Northwest Stamper

Tag: essential paper piercing pack

  • Watercoloring a Card for Hope with Vivid Vases

    I love my blendabilities but I wanted to play a little with another form of coloring- watercoloring.  And what better stamp to play with for that than the Vivid Vases set!

    Tips for this card:

    • When watercoloring with water-based ink (so using your blender pens or aqua pens) make sure to stamp your image with Stazon ink onto Watercolor paper!  This keeps your lines crisp and the watercolor paper is thicker and made to stand up to the extra moisture you get when watercoloring.
    • The Vivid Vases stamp set has a sentiment right under the vases.  If you decide you don’t need that sentiment, you can always just cover it up with some ribbon, like this 1/4” cotton ribbon from Stampin Up.
    • Cut one of the Bracket Label punch outs in half for a neat sentiment shape.  Since I stamped with a photopolymer stamp (from the Bravo stamp set) , it was easy to see where I was stamping to position it just right on the smaller shape.
    • Break up the long stretch of Soft Sky cardstock with a row of pierced holes.  You can keep them straight and even using the Essentials Piercing Pack template! Easy Peasy!

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    Project Supplies Used:
    (if you are reading this in email, click here to see the list of supplies)

  • Triple Time Stamping (almost) with Petite Petals

    So, I wanted to try a different idea for stamping where I did a background with random stamping and thought the new Petite Petals would be a fun stamp set to do it with. 

    I’ll admit, I completely did it WRONG but I think I covered up my oops well enough… what do you think?

    So, the way this card was a mistake was that the way you’re SUPPOSED to do this technique is:

    1. Cut a piece of white cardstock smaller than your card base
    2. Hold your smaller piece of cardstock down on your card base and random stamp your images all over the card base AND the smaller piece of cardstock so that some images are stamped across BOTH pieces of paper.
    3. Adhere your smaller piece of cardstock to a slightly larger piece of cardstock for a mat to break up the stamped images.

    Here is how I stamped it: 

    1. Random stamp your cardbase with lots of cute images
    2. Cut your smaller piece of cardstock
    3. Hold your smaller piece of cardstock over the stamped cardbase and realize that some of the images are supposed to overlap
    4. PANIC
    5. Grab a scrap piece of paper and eyeball stamping the flowers on the smaller piece of cardstock so they look like they were stamped overlapping both pieces of paper.
    6. Adhere your smaller piece of cardstock to a mat and call it good enough! Smile 

    See, it was pretty close for eyeballing, huh?

    Then I wanted to add a few more details and started adding bits and pieces.

    I started with the sentiment (I LOVE this phrase from the Perfect Pennants stamp set) and then matted it with some extra punches from the decorative label punch.

    Then I needed a little more, so I added some paper piercing around the inside of the matted cardstock and a bit of crochet ribbon to add a vintage touch.

    And next time… I’ll actually stamp it the right way and it will go sooooo much faster! Winking smile 

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Stampin’ Supplies Used

    Stamps – Perfect Pennants, Petite Petals
    Ink – Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Grey
    Paper – Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry
    Accessories – Crochet Trim, Decorative Label punch, Essentials Piercing template, Paper Piercing tool, Piercing pad

  • Surprise! Weekly Deals Starting Today

    Do you love getting a deal?  Really, who doesn’t, right?  Smile  Well, after Stampin’ Up! announced last week that they were going to have a Flash Sale each Thursday in October (basically one day only sales on some product in the online store), I thought that was it for the extra deals this month.

    Whelp, I was wrong! 

    They just posted this morning that each Tuesday they are starting weekly deals as well!  Now I’ll admit I think I’m going to go just a little bit cross-eyed trying to keep all the deals straight, the good news is that between the different specials, there is a good chance that at least some of your wishlist is on sale at any given time.

    And yes!  If you are a demonstrator (or sign up now as part of the $25 sign-up special), you get the discounted prices PLUS your 20%+ discount on top of that!

    This week’s deals are as follows:


    Squares Collection Framelits Dies: 130921
    Regular Price: $26.95
    Discounted Price: $20.21

     


    Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing Folder: 127749
    Regular Price: $7.95
    Discounted Price: $5.96

     


    Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack: 126187
    Regular Price: $7.95
    Discounted Price: $5.96

     


    Festive Paper-Piercing Pack: 127857
    Regular Price: $7.95
    Discounted Price: $5.96

     


    Petite Curly Label Punch: 129405
    Regular Price: $12.95
    Discount Price: $9.71

     


    Today & Everyday Designer Photobook Template – Digital Download :126157
    Regular Price: $14.95
    Discount Price: $7.48

     

    And just so you can see some fun ideas with some of these items, here are a few past projects that I’ve used them with:

     

    Festive Piercing Pack Card

    Essentials Piercing Pack Card

    Petite Curly Label Punch Card

    spaced shop now sig bar

  • Spotlighting Paper Piercing for a Fab Blog Hop on Tools!

    Thank you so much for joining us for the September Stylin’  Stampin’ Squad Blog Hop! This month we are focusing on the tools of the stampin’ trade. Specifically, each of our favorite stamping tools. It’s amazing the kinds of tools that have been created to help us along in our paper-crafting addictions.  This month’s blog hop will showcase many of the Stampin’ Up! tools that are now available to us in the 2013-2014 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Holiday Catalog and even a couple of products that are so new they aren’t in either catalog. We hope you enjoy seeing how we use the old and new tools and are inspired to come up with some great projects of your own.

