Northwest Stamper

Tag: thank you kindly

  • Last Call for the 2011-2012 Stampin’ Up! Catalog

    Its finally here, the VERY LAST DAY you can order from the 2011-2012 catalog.  Don’t forget to double check your wish lists against the retirement lists so that you don’t miss out on something you’ve been waiting for.

    Retiring Stamps | Retiring Accessories | Retiring Décor Elements

    You can shop in the online store, or contact me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to place your order.  I’ll be checking email through midnight tonight so I’ll be able to get all the last minute requests in.

    Here is my fond farewell to some of my favorite stamp sets and accessories:


    Thank You Kindly Stamp Set, Berry Blossom designer paper, and Bouquet Blossom Triple layer punch


    Awash with Flowers stamp set


    Curvy Verses stamp set, Paisley Petals designer paper, Rhinestone Brads


    Beary Best Friends stamp set, Blushing Bride In Color papers


    Paisley Petals designer paper


    Sincere Salutations stamp set, Flirtatious designer paper, Bouquet Blossom triple layer punch


    Tree Trimmings stamp set, Many Merry Messages stamp set, Frightful Sight designer paper

    So, act fast to grab what you love – Shop Online or email me ASAP at jennifer@nwstamper.com to make sure you get what you want –  and I’ll be back tomorrow with the digital version of the new catalog and all the information for the new catalog season! 🙂

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

    Get them before they are gone! Items are selling out so don’t miss out!

    Retiring Stamps | Retiring Accessories | Retiring Décor Elements

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

  • A Bright and Bold Thank You

    One of my goals right now is to use up my scraps – whether left over pieces when cutting paper or stamped and punched images that I decided not to use on a previous project.  So, when I was working on thank you cards for customers, I grabbed some left over pieces of designer paper and I had fun layering!

    Summer smooches kind thanks pennant

     

    This card actually uses designer paper from two different packs – Summer Smooches (for the banners and the accent piece on the sentiment) and Berry Blossom (for the polka dotted background).  But don’t they work well together?

    It also uses 2 retiring items – Thank You Kindly stamp set and the silver brads.  Both of these items I can’t believe are going away because they are such staples.  But I know I will be keeping the Thank You Kindly set because it gives me 4 different thanks sentiments, and I’m expecting awesome new things in the catalog next month!

    Summer smooches kind thanks pennant close up

     

    Oh, so one last thing for today, I wanted to show you how to get those tips of the banners without having to guess with your scissors – and, if you are like me, get totally random results each time!  You just need to grab your Pennant Punch!

    making banners with the pennant punch

     

    The photo above shows how the corner of the pennant punch actually can make a really nice and consistant tip for your banners.  What you want to do is slide your paper into the punch from the side so that it lines up with a corner on the short end of the pennant.  You will have to slide your paper around a little to line it up evenly, but once you’ve done it it goes fast each time.  Ta-da!!

    making banners with the pennant punch 2

    So, I hope you got some new idea from this today.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

    Need the punch or anything else for your craft projects? I’d love to help you as your demonstrator!  Shop online or shoot me an email.  Ask my current customers, I’m always up for sending photos or creating videos to help you with your creative needs!

     

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

    Get them before they are gone! Items are selling out so don’t miss out!

    Retiring Stamps  |  Retiring Accessories  |  Retiring Décor Elements

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

  • So Long Summer Smooches & the Occasions Mini!

    I got a reminder email last night that told me today was the last day to place orders from the Occasions Mini catalog and I had to pull out my calendar to check…. how in the heck did we hit the end of April already?!?

    But I guess we did, which means today is your last chance to order from the Occasions Mini or anything from the Summer Smooches promotion!

    Like these awesome items are going away, and while I have my fingers crossed that they will make it into the next major catalog, I have no way of knowing if they will or not.

    Seriously, what will I do without the:

    Mixed Bunch Stamp SetBlossom PunchPleated Satin Ribbon
    imageimageimage

    And then there is Summer Smooches.  The Fabric brads have already sold out, but the paper, stamp set, fabric, and digital designs are around for today only.  Then they get stored away until the new catalog comes out.

