Northwest Stamper

Tag: stampin’ up

  • Sweet & Simple No-Layer Card

    Sweet & Simple No-Layer Card

    Well, I totally forgot that today was Oscars day…. but given that my son has given me another head cold, today seems like the perfect day for laying on the couch and watching some TV.  So, if you are following along with the Oscars with me, don’t miss out on my Winners Predictions Contest over on my Northwest Stamper facebook page for a chance to win some prizes!

    In the meantime, I thought I’d share a very quick and easy card that is perfect when you don’t have a lot of time or are just feeling a bit icky like I am today.  Look…. no layers at all!

    All I needed was a couple stamp sets:  Happy Watercolor and Perfect Pennants, two ink pads, a marker, and my Simply Scored.

    After stamping each of the flower images, I went back over them and added some yellow to the centers of the flowers for an extra sweet touch.

    Also, I used my favorite trick for keeping no-layer cards interesting…. SCORING!

    Sometimes I make scored lines in a box shape to frame my image, but in this case I kept it even simpler than that and scored two lines along the top of my card.  The first link is about 3/8” from the crease of the card, then I scored a second line 1/8” further down from the first line to add emphasis.

    spaced shop now sig bar

    March Online Stamp Club Hostess Code – XEWP4DFD
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit!     Learn more

     

  • Beautiful Effects with Markers for an Easter Card

    Beautiful Effects with Markers for an Easter Card

    I had one more card to share with you this week from my Occasions Catalog swapl  This time it is a gorgeous card from Stacey Lane who never fails to stun me with her creations.  In this case, there are so many great touches but I was actually stuck admiring her awesome coloring of the tulips.

    But first up, here is her card:

    See, so much cute going on from the embossed cardstock to the hint of washi tape and just a few pearls for an elegant touch!

    But like I mentioned before, check out the flowers!

    I’ll admit, the reason I like stamping is because I’m not an artist that knows how to draw or paint.  But I can combine colored stamp images to make something cute.  However, I am going to have to give this two toned coloring a try!

    I know once we get the Blendabilities alcohol markers, this will be piece of cake… but I realized that I can even do something like this with my markers or blender pens that I have now!

    All you need to do is pick out 2 complimentary colors and start by coloring in the lighter color throughout the whole image.  Then use the darker color to highlight or shade parts of your image (in this case the bottoms of the tulips and some of the tips of the leaves).  Just a little goes a long way to an amazing effect.  Don’t you agree?

    So, hopefully you’ve been enjoying the posts all week with some of the great inspiration from the Fun n’ Crafty gals!  I love seeing what they create and share each month and we would love to have you join us!  Don’t forget that during Sale-a-Bration, the Stampin’ Up! starter kit comes with a bonus of an EXTRA $25 in anything you want in the kit!  So, for only $99, you can pick out $150 in supplies to start creating with!  Whether you are looking for a great way to connect with others who love this hobby and get a discount on all your orders or would love to find a way to earn some extra money to support your habit or pay some bills, we’d love to have you join us!

    Learn more about the benefits of getting started!

     

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

  • Quick Cards with Kaleidoscope Designer Paper

    Quick Cards with Kaleidoscope Designer Paper

    Continuing on the theme of sharing some fun ideas from my Occasions Catalog swap with my Fun n’ Crafty gals.  Today I’m sharing a couple more cards that use the Kaleidoscope designer paper.  As I mentioned when I shared my Vivid Vases card earlier this week, this is a pack of paper that I loved the colors but have a hard time visualizing how to use the patterns.  So, I love when I get some good ideas for how to us it!  This is what the paper looks like:

    image

    And here are some quick cards that give you some ideas for how you could use the paper.

    You could use just a little bit of the patterns like Pamela Wu did:

    And I love the little touches she added to the word bubble… with the mini brad and the stitched satin ribbon.  See…. Summer Starfruit isn’t so bad. Smile 

    Or you can do like Elise Hamilton did and go BIG!  She used the polka dot pattern for her background and then grabbed her On Film Framelits to add some flair and accents to the cards. 

    And if you are a scrapbooker, I will say, these framelits are FABULOUS!  I need to pick them up so I can use that filmstrip die to make a fun strip for a scrapbook page. Smile Can I just say, this year’s spring catalog is killing me with so many great stamp/framelit/punch bundles?!  Anyone with me?

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

  • Guest Designers–Fun Cards with Fresh Prints, Banners, and more

    Guest Designers–Fun Cards with Fresh Prints, Banners, and more

    This week I’m sharing some of the great cards I got from my team’s Occasion Catalog card swap.  They came up with such fabulous cards that I wanted to share the inspiration with everyone! 

