stampin’ up – Page 88 – Northwest Stamper

Look Who’s Turning Birthday Cards

Do you have a stamp set that you love everytime you look at it but never quite pull the trigger to order it? Well, Look Who’s Turning is that stamp set for me. From the first time I saw it, I LOVED it. I thought the animals are so stinking cute, I love the font, and I can totally see uses for cards and scrapbooking. However, when I would go to order, I always said “I’ll get it next time”. You see, I’m trying to be good… but after playing with this set last week, I think I only love it more. 🙂

While I was visiting my mom, she ran a “Sketches and Scraps” event. It was a cool idea where she provided a couple of sketches and piles of cardstock and patterned paper scraps and let everyone loose to create as many cards as they wanted. It was so much fun and if you want to see both sketches and the cards everyone made, you can check it out on her blog here.

Well, this was one of the sketches she provided for the event and I grabbed Look Who’s Turning stamp set to play with for one of my cards. As you can see, sketches are awesome for giving you a starting point but just because the sketch has a bow, why not change it up and make it a button instead?

And then, after making that card, I just had to keep playing with the stamp set and so I pulled out my Ice Cream Parlor Designer Paper and Quick Accents from the Sale-a-Bration catalog and started putting together a card that I could use for my son’s birthday (which isn’t until December but if I can still find this card then, it will be perfect!)

If you view a bigger version of the picture, you’ll see that I hand cut both the hippo and the number 2, but I think it was totally worth it. I also started sponging the edge of almost all of my layers thanks to watching my mom sponge pretty much everything on all of her cards. It looked cute on her stuff and so it rubbed off on me… ha ha… rubbed off, get it…sponging, rub off… ok, nevermind. 🙂 Anyway, I hope you enjoy these card ideas and the sketch from Kathy. I’d love to hear what you think of them.

Until next time!

Look Who’s Turning 2 Recipe:
Stamps: Look Who’s Turning
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Peach Parfait
Paper: Marina Mist CS, Whisper White CS, Peach Parfait CS, Daffodil Delight CS, Ice Cream Parlor Designer Paper
Accessories: Ice Cream Parlor Quick Accents, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers

March 6, 2011

Happy Birthday to Mom!

I had to put up a post today because it is a special day, it’s my mom’s birthday!

I just got back from a weeklong visit with her and my Dad, which was a lot of fun. Nicholas got his first walk in snow and my mom got a ton of time to play grandma (which since we currently live two states apart, that is a valuable commodity). And can you tell he loves being with his Grandma too?

My mom is a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and super crafter (you should see some of her cross-stich pieces and quilts!) So, we spent the last week crafting but I didn’t want to make a card for her when she was sitting across the table from me, so I put together something after I got home with her in mind. Its not your typical card layout but I just had too much to say. Smile

Want to share the birthday love? Stop by my mom’s blog and wish her a happy birthday. She has no idea I’m posting this but I know it would bring a smile to her face.

Thanks for sharing my cheer and stopping by today!

Wonderful Mother Recipe:
Stamps: Wonderful Favorites, Baroque Motifs, Beary Best Friends
Ink: Soft Suede, Bravo Burgundy, Melon Mambo, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy
Paper: Soft Suede CS, Groovy Guava CS, Crumb Cake CS, Rich Razzleberry CS, Barely Banana CS, Whisper White CS
Accessories: Lattice Embossing Folder, Bright Delights rub-ons, Scallop Oval punch, Small Oval punch, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Neutrals buttons (retired), Pretty in Pink corduroy buttons, gold Smooch spritz, Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

March 4, 2011

Sometimes the Card Wins

If you have been to any of my classes or events, you’ve probably heard me say “its not a mess up, its just an opportunity for embellishment!” And I really do believe that when you do something and say “oops!” you can usually tweak your card design or add an embellishment and you will still end up with an awesome card. However, this week I had the card that finally beat me. 🙂

