

    A Scallop Circle Mini Basket

    So, for those of you not familiar with SUDSOL, it is a community and content website specifically for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who are interested in really focusing on thinking about their stamping business as an actual business.  So, there are lots of great ideas, tips, and sharing of projects – including a library full of templates and project patterns with photos and instructions created by other demos (not a member? click the link above to sign-up for a 2 week FREE trial to check it out).

    Anywho, I was browsing the library and found this totally novel idea for how to turn a Scallop Circle (from the Bigz Big Shot die) and turn it into a little box – or in my case, add a handle and make it a basket. See:

    Seriously, I would have never thought to score and cut a scallop circle die cut to make a small rectangular box.  But isn’t it cute !!  I pulled out my coordinating Sale-a-Bration items: Fresh Vintage stamp set, Everyday Enchantment designer paper, and the Everyday Enchantment brads and ribbon pack; and went to town decorating!

    So, I started by pulling out the pattern I liked from the designer paper and making a 1/2” band around the box.  I had a piece left over from cutting my band and so I cut that in half (making two 1/4” strips) to make my basket handle.  I didn’t like the seam where I glued them together at the top of the handle, so I pulled out the Lucky Limeade organza ribbon and wrapped it around the seam to hide it.

    As you can see, I have chocolate in my basket (yum! chocolate!)  I actually have 2 undecorated Reese’s mini peanut butter cups in the bottom of the basket and 2 decorated ones on top.  I used the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch along with the Fresh Vintage stamp set to decorate my candy.

    SU Demos – you can find the instructions for this box in the SUDSOL library here. 

    A Fresh Vintage Thank You Card

    Alright, so I had the chocolate and the basket, I needed a card to go with it.  So, I set out by pulling out my next favorite item – Framelits Labels collection!

    I wanted to use the big flower image from the Vintage Fresh stamp set and was super excited to see that one of the labels seemed to have curves that exactly fit the shape of the flower’s flourish.  So, I started with that as my guide for the layout.  Then I wanted to use my current favorite ribbon – Pleated Satin Ribbon in Blushing Bride.  Yes, you heard right… they pre-pleat the ribbon for you!

    Anyway, I knew I wanted to use the labels and the ribbon and so then I just fiddled with placement and papers until I thought it looked alright.  Here are a few touches that might be hard to see in the above picture:

    Sponging of the Blushing Bride label and the Basic Grey cardbase with Blushing Bride ink.  Oh, and popping up the smallest label.

     

    I stamped the repeating flourish pattern from the stamp set along the bottom of the card front with my stamp-a-ma-jig and then layered the ribbon along the top edge.

    A Fresh Vintage Stand-Up Card

    Alright, so I had been tasked to create 3 projects for this blog tour and I was now up to 2.  I decided to turn back to the SUDSOL pattern library to see if there was something that really pulled me in.  I ran across this stand-up card pattern and thought it was something I had never done before and it looked like fun.  So, I gave it a go and this is the results!

    I love how this card style will actually lie flat for mailing in an envelope but stands up when you pull it out.  Cool, huh?

     

    I tried to keep in theme by using the same color schemes (or at least more Blushing Bride and Pool Party), designer paper, and stamps. I decided to pull out one more new Occasion Mini product to play with for this project – Twitterpated designer buttons. I was inspired by some recent vintage-y scrapbook pages I had seen and wanted to try out lots of layers for the focal point and then have some sentiment that suited staring at me from a shelf. Thus – Beautiful Life.

    SU Demos – you can find the instructions for this card style in the SUDSOL library here.

     

    Whew! You made it!  I had so much fun creating these projects and I hope you enjoyed them as well.  I’d love to hear which was your favorite – please leave me a comment and let me know!

    CONTINUE on the Blog Tour

                           

    Adriana Benitez                            Annette Bogue

    And after the tour I’d love to have you come back and visit here again; or for SUDSOL members, check out more of my projects in my gallery on the SUDSOL site.