    Today’s cards show some cute ways to use the patterns in the Fresh Prints designer paper stack to add a touch of pattern to your cards…plus I just realized they use the exact same color combination too! Winning combo I think.

    image

    Card 1 – Perfect Pennants w/ Colored Rhinestones

    This first card was created by the talented Angela McCormack and is a great clean and simple card that uses the pattern of the designer paper to compliment the shape of the sentiment. (I REALLY need to get out my pennant framelits and start using them… love how this looks layered like this).

    Plus, if you look, those red spots in the corners are actually rhinestones that she colored with a sharpie to fit in perfectly!

    Card 2 – Banners for a Birthday

    Next up was this fun Birthday card created by Sara Grafton that is another clean and simple card but has so many fun touches that it packs a lot of punch! Smile 

    The Happy Birthday to You image is from one stamp and she did an awesome job coloring it in before stamping.  Then the touches of the popped up cupcake and the set of banners using the new Banner punch from the Sale-a-Bration catalog is a great addition.

    Aren’t they so talented?  I love that both cards as so fun to look at, yet are something I could do at home easily enough.  Thanks, Ladies, for sharing your wonderful ideas and inspiration!

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

  • Fun with Vivid Vases

    Fun with Vivid Vases

    This week, I thought I’d share some inspiration for some of the fun new stamps from the Spring Catalog.  In my downline group (the demonstrators in my Fun n’ Crafty group) all created some amazing cards and I wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to be inspired by them!

    Today, I wanted to share a stamp that I LOVE that is also great because it is a single stamp, so it doesn’t take up much space, is inexpensive, and can be used a number of ways (even in ways that may surprise you).  For now, though, I thought I would share a couple ideas to get you started!  I’m talking about Vivid Vases.

    This was a make & take from Leadership this year and I loved how they used the geometric paper because I sometimes have a hard time figuring out how to use bold patterns but I loved this as a basic black and white striking background for the card.

    But really, the main thing we got to play with for this card is watercoloring the flowers and vases.

    When you want to do watercoloring like this, it works best when you start by

    1. Stamp your image with Stazon ink on watercolor paper.  By using watercolor paper, it lets you use extra moisture to get the mottled and diffused look without it tearing or pilling up your paper.
      Plus it gives your cards a fun texture because the watercolor paper is thicker and textured.
    2. Squeeze your desired ink pad while it’s closed so a little bit of the ink transfers to the top of the ink pad.  Use that like a paint pallet and pick up the ink with an Aqua Pen.
    3. Color your image with the pen like you would with a marker.  Add more color if you need.
    4. When you are done with that color, scribble your pen on a piece of scrap paper until no more color shows on the paper.  Then you can move on to your next color.

    Cute, right?

    Or get more fun colors by using paper piecing like my friend, Liz Mitchell!  Check out her great idea with this stamp set.

    I love how she took contrasting designer paper patterns (in this case from the Gingham Gardens paper pack) and made a mat for her card base and then cut out a smaller piece that she cut an oval out with the Oval framelit.

    Doesn’t it make a perfect picture frame?

    Then to add an extra pop of color with the vases, she stamped the stamp image again on scraps of patterned paper and then just cut out the individual vases.  Then you just glue them down to your main stamped image on a piece of white paper!

    Color in the flower buds with markers and you have a bright cheery card!

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

    Stampin’ Up! Supplies Used
    Stamps – Vivid Vases
    Ink – Stazon, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise
    Paper – Watercolor paper, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise cardstock, kaleidoscope designer paper
    Accessories – Scallop edge punch, Aqua Pen

  • Quick and Easy Sweet Sorbet Birthday Card

    Quick and Easy Sweet Sorbet Birthday Card

    Today over on the Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration blog, the design team girls have been putting together some quick and easy cards to share.  This is one that I put together recently to play with some of the free items from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  I think it took me all of like 5 minutes to make…. and that is WITH die cutting and embossing! 🙂

    Sweet sorbet birthday card

    The card is your straightforward designer paper (isn’t that Sweet Sorbet so fun?!) matted with black cardstock… a piece of ribbon trimmed and sticking out from the back of a die cut piece.  Which was the only place I got fancy with the card…. remember, quick and easy!

    see ya later embossed birthday close up

    I stamped the sentiment from the See Ya Later stamp set (one of the free options when you place a $50 order) using versamark ink and then coated it in white embossing powder.  Heat it up… and it looks oh so nice.

    Then I cut that puppy out using my Deco Label framelits… sponged the edge… pop up on dimensionals… DONE!