    I thought I’d share with you a card I made recently as a thank you for an order.  I knew she liked bright colors so I thought I would play off the colors in the Summer Smooches designer paper.

    summer smooches note of thanks

     

    I used the retiring Dot, Dot, Dot stamp to make the dotted background in Real Red ink and took a Real Red strip of cardstock and the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch to punch out the edges (I just punched out the scallop ribbon and then cut it in half and used each half with the scallops pointing in-wards.)

    summer smooches note of thanks close up

     

    I also played a bit with my corner rounder punch to curve the opposite corners of each piece of designer paper (and Daffodil Delight cardstock) to play into the pattern and shape of the flowers on the paper.  And then I just popped up each piece with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

    Oh, and I just realized I used the sentiment from the Thank You Kindly set, another stamp set that is retiring this year.  Sigh… so many great stamp sets headed for retirements.  I’m so sad they are going but am hoping that means even cooler stamps are headed our way with the new catalog!

    So, if you haven’t gotten everything you wanted from the Occasions Mini or Summer Smooches, don’t delay!

    Email me or pop on by my online store and grab them before they are gone tomorrow!

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

    Are you earning your Northwest Stamper Rewards? Every order gets you closer to your FREE stamp set! Click here to learn more!

  • Using Up Those Scraps!

    So, I recently reorganized my craft room yet again.  I’ve been fine tuning it for efficiency for how I find I craft in my space.  Well, after the last clean up, I realized I had a ton of useful looking scraps lying around on my table.  Now, normally I brush them into a pile and put them in a bag to “use later”.  Though really what happens is that my scrap bag gets bigger and bigger and I always forget what I have.

    Today I decided to use up those scraps now so that I didn’t have them hanging around for years to come. 🙂  So, I did not cut one single thing for this card… everything was already cut and lying around.  I just had to glue, stamp, and add a brad.  Not too bad, huh?

     

     

    The card base was a “whoopsie” that I did for a class sample.  The other pieces were all left over scraps from making other class samples as well.  Even the ribbon I just needed to trim the ends and I was good to go.

     

     

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

     

    Everyday Enchantment Thank You Card Recipe:

    Stamps:  Thank You Kindly
    Ink:  Chocolate Chip classic
    Paper: Everyday Enchantment designer paper (SAB), Crumb Cake CS, Tempting Turquoise CS, Pool Party CS, Lucky Limeade CS, Calypso Coral CS
    Accessories: Everyday Enchantment brads and organdy ribbon (SAB), Big Shot, Framlits Labels, Blossom Triple Layer punch, Paper Piercer, SU Glue stick, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Berry Blossom Thank You

    Something you may not know about me… I tend to be an overthinker.  That holds true for my card making sometimes.  I sit down with an idea and then take forever tinkering with colors, embellishments, layout, etc.  Well, yesterday was different!  I needed some thank you cards and wanted to get them done before the baby woke up and the toddler got bored and started deconstructing the craft room.

    So I sat at my table and said, lets do something fast… and one look at a Lucky Limeade flower sitting on my table and the Berry Blossom designer paper in the box at my feet and I was off and running.

    So, I had a scrap of the designer paper and I often pull my color combo cues from the paper itself.  So in this case, I decided to run with the Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, and Wisteria Wonder combo.  Since I had the Limeade flower, I thought the Wisteria made a good border for the patterned paper and built from there.  I was able to get two cards done in about 10 minutes and then I put together this card from the last few scraps.

    I popped the Limeade flower up on the largest flower from the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch in Calypso Coral and added a little bling to make it fun.  Then, I had already glued down the Whisper White paper before I stamped the Thank You and after stamping, decided it needed something else.  So, enter the Wisteria Wonder Stampin’ Write marker to the rescue with a bit of faux stitching.  Fast, and turns out I loved it!  I hope it makes the recipient smile too. Smile

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

    Love Impressions Scrapbook Layout Recipe:
    Ink:      Chocolate Chip, Wisteria Wonder marker
    Paper: Berry Blossom designer paper, Wisteria Wonder CS, Lucky Limeade CS, Calypso Coral CS, Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Stampin’ Dimensionals

     

  • 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

  • More baby gifts – thank you card set and a frame

    It seems like I know a lot of people having babies right now.  I reconnected with a friend recently on Facebook and learned she was due at the end of August with her first child.  I was so excited for her, I decided to make her a few things to send in addition to a gift card – what i call the light weight version of baby wipes. 🙂

    First I created this photo layout for her using a 5×7 frame.  I started with the baby feet wheel and built the layout from there.  I found the DSP in my scrap pile and started layering pieces together.  After I had it assembled, I wanted to give the stamped image a little kick, so I inked up the wheel in Rose Red and wheeled out some more feet so I could cut them out and glue on top of part of the Chocolate Chip image.  Finally, I added one of the Sherbet designer buttons from last catalog.