I was designing a card for my meet & greet with my local meetup group and had an idea to use sponging and the Sale-a-Bration stamp set Bliss. I did some masking of the center of the card, and when I looked at it, I decided I needed to draw an outline of the masked area to help it stand out. Unfortunately, I drew my rectangle lopsided, so I thought, I’ll just rotate my white layer and it will be artsy. But that looked wierd, so I thought I needed to do more to make the center stand out and look good, so I did clear embossing over the flourish. It was nice, but not enough. So I added ribbon and then I added piercing along the bottom of the center area. In the end I just gave up and decided to call it a loss. Oh, and di I mention that this was supposed to be a card showing how you could do something simple with little to no layers? 🙂

But, I thought the base idea was good, so I tried again, pulling out some of my favorite elements of the first card and really like how the second card turned out.

This is the card we will be making on Saturday and it uses sponging with sponges and with sponge daubers, paper piercing with the mat pack, and then coloring ribbon (its the Organza ribbon that is originally white!) with markers. I can’t wait!

And don’t forget, this is the last few weeks to earn this stamp set – Bliss – free with any $50 order.

Stop by the online store and grab some of your favorites and enjoy your Sale-a-Bration freebies!

Bliss Card Recipe:
Stamps: Bliss (Sale-a-Bration)
Ink: So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Bravo Burgundy
Paper: Whisper White CS
Accessories: Whisper White Organza ribbon, Bravo Burgundy Marker, Paper Piercing tool, Mat Pack, Stampin’ Dimensionals

March 3, 2011

Something Different – A Baby Accordion Album

I often make cards because they are fast projects where I can experiment with colors and techniques – and fast is what I need with a very active 13 month old trying to pull all my catalogs and BigShot dies off the shelves. 🙂 But sometimes it is fun to do something different and I was fortunate enough to get together with a local group where a fun lady named Nancie taught us how to make a great accordion album.

I have to admit that I’m a bit spoiled by my BigShot and all the box dies so I’m not used to doing a lot of cutting. And this project requires you to hand cut the paper into a series of triangular peaks and valleys that are woven together to create the base album. Its not hard, just way more cutting than I’m used to. 🙂

I made inserts for the pockets that creates by cutting cardstock (I think it was 3.5” x 3.25”) and then added pulls for each of the pages. Finally, I used some extra chipboard pieces that I covered in cardstock to make the front and back cover.

I used an old Simply Scrappin’ kit so I knew that I would have coordinating DSP, Cardstock, and Accents. But you can make this with whatever you have on hand.

Tip: When you go to add your spine to your book, make sure you leave extra space for the photos and embellishments you are going to add to your pages. Otherwise your album will bow out and not stay closed. In my case, I just placed extra pieces of paper in my pockets to simulate photos while adhering my spine.

If you have any questions, just send me an email at jennifer@nwstamper.com. This is a great project to use up scraps and extra sheets of paper because you can take the basic idea and adjust it for whatever works for your supplies.

I apologize for the lack of instructions. I originally had posted more details but I received an email from a woman telling me that this album was her original design and she had a copyrighted tutorial for a fee for it. As such, it was requested that I remove the detailed information. I was unaware of her tutorial and have not seen the tutorial myself, but her site is here if you wish to contact her.

Thanks for stopping by!

March 1, 2011

Punch Potpourri Sweet and Simple Card

Today I thought I would do a quick card share to show an easy and fun card I made for my friend and downline. I’ll admit I was in the middle of creating some Valentine’s Day cards when I created it so I think it came out a bit “love-y” due to the colors I used; but I still like it anyway. :) How can you go wrong with pearls and seam binding ribbon!

This card started with the idea of tearing a piece of cardstock and laying it over a stamped image (or set of images – in this case the flower stamp from Punch Potpourri that is a perfect match for the Boho Blossoms punch). Then I had to add some Rose Red seam binding ribbon because, well, I just love the Stampin’ Up! seam binding ribbon. I think it is my second favorite ribbon behind the satin ribbon. Finally, I needed an excuse to play with my new Full Heart punch and so the rest just came together from there. I stamped in Early Espresso ink and then used Stampin’ Write markers to color in the flowers on the heart image.