    So, grab a fabulous designer paper, and really cute sentiment and you can be on your way to a great card in no time.  (Though if you want to grab this cute stamp set and designer paper, make sure you shop and order soon, because these won’t be around for that much longer!)

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

    Sweet sorbet birthday cardStampin’ Up! Supplies Used
    Stamps – See Ya Later (**)
    Ink – Versamark, Sahara Sand
    Paper – Pistachio Pudding, Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Sweet Sorbet designer paper (**)
    Accessories – Big Shot, Deco Label Framelits, Chevron ribbon (Pear Pizzazz), Sponge Dauber, Heat gun, White embossing powder, embossing buddy
    ** FREE with a $50 order

  • Getting Ready for a Card Bonanza!

    I stayed up last night to start sorting out my card kits for my upcoming Card Bonanza this weekend.  On Saturday, I’m hosting the event at my house and it is an All-You-Can-Stamp crafting event!

    I was shocked to discover that I have over 130 card kits ready to go based on over 50 card designs!  See, this event is what I do to use up all my extra card kits left over from my technique nights, card classes, swaps, and events.  I deeply discount the kits and invite everyone over to make as many cards as they want.

    Here is the scoop:

    • Come and stamp for only $1.50/card
    • Come and stamp as many cards as you want for $10  (you just have to let me know when you get started)
    • Pick up a premade card with envelope from my big stash for only $2

    Can’t attend in person?

    • Get a set of 5 card kits for $11 mailed to you to make at home
      (note – due to Stampin’ Up policy, kits will not include stamped images, but they will include all paper and accessories precut and portioned)

    Either way, that is WAY LESS than Hallmark for some really fun and cute cards!

    Here is a small sample of some of the cards available to make:

    Fun, right?!

    So, check your calendar and if you are free this Saturday (2/22) between 1pm- 5pm, let me know and plan on coming over for this fun event!  RSVP here

    Can’t attend in person but would love some kits?  Email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com or order here and I’ll get you hooked up with some cute card kits!

    Card Kit Grab Bag – 5 card kits shipped w/in the US for ONLY $11!



    Now I’m off to finish pulling all the supplies needed for all the different cards – that is going to take me a while! But it will be fun and I can’t wait to see everyone creating on Saturday.

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

  • Eggplant and Gold Banner with Banner Blast

    Eggplant and Gold Banner with Banner Blast

    Right now, everyone is LOVING the Banner Blast stamp set and punch from the Sale-a-Bration catalog and so I wanted to sit down and play around with my supplies to see what I could come up with.  Turns out, it is really quick to come up with something cute and fun – this is what I came up with:

    Apparently, I had the University of Washington Huskies on the brain as I was inspired by Elegant Eggplant and had to pair it with Gold!  (Which just so happens to be the school colors.)  So, I picked out a few complimentary colors and started stamping and punching. 

    For the banners I ended up using:

    • Smoky Slate
    • Elegant Eggplant
    • Soft Suede
    • Wisteria Wonder
    • Crushed Curry

    Pretty combo, right?

    Each banner piece was popped up on a dimensional and then I tucked some of the Gold baker’s twine behind each one and then just tied a knot at the end for my banner string.  I love the subtle shine of the gold – for a girl who has always been about silver, I think gold is growing on me!

    Finally, I wanted to use the banner punch in a different way and so I used it to create the sentiment piece as well.  I cut a strip of cardstock that was the same width as the punch shape of the banner.  Then I could tuck in the ends to the punch…. yes, I realize I should have taken a picture to better explain this, so watch for a photo or video to come soon! – so that I could make the sentiment as long as I needed and have a banner point at each end.

    Oh, last note… isn’t this sentiment great?  I wanted to mention it because you may be like me and once Stampin’ Up switched the way they do hostess benefits and now they make it so that you can use your freebies on anything in the catalog…. I stopped paying much attention to the hostess stamp sets!  So, it is easy to overlook some of the great stamps in the back of the catalog!  This was one of the first stamps I got with hostess benefits and thought it deserved a little spotlight. Smile

    image

    Express Yourself – Hostess Stamp set

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

    Stampin’ Up! Supplies Used
    Stamps – Express Yourself (hostess), Banner Blast (FREE with a $50 order)
    Ink – Smoky Slate, Elegant Eggplant, Soft Suede, Wisteria Wonder, Crushed Curry
    Paper – Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant
    Accessories – Big Shot, Decorative Dots embossing folder (FREE with a $50 order), Banner punch (FREE with a $50 order), Gold baker’s twine, corner rounder punch

  • Lots of Great New Clearance Items and Weekly Deals!