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

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  • Sneak Peek for Wednesday

    It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a blog tour and so I decided to join up with one through a Stampin’ Up! demo business group called SUDSOL.  On Wednesday a group of talented demos will be sharing cool ideas for using some of the new Sale-a-Bration and Occasion mini items.  We each have to share at least 3 samples and I’m really happy how my samples turned out.

    So, in the hopes of encouraging you to come back and visit me on Wednesday, I thought I’d share today a little sneaky-peek of one of my projects.

    And I will say, there is another really fun feature of the project show above that you totally can’t see from the picture!

    Hope to see you Wednesday!

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

  • Scrapbooking Sunday: Mixed Bunch page

    Since the end of last year, I’ve started to get on a scrapbooking kick.  I realized that I had a lot more fun and was much faster with scrapbook pages when I started from a sketch and so I started playing along with some sketch challenges.  This was a page I created based on a sketch by the very talented Kristy Lee.

    Normally, I am one of those people who try to jam a million 4×6 pictures onto a 12×12 scrapbook page; so the idea of only having one picture is definitely outside of my comfort zone.  However, I loved this picture and it stood alone well for the story (Nicholas getting his first tooth) that I just went for it.

    It also meant I had lots of space to fill with other elements on the page.  So I grabbed my new Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching Blossom punch from the Occasions mini and am pretty sure I used every stamp in the set!

    I punched and popped up the flowers with varying heights to add some dimension to the page.  And then I added some extra accents for fun – a brad here, some dazzling details on the Tangerine Tango center of the white flower (hard to see in the picture), and some Crystal Effects on the green flower thing.

    You can also kind of see in this picture how I had fun sponging the letters for my title.  I busted out my Big Shot to cut them out but thought white was too stark.  So, thanks to the awesome color matching-ness of Stampin’ Up papers and inks, I was able to pull in the colors of the papers by sponging the coordinating inks across the letters (well, I actually sponged the paper and then cut out the letters, but you get the idea).  This was a new idea for me; and I’m definitely going to have to do it again.

     

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

     

    First Tooth Scrapbook Page Recipe:
    Stamps:      Mixed Bunch
    Ink:  Old Olive classic, Tangerine Tango classic, Chocolate Chip classic, Bashful Blue classic
    Paper: Old Olive designer paper, Bashful Blue textured cardstock, Chocolate Chip cs, Whisper White cs, Crumb Cake cs, Tangerine Tango cs, Old Olive cs
    Accessories:  Chocolate Chip 1-1/4” striped grosgrain ribbon, Crystal Effects, Gold Brad, 3/4” circle punch, 1” circle punch, Blossom punch, sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Ticket corner punch, Paper piercer, Dazzling Details, Star stickers and border from retired SS kit, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, Big Shot

  • A Slightly More Masculine Thank You

    Today I wanted to share the last of the cards we made at a recent class of mine.  The other cards all were flowery or included pink so I figured I ought to try to come up with something for the more manly folks in your life.  (Plus I really wanted to use my Stripes embossing folder for the Big Shot!)

    So this is meant to be a quick and easy card you could make when you need a thank you card and everything you have in you drawer is too girly.  This was also one of my first times pulling out the First Edition specialty designer paper.  It’s a lighter-weight paper, so its kind of fun to play with – even when you are just doing something as simple as tearing an edge.

    Oh, and did I mention that the Stripes embossing folder is one of the items you can get FREE during Sale-a-Bration?  Smile
    (It’s easy to miss in the SAB catalog, but it’s there!)

    So, while I’m still trying to figure out just what defines a “masculine” card; I think this will work for now!

