Northwest Stamper

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  • Just Buzzin’ By to show you a new sample!

    I have to admit, I never really thought much of bees as a stamping element or as particularly cute.  But when I started playing with this stamp set, I found they can be remarkably charming. 🙂

    Buzzin' By cardfront
    Buzzin' By cardfront

    I started thinking about what to make with this set and got inspired by the honey pot to use my crystal effects.  My favorite part of the card (because it was the most fun for me to create) was the honey pot on the inside of the card.  I got to do paper piecing and use crystal effects for an end result I really like. 

    Buzzin' By card inside
    Buzzin' By card inside

    To make this pot, I stamped the pot image on the white cardstock.  Then I stamped the pot image on some Lovely Lilac cardstock.  I colored in the honey part on the white cs using a watercolor pen and So Saffron ink.  Then I cut out the honey pot lid and the honey pot base minus the goopy honey drips and glued it down. Finally, I put down two layers of Crystal Effects over the honey drips on the white paper to make a shiny looking bit of honey!

    Recipe:
    Stamps: Just Buzzin’ By
    Inks: So Saffron, Old Olive, Lovely Lilac, Basic Black
    Paper: Whisper White CS, So Saffron CS, Lovely Lilac CS, Kraft CS
    Accessories: Waterpen, Stampin’ Dimentionals, Crystal Effects, Sponge

  • Getting back into the stamping groove

    I am again on another (and last for awhile) trip, this time up to visit my parents.  My mom had an event last night and so I came up to help her get ready and be there for the event.   I have to tell you about a cool thing she did with one of the Stampin’ around wheels last night.

    At her event, she had two long rectangular folding put together with a paper table cloth covering both of them.  Then, she took my snowflake wheel and, starting at one end of the tables, walked to the other end rolling a wavy pattern of snowflakes down the entire length of the tables.  It was fast and very cute, and I wouldn’t have thought about using the wheel to decorate a long banner or tablecloth!  So, just another way of using your scrapping tools.

    So, now that event is done, I’m spending the week playing with some of my new stamp sets and agonizing over which inventory blowout items and retired accessories I need to get before they are gone. 🙂 Of course, I’ll be posting my samples here on my blog, so check them out and let me know what you think of the new products coming out.  In the meantime, I’ll also be keeping the retired accessory list up-to-date each day in the original post here.  Items are already starting to sell out so don’t wait to long to pick up your favorites!

    So, on to my sample for today.  I decided to use another couple stamps from the Love You Much stamp set, and then had to use some of my Ridinghood Red/Very Vanilla striped grosgrain ribbon.  I just love this ribbon and hope it makes it into the new catalog!  The sentiment is from the retiring Warm Words stamp set.

    cherish_lym

  • Exciting upcoming dates – retiring accessories list, decor elements phase 3, and Sale-a-bration!

    So, I’ve been spending too much time in the last couple days cleaning my house and hanging out on Splitcoast Stampers and my SCS blog group’s blogs (they are some super talented ladies – check out links to their blog on the right side of my blog).  All this web surfing and household cleaning has meant no time for stamping. 🙁  But, I’ve been getting inspired and hope to have a creative blow out over the next few days. 🙂

    In the meantime, I thought I would say hi and make sure you knew about some of the exciting upcoming dates for Stampin’ Up events.

    The Retiring Accessories List – January 5th

    I just realized this is happening on monday and I’m on the edge of my seat in anticipation to see what accessories are retiring with this catalog on January 19th.  Unlike the retiring stamps, which are available for sure until the end of the catalog; retiring accessories are while supplies last.  This mean that if you have a favorite accessory, don’t wait until the last day of the catalog to order or it might be gone.  I’ll post the list Monday morning and will keep it updated with availability each day.  But if something you love is being retired, I recommended ordering it right away!

    Decor Elements: Phase 3 – January 19th 

    If you haven’t seen or heard of Decor Elements, they are the line of products Stampin’ Up! has started for home decorating.  They are fantastic vinyl die cuts that are meant to be applied to walls, furniture, glass, dishes, the possibilities are endless.  The super cool thing about them are the fact that they are very easy to apply and fairly permenant; however, if you ever decide to take them down, they cah be removed without leaving residue or staining!  How cool is that?  Well, they are expanding the line to even more great designs and now are adding stencils to the mix.  I love the shelf set items that look like flower pots and book stacks that you apply on the wall behind a shelf.  I may have to get some of those. 🙂

    decor_elements_3

    Sale-a-bration – February 1st

    Finally, this is the special event that many people look forward to each year.  This mini catalog is filled with special stamp sets, paper, and even ribbon that you can’t buy in the catalog.  In fact, you can’t buy them period.  Instead, you get them FREE with each $50 purchase.  Spend $150, and you not only get your normal free hostess set, $15 in free merchandise, but you also get 3 free Sale-a-bration products.  Thats a heck of a lot of free. 🙂 If you sign up to be a demonstrator, get another set for free.  Host a $300 workshop, another set free! Start browsing now to see what cool things are in store for this fun time and contact me to schedule a workshop now so you can be sure to make the most of this event.