    Lots of Great New Clearance Items and Weekly Deals!

    So apparently today is Super-Deal-Day at Stampin’ Up! and since some of these deals are “while supplies last”, I wanted to make sure you knew about all the great specials.

    image

    Up to 80% off with NEW Clearance Rack Items

    The Clearance rack was updated today and there is some AWESOME stuff – especially for spring projects that were added to the list.

    See everything on clearance here

    Here are my top new clearance items that I love:

    image
    **NOTE – This will sell out this morning, so shop ASAP if you want the cardstock!    		imageimage
    imageimageimage

    For example, how cute is this card that I made using the Tea for Two designer paper?

    And while you are checking out all the great deals in the Clearance Rack, don’t forget to check out the new Weekly Deals as well!

    weekly deal 2-18

    Shop the Weekly Deals online here

    So, get to snagging those great deals before they sell out!  I’ll be placing a group order this afternoon, so if you want any of these deals but want to combine with a group order to save on shipping let me know today by emailing me at jennifer@nwstamper.com.

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

  • Cheery Thinking of You with Petite Petals Flowers

    Cheery Thinking of You with Petite Petals Flowers

    Whew!  I’m back to the land of the living!

    I went to bed last Thursday night thinking of all my plans of what I was going to finish and get caught up on on Friday (aka Valentine’s Day).  Instead, I woke up in the early hours of the morning with a terrible stomach bug!  So, instead I spent the day in bed with a brief period laying on the couch.  Finally I am back to functional again (though now my husband has gotten taken out) and I’m trying to get caught back up. Smile 

    Today’s card was the perfect share today because of the number of people I heard of that were sick recently as well as a sweet friend who just had to suffer a devastating loss.  So, for all of them and for you, here is a card to send a little sunshine your way.

    This card was inspired by a card by Natasha Zandbergen that I had found on Pinterest and of course had to give it my own flair!  So, I loved the idea of cutting out the oval shape from the Oval Framelits and stamping my sentiment from the super fabulous Perfect Pennants stamp set for the focal piece…. and then I started getting a little creative.

    First – I embossed my front layer with the Decorative Dots embossing folder from the Sale-a-Bration brochure.  Then I decided to be a little odd and I sanded the the dots that were embossed.  It is a really subtle thing, but I wanted to soften the dots and give them a bit of texture.  See, when you sand your embossed elements, even if you don’t use core-dinations cardstock, it gives the raised part a bit of a velvety look.

    Then, I wanted to play with the new Petite Petals stamp set.  So I got to stamping.

    Psst – here is a little secret.  If you look at those flowers and wonder why they aren’t punched out very crisply, that is because I was borrowing this stamp set from my mom and she had forgotten to loan me the punch.  I wanted to have the flowers cut out, so I hand cut them.  They look much nicer when you use the punch!

    It still needed something though, and I played with all different options for breaking the So Saffron yellow color up along the bottom of the card and ended up settling on the Natural Chevron Trim as that extra piece. 

    Plus I thought that the chevron looked like arrows for a conveyor belt shuttling along those good thoughts to the card recipient. Winking smile  I know totally dorky… but hi! *waving* I’m a dork!  hee hee

    So, hope you are healthy and having a wonderful weekend at your home!  Until next time!

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Virtual Stamp Club Hostess Code – BNDDMDVU
    Use this code to get free exclusive tutorials & project kit! Learn more

    Stampin’ Up! Supplies Used
    Stamps – Perfect Pennants, Petite Petals
    Ink – Basic Black, Raspberry Ripple, So Saffron, Soft Sky
    Paper – Whisper White, So Saffron
    Accessories – Big Shot, Oval Framelits, Decorative Dots embossing folder (FREE with a $50 order) Petite Petals punch, Naturals Chevron ribbon, Sanding Block, Rhinestones

  • Word Bubbles Valentine or Spring Card–you choose!

    Word Bubbles Valentine or Spring Card–you choose!

    I was working on finishing out the last card for Stamp Club tonight and I wanted to do something Valentines-y.  So I was looking at my new stamps and just HAD to pull out my Just Sayin’ word bubbles stamp set and put something together.  This is what I came up with for the first sample:

    Just Saying Word Bubble Valentines

    Now, I know not everyone needs a Valentine’s Day card at this point, so I wanted to give them some options for what they made (plus I didn’t have enough of the patterned paper for everyone to make this exact card) so I created a second variation of the card that could be used any time:

    Just Sayin Word bubble flower card

    So, basically the exact same idea from the first card only with a few minor changes:

    But did you notice the coolest part?