    Then I created a set of simple thank you notes so she has something fun Io send folks who give her little girl baby gifts.  I love the Fox and Friends stamp set for baby stuff and so had to use a variety of critters from the set for these cards.

    I also stamped the envelopes to match the cards.  It was a good reminder about how the quality of paper you stamp on affects your image.  I was out of Stampin’ Up! envelopes so I used some of the value pack envelopes that I got from Michaels a while back.  Definitely doesn’t grab the ink nearly as well as Whisper White paper, but it works ok.

    Baby Thank You Cards recipe:
    Stamps:      Fox and Friends, Thank You Kindly
    Ink: Chocolate Chip
    Paper:  Whisper White CS, Melon Mambo CS
    Accessories:  Stampin’ Write Markers, Delicate Dots embossing folder, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Circle punch

  • Pictures from Mom and Me

    What a whirlwind spring!  There have been tons of family visits, stamping events, and work deadlines.  That has kept me away from my computer as much as normal but also means I have a backlog of great things to show you! 

     

    First up, I thought I would share some of the projects we did as part of the mom & me event.  I tried to keep the cards simple with plenty of opportunity for kids of all ages to get involved.  So, I’m thinking of going back and sprucing up some of my examples now (like coloring in some of the images that I left as outlines for kids to color or leave as is) but since I want to get a post up, I’ll show you there current state. 🙂

     And my SCS blogging group, sorry I’ve been away so long but I’m back and will be visiting your blogs very soon!

     

    Here are the cards we did:

    star_thanks_wmmm_monkey_wmmm_lym_wm

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This is a photo frame we did using a CD case as the holder. All you have to do is pop the cover off of the case and then rotate the cover so it would stand up if the cd case base was on the table.  Pop the cover back on and then slide in your decorated background.  In the second picture, I didn’t have a photo printed out to put in the frame, so I put a red piece of card stock in to show you how you don’t glue down the top left corner so it can sit over your photo.  🙂  Its easy, peasy!cd_photomat_wmcd_photomat2_wm

  • Thank You Kindly Index Card and the Philosophy of Card Fronts

    For a while now, I’ve been a member of the card front club.  That is, someone who participates in card front swaps and who creates card fronts when making new card projects.  I always told myself, “I’m saving cardstock this way” and some folks say it saves a lot of room when storing your cards.  cardfront_projectIt made perfect sense, right? Well, I realized that I’m not nearly as organized as I’d like to be and often I’m just grabbing a card last minute from my stash.  (Thankfully, I have a large enough stash, I can still tailor my choice to the recipient.)  In any event, I like to have my cards ready to go so I only have to write on the inside and put it in an envelope. 

    So, this weekend I started project “turn cardfronts into cards”.  Over the course of three nights, I cut, scored, folded, and glued card bases to 46 of my cardfronts.  And last night, I finished the last card.  It was during this time that I realized that I like how cards look better when I go ahead and use a half sheet of cardstock for the card base instead of making a card front and later trying to line-up the front on a separately cut base (I wasn’t so good at that sometimes).  Plus, while I might be saving a few cents not using as much colored cardstock, sometimes it really does look nicer to have the color for the base (I even used a half sheet of colored cardstock for some of my cardfronts – definitely using more cardstock that way!).  So, now I’ve swung over to the “just do it” camp and will leave card fronts for pretty much swaps and special uses only.  I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this topic though.  What do you like better?

     

    Once that was all done last night, I didn’t have much time or energy for much else.  So, I tried working on my index card project.  I picked up my Thank You Kindly and some paper and got to work. 

    thankyoukindly_index

    This was one of those times that you think you have a great card idea and as soon as you start stamping you realize that “great” isn’t quite the right adjective. 🙂  It also doesn’t help when you cut your cardstock and then realize you totally cut at the wrong sizes!  So, I kept tweaking it as I went until I got to the point where I knew it needed something but everything seemed too much.  So, I finally went with putting on the button latte buttons (I love, love, love these buttons!!!) because the empty space was driving me nuts.  So, while its not my most shining work, its not bad for a card that had to use every thank you sentiment in the stamp set and no other stamp set period.  I call this one good enough and will be moving on tonight to Simple Stems. I’m feeling a little more optimistic about that set.   

     

    And yes, for those of you who left comments about my Video Game Live concert experience.  You are right, I had a camera. 🙂 Though the host actually encouraged use of recording devices at one point, so I don’t really feel bad.  Unfortunately, my pictures were mostly blurry so I can really only share the costume contest line up.  These were concert goers who dressed up for fun, glory, or a prize.

    vglive_sm vglive2_sm