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

    Stripes Thanks So Much Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Sincere Salutations
    Ink:  Rich Razzleberry classic
    Paper: First Edition specialty designer paper, Rich Razzleberry cardstock, Soft Suede cs, Pear Pizzazz cs
    Accessories:  Stripes embossing folder, BigShot, Gold Brads, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Snail adhesive, Paper Piercer

  • A Birthday Card for a 2 Year Old

    December is a big month for my family… its my birthday, now my daughter’s birthday, Christmas, and my son’s birthday.  This year my son turned 2 and even though he wouldn’t really notice the card in the sea of wrapping paper and family – I still wanted to make him a fun little card.  So this is what I came up with:

    I didn’t have a cutesy stamp set that screamed “kid’s birthday” to me, so I pulled out my new Patterned Party set and started playing around.  I stamped the numbers image first using the Pacific Point ink and then stamped a second time on a piece of scrap only this time coloring in the number 2 with Real Red and Daffodil Delight markers to give it some “pop”.  Then I cut it out and glued it over the blue image.

    After it was all put together, it felt like it was missing something so I dug through my stash of ribbon and ran across some Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon and decided to play with adding it above the numbers.  I thought it looked like icing…which I thought was fun for a birthday card.

    I also added some Dazzling Details glitter glue to the flame on the number 2, but it is really hard to tell from the pictures.

    In the end, while he was more caught up in the excitement of unwrapping I was still happy I took the time to make the card.  And while it may seem silly; I’m totally putting it in his scrapbook!

    Click Here To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime!

  • A Mixed Bunch Thanks

    See, I told you I was back and blogging… this is 2 days in a row! hee hee

    Well, between the holidays (and being way behind on my thank you cards) and just being so grateful for my customers, downline, and online crafting friends who have been amazingly supportive while I’ve been dealing with a new baby instead of posting.  So, I have “Thanks” on the brain. 

    This time, I pulled out a couple more fun new stamps.  First, the Mixed Bunch stamp set from the Occasion mini – and of course, it’s matching blossom punch!  Then for the sentiment I used the FREE Outlined Occasions stamp set from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.

    Its been crazy with snow and freezing weather here in Seattle, so I needed a bright and cheery card right now.  I think this fits the bill nicely!  Plus it can be very relaxing to just sit and color in an image (in this case the “Thanks” using my blender pens and inks).

    So, check out an example of why Sale-a-Bration is so cool:

    Order the Mixed Bunch stamp set + the Blossom Punch + some cardstock
                       (item #125537)              (item #125603)           (item #120954)

    Mixed Bunch - Wood-Mount StampBlossom Punch8-1/2 X 11 Smooth Card Stock - Getting Started Collection - by Stampin' Up!

      

    and get the Outlined Occasions set FREE

    image

    Yay free! Just add some ink and ribbon or other embellishments from your stash at home and you can make be making this card in no time!  I promise, it is fun too. 🙂

    I’ll be back tomorrow with more project ideas as I start writing posts sharing some of the projects I’ve been making recently. 

    Have a product or project type you want to see? 
    I’d love to hear what you are interested in seeing.  Leave me a comment or send me an email and I’ll see what I can do to post up the projects I’ve done or will try to incorporate what you ask for in future projects.  I’m always up for a challenge!

     

    Click Here To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime!

    Mixed Bunch Thanks Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Mixed Bunch, Outline Occasions (SAB)
    Ink:  Basic Black classic, Daffodil Delight classic, Pear Pizzazz classic
    Paper: River Rock cardstock, Daffodil Delight cs, Whisper White cs, Pear Pizzazz cs
    Accessories:  Pool Party ruffled ribbon, 2 1/2” Circle punch, In-Color designer brads, Blossom punch, Sponge Daubers, Snail adhesive, Paper Piercer, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • It’s Sale-a-Bration Time!

    “Celebrate good times, come on! “

    … that is totally the song going through my head right now as I typed the title for this post.  But the perky tune matches my smile and mood as I’m so excited to be re-kicking off my blog (including a new blog design!) and sharing the first of many projects I’ve been working on lately.

    Also, I absolutely LOVE Sale-a-Bration time at Stampin’ Up! because who doesn’t love getting extra free stuff?

    Wanna see what I did with some of my free stuff? I used the new Fresh Vintage Sale-a-Bration stamp set and matching ribbon, along with one of my favorite new items in the Occasions Mini – framelits!