Tip – I’ve had some folks ask me recently if there is a specific way they should tear their cardstock for projects like this with a rough edge. In general, there is no wrong way to tear your cardstock, however you can influence the final effect you get depending on how you tear. Plus, because Stampin’ Up! cardstock has color all the way through the paper (as opposed to some papers out there that are only colored on the surface and have a white or other colored core), the cardstock is very forgiving when you try to do a card like this.
If you want an edge that is more roughed up and shows part of the core – like the card above – I recommend holding the paper in one hand and with your second hand, tear down and in towards the hand holding the paper. That means you are sort of tearing at an angle. Think of it like you are holding the paper facing you and you are tearing the paper towards your shoulder.
If you want and edge that is torn but very clean and minimal distressing, I recommend holding the paper in one hand and with your second hand, tear straight down. This means you are tearing basically perpendicular to the paper, like you are just trying to rip a piece of paper in half. In this case, think of it like you are holding the paper facing you and you are tearing the paper straight towards your chest.
Try it out and you’ll see that you get two pretty different looks.

Now is the perfect time to host a card night with your friends. Not only can you get this stamp set – Punch Potpourri – for FREE but everyone will get great deals and opportunities to receive free stamp sets as part of Sale-a-Bration. I have a couple dates left and would love to come show you and your friends some fun new ideas for your creative projects! Email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to reserve your date!

Punch Potpourri For You Recipe:
Stamps: Punch Potpourri (hostess set)
Ink: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Pink Pirouette marker, Certainly Celery marker, Adhesive backed Pearls, Rose Red Seam Binding Ribbon

February 27, 2011

Ice Cream Parlor Mojo Monday Card

Today is the story of why card making when very tired can sometimes yield not your intended results. 🙂 I am off visiting my parents in northern Washington for the week and yesterday was the day Nicholas (my son) and I got up at the very early hour of 5am to head to the airport and begin our day of flights and layovers to Bellingham. And of course the first night in town, I’m always way too busy chatting and crafting with my mom to go to bed early. So, today I was paying for it by being more groggy than usual when we set out to do some crafting after dinner.

I loved this sketch that I was seeing around the internet a couple weeks back and when I saw my mom had printed out a sample using this sketch, I decided that would be a good project for me to work on tonight.

I grabbed my Ice Cream Parlor designer paper and Quick Accent sheets from the Sale-a-Bration catalog and some random pieces of cardstock I had packed with me and started almost random layering combinations. I quickly settled on the color scheme of Marina Mist, Peach Parfait,Very Vanilla, and Cajun Craze, Ok, quick side note – am I the only one who thought Cajun Craze was the ugliest color when it first came out and then after using it a couple times think it is an awesome color? It is so perfect for fall cards and masculine cards. Anyway….

This is what I came up with in the end:

Check out this cute accent – like an epoxy sticker – by covering your image with a decent amount of Crystal Effects.

And this whole card would have been awesome except what is wrong with this picture?

Yes, I was very tired. Enough so that I didn’t even pay attention to the fold of my card and proceeded to be focused on the little details and never looked back on the bigger picture pieces. 🙂 I almost tried creation some special type of card that would make this seem intentional, but as I said before I was tired… So instead, we did the traditional cut off the face of the card and layer it on a new card base. That gave me the final version:

I personally still like it better with Cajun Craze as the base, but I think the end result is still cute too. 🙂 What do you think? Which do you like better?

Ice Cream Parlor Mojo Card Recipe:
Stamps: Awash with Flowers, So Happy for You (SAB set)
Ink: Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Old Olive
Paper: Ice Cream Parlor DSP, Marina Mist CS, Very Vanilla CS, Cajun Craze CS, Early Espresso CS
Accessories: Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Marina Mist 1/8” Taffeta ribbon, Crystal Effects.

