Northwest Stamper

Tag: stampin’ up

  • World Card Making Day fun

    I meant to get this post up sooner but my camera suddenly did not want to talk to my computer and so the photos were in limbo for a while.  Thankfully, after much massaging, sweet talking, and cajoling, my camera finally decided to let me pull off the pictures. Smile 

    Did you do something fun for World Card Making Day this last Saturday?

    I met with some folks to create some cards to donate to Operation Write Home and send our cards out to the troops overseas.  We ended up with a small group, but it was still a very fun group and we enjoyed hanging out for a couple hours and just letting our creative sides loose.

    This was the first to two cards I designed for the day.  However, instead of cutting all the same paper for everyone, I cut a bunch of different color cardstock and designer series paper in the dimensions needed for the cards.  Then everyone could use the same basic design but get creative on color combinations, stamps, and even the layout.  I have to say, I got some new fun ideas from what everyone made.

    So from that, folks mixed and match and came up with some fun variations on this card.  Here are some examples of what folks did using the same dimensions of base layers:

    Bethani’s Cards   

    Karolina’s Cards

    Pam’s Christmas Card

    Kind of neat how the same idea could be used in different ways?  Later this week, I’ll share the other designs we made on Saturday. 

    What did you make on World Card Making Day?  Leave me a comment and share what you did!

  • Celebrate World Cardmaking Day – join me in crafting for a cause

    Did you realize that tomorrow is World Cardmaking Day?  That’s right, there is a holiday to celebrate creating and sharing handmade cards!  Many folks will be celebrating this occasion with stamping and crafting events, and I’m no exception.

    If you are in the San Francisco Bay area, join me as I celebrate World Cardmaking Day with a fun and FREE stamping event.  We will be making two cards, one for you to keep and one to donate to our Troops overseas.  No experience is necessary and I will be providing everything you need to create these cards.

    Here are the details:

    World Cardmaking Day Charity Event
    Roundtable Pizza – Mountain View, CA

    October 2nd from 1pm – 3pm 

    Create two fun and easy cards and choose one to take home and one to put in the box to donate for the troops.  All completed cards will be donated to Operation Write Home (http://www.operationwritehome.org/)  If you have extra completed cards you would like to donate, I’d be happy to accept them to send in.

    Cost: Free, so come try it out and bring your friends!  The more people we have the more cards we can create and donate!

    email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to let me know you would like to come and I’ll be sure to have supplies ready and waiting for you!

  • Update on the Stamping Roulette Shopping Spree Drawing

    roulette board sept29I wanted to post a quick update on the Stamping Roulette promotion going on right now.  The board is filling up and we have only two more days (until midnight Oct 1st) to fill the board to get the bonus drawing for an extra $20 gift certificate.

    So, in case you missed it, here is how the game works.  You have three ways to earn spaces on the board.  When the board is filled up, I will spin the wheel and one lucky person will receive a $50 shopping spree! 

    To earn a spot on the board:

    1.  For every $25 you spend with me, you will receive a number on the board.  Yep, that’s right, spend $25 and you could win $50!

    2.  New! Host a workshop with me in October and receive a free space.  I offer workshops in your home or workshops in a box for folks who live to far away for an in-home workshop.

    3.  Thinking of becoming a demonstrator?  Join my team and get 3 free numbers on the board!

    If the board fills up by October 1st, I will spin a second time for an extra $20 shopping spree! 

    So contact me at jennifer@nwstamper.com or shop online now to reserve your chance to win big!

  • A Handmade Wedding Book and Card

    I’m back!  I had such a blast in Vegas. This was my first vacation since having my son, and though I missed him, it was great to have adult time and he got some quality time with Grandma. We also lucked in to a crazy room upgrade – we got a room on the “50”th floor looking at the Bellagio fountains! Amazing!

    vegas hotel room view

    We were there for our friends wedding and so I had made them a book to save the photos and memories of this trip.  I got the supplies and learned the binding technique at a store demonstration when visiting my mom.  Now that I get how it works, I’m going to see if I can replicate it with Stampin’ Up! supplies.

    I had the book all ready to go, but still needed to make a card, so I took my supplies with me and planned to put it together in Vegas.  Well, I discovered when unpacking that I completely forgot my clear mounts!  So I had to get a little creative so I could mount my sentiment. Smile Turns out, if you are desperate, you can use the stamp case as a mount.  It doesn’t work as well as a clear block, but it will work!

    But in the end, I was able to pull together a card that I love and was so happy to give to them while celebrating this awesome time for them.

    Wedding Card Recipe:
    Stamps:     Baroque Motifs, Occasional Quotes
    Ink: Blushing Bride, Chocolate Chip
    Paper: Whisper White CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Blushing Bride CS
    Accessories: Adhesive Back Pearls, Victoria Crochet Trim Ribbon, Small Heart Punch

  • 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

  • Quick and Simple Vintage Card

    I realized in writing this post that the word “vintage’ has a few different meanings.  I’ve seen it used to describe victorian and lace, while other times it is more rough and aged.  Or in this case, when I look at this card and think it looks more western or um..I don’t know… vintage?

    Well whatever your definition, this is a fun and easy card that we made at my monthly meet and greet event.  Its quick too which is always a plus when you want to make a card but have a million things on your schedule.

    For the stamping on the So Saffron cardstock, we used Versamark ink to give a subtle watermark image of the swirls from the stamp set Priceless.  I love using Versamark this way when I want to add pattern or just kick up some cardstock without having something too in your face.  We punched the strip of Chocolate Chip with the new  dotted scallop ribbon punch.  Add some Chocolate Chip sponging around the Very Vanilla piece and pop the matted, stamped image up on Stampin’ Dimensionals and you have a simple card with a lot of interest.

    Tip: If you are going to round the corners of your card, you can put the corners of your closed card into the punch and punch away.  However, if you have more than two layers like in this card (where you have the Real Red for the back of your card, plus Real Red layered with So Saffron for the front of your card), you will need to punch the front corners separately from the back corners.  Ok, it is possible to punch it all at once, but it leaves dimples on your card back and is hard on your punch.

    So, does this count as vintage?  I’d love to hear what you think of when you think of creating something with a vintage look!

    ——————

    I’m getting ready to send out my September Newsletter.  Would you like to receive tips, project ideas, stamping news, and specials delievered to your email each month?  If so, be sure you’re on my mailing list and you’ll be in the loop!  Sign up today!

  • 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

  • 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)

  • 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!

  • A few Fur-ever Friends

    Well, I didn’t get my farewell to the Summer mini card done before the catalog retired, so while I finish that card and start breaking out my new Holiday mini goodies, I thought I would share a couple cards I made with the Fur-ever Friends stamp set.  I liked being able to make totally different cards using the same stamp set.  I also have one more, completely different card using this set up on my Facebook page.

     

    Also, there is still time to enter my Blog Candy!  I’d love to hear from you!

    In My Thoughts Recipe:
    Stamps:     Fur-ever Friends, Word Play
    Ink:  Early Espresso
    Paper:  Cajun Craze CS, So Saffron CS, Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Bone Folder, Cajun Craze marker, So Saffron Marker, Early Espresso Marker, scallop edge punch

    Pawsing By Recipe:
    Stamps:      Fur-ever Friends
    Ink: Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey
    Paper:  Melon Mambo CS, Peach Parfait DSP (hostess), Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Watercolor pen, Melon Mambo marker, Regal Rose marker, Pink Pirouette marker, Rose Red marker, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Large oval punch