    sab_2008

  • Simply Sent Card Element Kit Challange

    Between Christmas and New Year’s, I was visiting family out in Oklahoma.  I knew there would be lots of time spent hanging out with family, especially playing with my 6mo old nephew; but I also knew there would be downtime when the guys were playing video games or we were just all sitting around doing our own thing.  I figured I would bring my Flower Power Simply Sent card elements kit with me as something fun for me to do during the downtime.  I even brought my matching stamps and inks.  The items I didn’t bring for some reason – my Stampin Mist stamp cleaner and Stampin Scrub cleaning pad!  So I challenged myself to create a stack of interesting cards without using any stamps. 

    ss_flowerpowerkitI started with the brand new Simply Sent kit, adhesive, Stampin Dimensionals, a paper cutter, and scissors.  No extra paper, no extra embellishments, just the kit.  The nice thing is that the kit came with stickers, ribbon, brads, and buttons in addition to the cardstock and designer paper, so I had lots of options.  After making one card, I realized I should take a picture to show you what I started with. 

    Then I spent a couple days designing the cards (I never can settle on the designs I’m given, I always have to change them 🙂 ).  However, because I changed the designs, I was able to create 11 cards from the kit and even have extra ribbon and paper scraps to spare.  Its a pretty good deal when the kit is only $16!

    Here are the resulting cards I made.  I’ll probably do a little bit of stamping on them when I get home, but they work as is too.  If you have made cards using embellishments and paper, but no stamps, leave me a comment with a link to your card – I’d love to see what other people have done.

    ss_flowercards

    Order this kit online from me and I will send you the instructions for how to make the above 11 cards from your kit.

  • Happy New Year!

    I just wanted to wish you all a Happy 2009!  May it be filled with great acheivements, wonderful memories, and lots of super scrapping fun!

    – Jennifer

  • New Hostess Set from the Spring/Summer SU! Catalog

    As part of the demo sneak, we are able to see some of the hostess level 2 and level 3 sets.  I’m still deciding which ones to order, but while my mom was visiting, she brought her level 3 set called Dream a Little.  It has a two step stamping flower head, two other long stem flowers, a hummingbird, a leafy stem, and the sentiment.  I love the stem and the flower heads from this set, and so I started combining them and came up with this card.

    dream-a-little

    Recipe:
    Stamps:     Dream a Little (S/S hostess set)
    Ink: Rose Red, Old Olive, Basic Black
    Paper: Very Vanilla CS, Basic Black CS, Green Tea DSP
    Accessories: Rose Red Grosgrain ribbon, Stampin’ dimensionals

  • Decorating a Birthday Gift with Stamps

    I’m always looking for ways to use my stamps in different ways.  giftbox_beforeSure I love making cards, but sometimes you need something different and its fun to use your stamping supplies to add that personal touch.  In this case, my sister-in-law’s birthday is 2 days before Christmas.  So, when I bought her a gift at the local soap store, they offered to decorate the box as a gift.  I couldn’t turn down free gift wrapping but after they gave me the wrapped gift, I realized it was really Christmas wrapped.  My birthday is a week before Christmas, so I’m pretty sensitive to differentiating birthday and Christmas gifts, so I wanted to make sure her gift was definately “birthday” and not “christmas”.  So, stamps to the rescue! 

     

    giftbox_after

     The turtle is from a hostess set from the last catalog, but the tag is from the new Party Hearty set and the Happy Birthday under the turtle is from A Little Birthday Cheer.  This was also my first time in a long time using water color pencils.  They are like magic!  🙂  If you haven’t used them before, you color in an image with the pencils and it looks like normal pencil.  But then, go over the colors with a water pen and suddenly the color blends and instead of pencil marks, you just have a smooth watercolor image.

  • Don’t forget about 20% off select fall/winter catalog stamp sets

    I’ve been so caught up in the new Love You Much bundle special and the new catalog sneak peeks that I completely forgot that there is still a few days to get 20% off some of the current stamp sets in the Fall/Winter Idea book & Catalog! So, just in case you were like me and you had been thinking about getting one of the stamp sets below, you have 4 days left to get them at 20% off! You can contact me or order directly online for this great deal.