February 25, 2011

Plane and Simple Father’s Day Card

I’m on a yahoo group called Late Night Stampers and each week they post a challenge for you to complete that week. This week the challenge was to create a masculine card. Well, I often fall back on Lovely as a Tree as a “masculine” set since I don’t have many stamps that are explicitly for the guys. But then I thought of the Plane and Simple stamp set that just came out in the Occasions Mini.

Plane & Simple Stamp Set - by Stampin' Up!

The style of this set is this cool mix of aged and masculine without the need for overt testosterone (like many of the grilling or motercycle stamps – which are not bad images, just less of my style). Plus add in that my hubby and I are both pilots and I come from a family of pilots going back to my grandparents – and so you know I’m going to be a sucker for stamp sets that have airplanes in them. 🙂

Anyway, enough about me…. how about a card?

I think my favorite thing about this card is the popped up airplane on the Whisper White cardstock that has been sponged with Baja Breeze ink so that it looks like it is in the clouds. It was totally worth the cutting it in my opinion. :) And the cutting wasn’t really as bad as you might think either. You just want to make sure you have a pair of scissors with smaller blades so it is easy to manuever (some kind of paper snips like this).

Check out this stamp set and the rest of the great sets from the Occasion Mini online here.

Plane and Simple Father’s Day Card Recipe:
Stamps: Plane and Simple
Ink: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede
Paper: Baja Breeze CS, Whisper White CS, Soft Suede CS, Night of Navy CS
Accessories: Sponge, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Paper Snips

February 20, 2011

Get Inspired With This Great Video

So, today was going to be a post sharing a project I did recently; but then Stampin’ Up! released a video by Shelli Gardner talking about creativity and Stampin’ Up! and almost the entire video is the camera panning around some AMAZING sample rooms. Yes, rooms!

See, in the home office, they have this area that is kind of like a museum where they have set up different spaces like rooms in a house. Then, they have decorated the walls, the furniture, the surfaces, etc with décor and projects made using Stampin’ Up! materials. So, there will be Décor Elements (vinyl) on the walls and cards on the desk. Wall hangings and organization containers…you name it, they probably have it and have it looking like the showroom in a Pottery Barn type catalog.

When I was in town for convention a couple years ago, I got to wander through and it was awesome! Here is are a couple pictures of what it looked like at the time:

As you can see, lots of inspiration to be found! So, after watching this video from Shelli, I found even more inspiration and I knew I had to share it with you.

I’m going to watch it again and write down more things to try. First up is the pinwheel card that I really want to make. So, check it out and let me know what projects and ideas caught your eye.

February 17, 2011

Happy Valentine’s Day To You!

I’m a little late in posting today, but I wanted to be sure I wished all of you a very happy Valentine’s day! I created this card specifically for sharing today. Stampin’ Up! and the crafting I’ve done since I was introduced to Stampin’ Up! has introduced me to my second family of amazingly creative and supportive crafters.

So, thank you for visiting my blog and for all the wonderful comments and support you share with me. I hope you have a great day with friends and family! Sending hugs your way!

Fun Fact about this card: This card started as an “oopsie” card from one of my past workshops. Someone tried stamping on the pink base and it looks like they later accidentally dropped an ink pad on the card as well. Oops! But I thought the Chocolate Chip strip and embossed dots layer could be used for another card and when I saw this Ice Cream Parlor DSP, I thought they just worked.
And see, if I hadn’t have told you, you never would have known. Smile

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hugs And Kisses Valentine Recipe:
Stamps: Love You Much
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette
Paper: Chocolate Chip CS, Pink Pirouette CS, Whisper White CS, Ice Cream Parlor DSP (sale-a-bration item)
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Big Shot, Melon Mambo grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Circle punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