    Check out the background for the card base!  NO it isn’t a rubber stamp!  Can you guess how I made it? 🙂

    stamping with embossing folders

    Yup!  An embossing folder!!

    I took my Decorative Dots embossing folder (free with a $50 order) and inked it up with my crumb cake ink and then “stamped” it onto my card base.  Burnish with your bone folder and you have a fun new background stamp!

    Makes you look at your embossing folders a little differently, huh?

    Join me in my Virtual Stamp Club!

    As i mentioned earlier, I created these cards for my stamp club gals.  I love my local stamp club, but know I have some friends and customers who aren’t able to join me in person each month because of distance or time. So, I wanted come up with a way to share the fun with them as well.

    And so… I am starting a Virtual Stamp Club!  Its easy to join and you can do it from anywhere in the US!

    How does it work?

    1. Place an order in my Online Store that is at least $25 by the 25th of the month.
    2. Make sure you use the Virtual Club hostess code when you check out (I’ll post the code each month at the bottom of my blog posts)
    3. Within 48hrs, I will send you the password for an exclusive club page with links for PDF tutorials for the 2-3 projects we are making in Stamp club that month with full supply lists for all of the projects.
    4. If your order is $40 or more, then I will mail you a free class kit packet for the club projects so you can make them at home!  Class kits will start going out by the 2nd Thursday of the month.
    5. PLUS – every time you spend $40 you also are getting a punch towards a free stamp set with my Northwest Stamper Rewards program!

    There is no commitment and you can participate one month and skip the next!

    And if you’ve been in the club at any time in the prior 4 months when a new catalog comes out, you will be sure to get one in the mail from me for free!

    If you have questions, shoot me an email at jennifer@nwstamper.com.

    Ready to go?  Shop online and use the hostess code BNDDMDVU

    spaced shop now sig bar

     

  • Little Bit of Love

    Little Bit of Love

    I have a few more cards to share that have a love theme and so as we work our way to Valentine’s Day in a few days I thought I would post them here for last minute ideas.  Today’s card uses the stamp set that I was so excited to get at leadership and have been woefully slow at using – Love You to the Moon!  I mean, look at these cute images:

    image

    Love You to the Moon – #133143 (clear)/ #133140 (wood)

    I origionally started this card for a Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration design team project themed on using your markers – but I had a little love/hate relationship with the card and ended up doing something completely different.  But, I still like some of the details of this card so I thought I would share it anyway. Smile

    The very first thing that started this whole card off was the diagonal rows of “Love you” on the bottom half of the card.  I stamped most of them in Midnight Muse and YES, I used the stamp-a-ma-jig!  I am an imperfect stamper and am ok with things not being totally straight, but in this case I don’t think even I could have handled the randomness if I didn’t use the stamp-a-ma-jig!  The lone red Love you was colored with markers.  I used Raspberry Ripple for the “Love”, Midnight Muse for the “you” and even Chocolate Chip for the head and tail of the arrow.  Then, to help pull it together, I used my Summer Starfruit maker to create little dots between each of the sentiments.

    After I had the stamping done, I looked at the card and it wasn’t quite sitting right with me.  I loved the look, but I didn’t have a plan for layering anything else on.  So, I started by creating a border using the Watercolor Wonder gold washi tape (both the solid and the stripe patterns).

    Great, that looked good, but now what?

    Well, this is where things started getting haphazard!  I started grabbing scraps of paper and ribbon and stamps and started playing around.  In the end, I liked the pennant idea coming down from the corner so I put those one.

    But they looked too plain, so I tried some faux stitching with my markers.  That was ok, but it still needed something, so I added an additional sentiment to the Raspberry Ripple pennant for a final touch.

     

    I won’t go so far as to say this is a favorite card of mine, but like I said, I think there are some fun elements to it.  If you have any suggestions for tweaks or improvements, I’d love to hear!  Leave me a comment and when I redo this card, maybe that will help make it look better. Smile

    On a side note –

    If you don’t already get copies of my blog posts each day in email, you may consider Following my blog with Bloglovin.  I currently help people get subscribed using Feedburner but Google has stopped supporting it and so it may stop working when I don’t expect it.  So in the meantime, I’m checking out other options and one option I know a lot of people are liking is Bloglovin.  I’m going to try as well and hopefully love it!

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Stampin’ Up! Supplies Used
    Stamps – Love you to the Moon
    Ink – Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Markers (Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Raspberry Ripple, Chocolate Chip)
    Paper – Whisper White, Summer Starfruit, Raspberry Ripple
    Accessories – Watercolor Wonder washi tape, Stitched Satin Ribbon (Midnight Muse)