    This is actually a pretty quick card to make aside from the coloring of the stamp with markers.  But I think all the colors are worth it – don’t you agree?

    This year there are a ton of fabulous products and amazing incentives during Sale-a-Bration:

    • Get FREE exclusive items for every $50 you spend! There are stamps, cardstock, designer paper, fabric, digital designs, buttons, ribbon, and even embossing folders to choose from.
    • Get extra FREE items when you host a party!  Get a cute shopping tote on top of your regular hostess benefits with a $150+ workshop.  Get a free bundle of Sale-a-Bration coordinating items (Fresh Vintage stamp set and matching designer paper, brads, and ribbon!) with a $400 workshop.
    • Get a FREE pack of designer paper or a digital download EVERY month for the rest of 2012 ~plus~ get a discount on the starter kit when you sign up as a demonstrator!  Seriously, this is such a cool offer they are running right now.  Not only do you get the full starter kit at a great price, along with all the other benefits of being a demonstrator, but you get free stuff every month as well.  How cool is that?!

    I know, it’s a lot to take in.  But check out the super cute stuff in the Sale-a-Bration catalog and let me know if I can answer any questions or if I can help get you all the freebies you are drooling over!

    I’ll be back tomorrow with more card ideas using some fun new Sale-a-Bration and Occasion mini products.  So, until then –

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

    Vintage Flower Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Fresh Vintage (SAB)
    Ink:  Old Olive classic, Soft Suede classic, Calypso Coral marker, Blushing Bride marker, Marina Mist marker, So Saffron marker, Old Olive maker
    Paper: Old Olive cardstock, Soft Suede cs, Very Vanilla cs
    Accessories:  Calypso Coral 1/8” organza ribbon (SAB), BigShot, Framelits – Labels, Adhesive Pearls, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Snail adhesive

  • Stampin’ Up! Online Extravaganza Starts Today!

    Its that time of year for awesome sales, and today is no exception.  I wanted to make sure you all knew about the Online Extravaganza that Stampin’ Up! is kicking off today.  There will be a bunch of special deals available from November 21st through November 30th.

    However, make sure you check it out TODAY because there are a few specials only available for 24 hrs on November 21st! 

    View a PDF of all 3 pages of the specials and bundles here:

    image

    Check out all the deals now in the Online Store

    (NOTE: when you look in the online store, you have to click into an item and add it to your bag to see the discounted price, for some reason the listing on the page that shows all the sale items shows regular price)

    Once you are done shopping, let me know what your favorite deals are. Smile  And as always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at jennifer@nwstamper.com !

  • Progressive Scrapbook Page using Spice Cake DSP

    So, yesterday I shared with you the first part of my progressive scrapbook page.  I had created an 8.5” x 11” scrapbook layout and so today I wanted to share how with a few simple touches you can turn that into a 12” x 12” scrapbook page.

    Day of Gratitude Pumpkin Patch Scrapbook Page

    You can see how the original 8.5” x 11” page looked here, but pretty much all I did was layer some extra Old Olive grosgrain ribbon on a piece of Spice Cake designer paper so that it would line up with the ribbon on my smaller layout.  Then I added a different pattern of the Spice Cake paper behind one side of the original layout to give some contrast to the page.  Finally, I added some felt letters down the side for my title.  Overall, a pretty simple page; but since I knew I was going to be adding a bunch of pictures to the 2nd page of my layout, I figured simple was good. 

    So, want to see the full spread? Smile

    Day of Gratitude Pumpkin Patch 2011 Scrapbook 2 Page Layout

    I actually started from the same 8.5” x 11” page kit only I flipped it to be landscape instead of portrait orientation.  I still stamped the leaves and flowers from the Day of Gratitude stamp set so that it would tie in with the left page.  Then I added coordinating ribbon to the Spice Cake designer paper.  I loved all my pictures of Nicholas stomping in the puddles, so I trimmed them down so I could lay them out filmstrip-style on the right hand side of the page leaving me just enough room to journal at the bottom of the page.