    Sale sets
    Item #DescriptionRetail20% OffImages
    111564Flight of the Butterfly$31.95$25.56flightofbutterfly
    112911Vuelo de la mariposa (Spanish Flight of the Butterfly)$31.95$25.56spflight
    111676Puns from the Past$27.95$22.36puns
    111660Just Jawing$25.95$20.76jawing
    111624Dreams du Juor$18.95$15.16ddj
    111700Thank You Kindly$13.95$11.16thanks-kindly
    111714Wow Flowers$12.95$10.36wow

  • A year in reflection scrapbook pages

    Each year, I trade scrapbook pages as Christmas gifts with family members.  The pages highlight what my family did over the last year, so in the end, I have a stack of pages showing me what everyone has been up to while I’ve been living out of state.  It is lots of fun to do, but this year I had so many things to share that I needed to make 4 pages for each gift.  I was trading with 4 families this year, so that was 16 pages to make.  It may not seem like a lot, but doing 16 12×12 pages in 2 days (I’m a late starter) was a lot of work.  However, it was fun to get some scrapbooking in.  stampin-up-011

    I’ve spent so much time recently doing cards and 3D projects, that I’m a bit rusty on scrapbooking (I was suprised at how different a style it can be).  This time, I was able to start incorporating stamping into my scrapbooking with the Enjoy the moment stamp set on my pink pages.  And of course, I couldn’t live with out my punches (corner rounder and ticket punch) whether I’m making cards or scrapbook pages.

  • Trying out a new bag style – paper purse

    So, I’ve seen a lot of folks make different paper purses/gift bags/bag in a box/etc and I’ve dabbled a little in making these projects but only a little.  With my mom here for the holidays, she brought lots of project designs and creative motivation.  So I decided to try something new.  These purses are really cute in person and actually really easy to make.

    celebrateyoubag

    The stamp set is Party Hearty for the clasp and main bag element with Sprinkles backgrounds on the paper straps.  I admit I completely cut corners when it came to making this sample since I didn’t know what I was doing.  I used some old paper I had lying around and paper instead of ribbon for the straps.  However, it came together pretty well, so I’ll probably make another with my heavier weight SU DSP and ribbon.  Well, gotta get back to crafting!  Gotta use some of the sneak peek stamp sets before mom takes them home with her. 🙂

  • Love You Much sample and Sneak Peek Promotion!

    For some reason I had my dates wrong with the sneak peek promotion and didn’t realize it started today!  Oops!  Well, now I know better and wanted to share with you all the details and a sample I made.  So… want to see some new stuff from the upcoming Spring/Summer idea book?  Of course you do!  Well, it looks like some new punches, paper, brads, and stamp sets are in your future! 

    lymbundleThis year Stampin’ Up is letting non-demonstrators get some sneak peek items before you can buy them from the regular catalog with the Love You Much bundle.  In this bundle, you get a brand spankin’ new stamp set, a hot off the presses set of Designer Paper, and the fantastic heart trio punch that is a perfect match for the stamp set!  And not only do you get the early preview of the products, but you get a 20% off discount! Seriously! 

    This bundle is available until Jan 31st, but if you order today you can combine it with the free shipping and 10% off retiring set promotion for tons of savings. 🙂 (I’m a bargin shopper so this type of compounded sale is the sort of thing I live for).  If you don’t see the bundle available online, just email or call me to place your order.

    Here is a quick sample I made up.  I love using the heart trio stamp set with the punch!  Too much fun (you can see them both in the image from the flyer). 
    loveyoumuch

  • Last day for free shipping and 10% off retiring stamp sets

    Hey there!  I’m back! 

    Sorry for the long delay in posts.  Between traveling, getting ready for my birthday (and hosting my own birthday party), prepping for my parents to arrive for the holidays, and getting my Christmas cards and gifts out the door; I’ve been a bit busy.  But today I finally finished my last Christmas gifts and got everything out in the mail.  They won’t arrive on time, but at least I shipped them before the 25th. 🙂

    So, I just wanted to remind everyone – today is the last day to get 10% off any retiring stamp set and to receive free shipping on orders totally $70 or more!  If you have been debating a set, now is the time to order to get the most for your money. 

    Checkout the complete list of retiring stamp sets here
    You can email me or shop online via my website to take advantage of this great special.

    I’ll be back tomorrow to show off some of the projects I’ve been able to work on over the last few days.  I also hope to get in some time with my sneak peak stamp sets!  I’ll be sharing some of the previews with you over the next few weeks to check back for more. 🙂