February 14, 2011

February Make-and-Take: A Sale-a-Bration Thanks

Last night was my February meet & greet with my local Bay Area Card Makers meetup group. We had a fun night of socializing and, of course, card making! I always bring a free project for everyone to make, and after receiving some new Sale-a-Bration items recently, I knew I wanted to get those out to play. So, I grabbed the new So Happy For You stamp set and the Ice Cream Parlor ribbon (check them out in the 2011 SAB catalog) and out popped this card:

I had seen a card made by AlyStamps and loved how the thanks from the So Happy For You stamp layered using the small oval and large oval punches. I’ve also been obsessed with spectrum style cards right now, so I put them together. The card is actually very fast to put together because the squares of cardstock are punched out using the 1-1/4” square punch. We then stamped those squares using Versamark ink, so we could get the tone-on-tone look without having to switch back and forth between different ink pads. So the only think you really have to cut is the base cardstock and the Early Espresso mat for the spectrum which I cut at 5-1/8” x 1-3/8”.

I love this stamp set, and will probably be playing with it a lot more in the future and the ribbon is super fun too (though I’m just dying over the buttons! love them!). Get either set FREE with a $50 order, or get both with a $100 order! Don’t you just love Sale-a-Bration time?

Check out the online store and pick your free goodies!

SAB Thanks Recipe:
Stamps: So Happy For You
Ink: Versamark, Early Espresso
Paper: Crumb Cake CS, Old Olive CS, Melon Mambo CS, Daffodil Delight CS, Pacific Point CS, Whisper White CS, Early Espresso CS
Accessories: Ice Cream Parlor ribbon, 1-1/4” square punch, small oval punch, large oval punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

February 12, 2011

Yay! A My Digital Studio Digital Downloads Catalog!

I love that Stampin’ Up! has gotten into digital scrapbooking/crafting and that they are so committed to it that they are releasing new downloads pretty much every week. The thing that hasn’t been so great is that you had to sift through old and new download images in the online store to try to see what all the downloads looked like.

Well no more! Yay! I’m so excited about this!

Ta Da!

Now there is a PDF catalog showing all the available downloads!

This is so much easier to browse through and see what everything looks like and what all is included in each download. And because they are adding new downloads as often as weekly, each month they will be updating the catalog as well. I’ve added a link to the catalog on the right side of my blog and I’ll be sure to keep updating that link as they refresh the catalog. Or, you can check it out on MyDigitalStudio.net.

If you haven’t visited MyDigitalStudio.net yet and you do digital crafting or are thinking of dabbling in digital crafting, you should totally check it out. They have lots of tutorials and samples both from pros and everyday users like yourself! It’s a great resource.

Then, once you’ve figured out which digital stamps, embellishments, and/or kits are perfect for your projects, then you can hop on over to the online store, purchase them, and download them on the spot! Talk about instant gratification. Smile

So check out the catalog and I’d love to hear what your favorite downloads are!

February 9, 2011

A Pretty Card Purse Hostess Gift

This last friday I had a fun workshop with some ladies I met recently. I wanted to make something nice for the hostess who organized the evening and so I decided to make her a purse with a variety of cards inside. I knew she loved purple and I remembered the awesome purples in the Lap of Luxury Designer Paper. I swear, the first time I saw this pattern I said,”it looks like velvet!”. It really does look luxurious in person!

So, to go with the luxury theme, I used black (more posh, don’t you think?) and made the handles out of Black Satin ribbon (I love this stuff!!). The inside opens up and I put in four cards with envelopes, oh, and some yummy chocolates, but it could hold a ton more.

This purse is actually remarkably easy to make and only uses 1 sheet of designer paper and 1/2 a sheet of cardstock! I may have to make a few more for extra gifts. Smile

Thanks for visiting!

Luxury Card Purse Recipe:
Paper: Lap of Luxury DSP, Basic Black CS
Accessories: Basic Black satin ribbon, Round Tab punch, Kraft corduroy buttons (clearance rack item), Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-a-Dile, Sticky Strip, Velcro circles, Corner Rounder punch

Want to make your own purse? Get the supplies now in my Online Store!

February 8, 2011

Tag: stampin’ up

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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