    IMG_3623Oh and the journaling, I had to try something different here too.  I started out journaling on Vellum cardstock so that it would blend into the page.  Unfortunately, it blended too much, and so I had to put a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock underneath so it was easier to read.  then I attached the vellum to the page using some Early Espresso brads.

    I had a lot of fun coming up with how to create a progressive scrapbook page using my 8.5” x 11” layouts and turning them into 12" x 12” layouts.   Hopefully these gave you some ideas for different sizes of pages!

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

    Progressive Scrapbook Page Recipe:
    Stamps:      Day of Gratitude
    Ink:  Old Olive classic, Cajun Craze classic, Early Espresso marker, Cajun Craze marker
    Paper: Old Olive cardstock, Cajun Craze cs, Early Espresso cs, Very Vanilla cs, Spice Cake designer paper, Vellum cs
    Accessories:  Old Olive 5/8” Grosgrain ribbon, Decorative Label punch, Paper Snips, Adhesive Rhinestones, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Brown felt, Neutrals Brads, Corner Rounder punch, Paper Piercer & Mat Pack

  • Part 1 of a Fall Progressive Scrapbook Page

    While cleaning my room, I ran across some project kits from past Stampin’ Up! regional events.  One of them was from a year or so ago and was to make a 8.5 x 11” scrapbook page.  I decided the colors would be perfect for our trip to the Pumpkin Patch this year and so I thought now was as good of a time as any to put it together.

    Of course, I couldn’t do everything by the book, so I had to make some adjustments here and there (like the label under the picture and adding some extra cut outs.  But in the end I think it was a cute page!

    But I don’t have many 8.5 x 11” scrapbooks (I mostly do 12×12) so I thought, I would turn this into a 12×12 page – which is where the progressive scrapbook page part comes in.  So, today I thought I would show you how you could make this into a great smaller page and then tomorrow, I’ll show you how I added this to a 12×12 base plus some embellishments to make it a cool 12×12 page!  Oh, and I had a second copy of this page kit, so I had to make a coordinating 12×12 page for the second page of my layout, so I’ll share that tomorrow too. 

    So, question of the day:  What size scrapbooks/albums do you create for?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

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

    Pumpkin Picking Scrapbook Recipe:
    Stamps:      Day of Gratitude
    Ink:  Old Olive classic, Cajun Craze classic, Early Espresso marker, Cajun Craze marker
    Paper: Old Olive cardstock, Cajun Craze cs, Early Espresso cs, Very Vanilla cs
    Accessories:  Old Olive 5/8” Grosgrain ribbon, Decorative Label punch, Paper Snips, Adhesive Rhinestones, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Clean and Simple Fall Card

    What do you do when you stamp an image for a card and you decide it isn’t quite right for what you were doing?  I often find myself saving the image because “it’s a perfectly good image that will be great on another project” aka I’m a pack rat!  But, here is an example when I took a bunch of scraps (the image, the ribbon, the embossed cardstock, and the brown cardstock base) and put them together into a new card that actually works!

    I don’t think I would have come up with this layout on my own if I didn’t have the pieces lying around but now I’m so glad I did (plus I finally used up some of my scrap stash – yay!). So, back when I was stamping this image, I used the pine image from Lovely as a Tree and stamped the center tree with Always Artichoke ink, then before I cleaned my stamp, I stamped two more times (one on each side of the initial image) for the more faded images.  Other than that, it was just laying different pieces I had on hand and mounting it all on an Always Artichoke cardbase. 

    This would be a super quick card you could make yourself for any occasion.  Just swap out the colors or image and it could be holiday, birthday, sympathy, anything!  Who knows, maybe you have some perfect scraps lying around waiting to be put together like this. 

     

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

    Thinking of You Tree Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes
    Ink:  Always Artichoke classic, Soft Suede classic
    Paper: Always Artichoke cardstock, Soft Suede cs, Whisper White cs,Crumb Cake cs
    Accessories:  So Saffron 5/8” Grosgrain ribbon, BigShot, Lattice embossing folder