    You should have just left stop number 9 on the Stylin’ Stampin’ Squad blog hop – Stuck on Stampin’. If so, you are in the right spot. If a link doesn’t work or you get off track, you will find the full blog hop lineup below.


    Ok, so are you ready to see what I picked for my favorite tool?  I was going to pick punches (since, have you seen my wall of punches??) but that was well covered.  And so I decided to go with the less popular tool – the paper piercer and templates!

    I promise the picture above includes all three of the templates included in the Essentials pack, but its hard to see, so here is a better picture of all of the options available to you in the pack.

    image This is my absolute favorite pack because I cannot live without my straight rows of piercing holes.  It is the simplest thing, but I use it all the time!  Now, I love the shapes and patterns as well, and have found they give lots of possibilities even if you don’t own the coordinating punch or framelit.

    But to show you 3 of the ways I use my piercer, I created this card to share today:

    Can you spot all 3 uses of the piercing tool and template?  Smile  Keep reading to see if you caught them all!

    1.  Creating Faux Stitching

    One of the coolest techniques I know with this tool is the faux stitching technique and it is so easy to do as well.  Yes, you can pierce your holes and then grab needle and thread and stitch on your cards…. or you can just do this.

    Line up the more widely spaced straight line holes of your paper piercing template so that the seam between two pieces of paper (in this case, patterns from the Etcetera designer paper) is exactly in the middle between the two lines of holes.

    how to use a piercing template for faux stitchingUse your piercing tool to poke each hole and then draw your stitch lines in with your favorite color marker.  Looks pretty real, huh?

    2.  Spotlighting with Pierced Patterns

    Since there are so many patterns on the templates, sometimes they are perfect to coordinate with a punch or framelit for an extra accent.  In this case, I loved how the oval of holes helps accent the sentiment in the center of the scallop oval punch out.  You could do some faux stitching with this as well, but I thought the simple look was a bit nicer.

    You can also do this without needing to use a punch.  Use any of the shapes to accent a stamped image on any project you are working on.

    3.  Precision Placement of Brads

    how to line up piercing template for corners

    Ok, this is my go-to use for my paper piercer and template – placing brads.  I am a pretty loosey-goosey card maker and stamper.  I’m ok if my image is a little skewed (hey, its artistic that way!) and if I didn’t quite get that bow right.  But one thing I can’t stand, is if an element that is supposed to be symetrical – like brads in a row or in the corners of a paper – comes out slightly off.

    So I ALWAYS pull out my piercing template when I’m going to add brads to a project so I can make sure they are spaced evenly apart and the same distance in from each corner.

    To do that, you just align the black solid line on the template along the edge of your paper and then pick the same hole in the corner to use for placement.  Then just use the same corner of the template for each corner on your paper and you will get perfect corners every time!

    So, there you have it…. did you figure out all 3?

    I also wanted to take a quick moment to show one other little trick I did on this card…. yeah, it has nothing what so ever to do with piercing, but I thought it was cool.  It was how I got the doily for the background of the card.

    two tone sponging on paper doilies I took a single doily and folded it in not-quite-half.  Then I took a piece of scrap paper and placed it between the top and the bottom piece of the doily.  I sponged the top piece in Pool Party; then I opened it up and sponged the bottom side with Midnight Muse.  It gives a neat effect with no cutting and only one doily!

    and back to paper piercing…

    I did a class on Paper Piercing a while back and so I thought I’d share a card we made in that class that gives you even more ideas for how you can user the piercing tool and template.

     

    So I hope you enjoyed all the tips and ideas, and now are inspired to get out your piercing templates and start creating!

    For even more inspiration and ideas for using the tools you have at home, keep on hoping and visit Bree for some fun with the Simply Scored!

    Blog Hop Participants:

    1. Shellie G. of Craft Smashup
    2. Pam S. of Stampin’ in the Sun!
    3. Tonya B. of Stampin’ with Tonya
    4. Dawn S. of Dawn’s Creative Chalet
    5. Darcy J. of DJ’s Stampin’ Place
    6. Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
    7. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
    8. Justin K. of JK Cards
    9. Heidi B of Stuck on Stampin’
    10. Jennifer B. of NW Stamper <— YOU ARE HERE!
    11. Bree R. of Craft-somnia
    12. Diana E. of Stampin’ Fun with Diana
    13. Jennifer C. of Happy 2 Scrap 4 Life
    14. Jamie H. of Unique Ink
    15. Kristina M. of Mama’s Sanity

    spaced shop now sig bar

    Card Supplies Used
    Stamps- Express Yourself (hostess set)
    Ink- Midnight Muse, Calypso Coral, Pool Party
    Paper – Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Etcetera designer paper
    Accessories – Paper piercer, piercing mat, Essentials Piercing Template, Scallop Oval punch, sponge daubers, white doilies, Mini Brads, stampin’ dimensionals

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  • 5 Minutes to Cute–Thank You Card

    You would think that the fact that I have two toddlers running around my house would mean all the cards I make are super fast cards…. Nooooooo, that would make too much sense!  ha ha!

    But when I was working on cards for a recent card class, I came up with this simple design that is quick to make and still totally cute and pulled together (if I do say so myself!)

    This stamp image is from the Easy Events stamp setOf course they are retiring this stamp set on me!  I love having stamp sets that have images and sentiments for a bunch of different occasions.  Sure there is For the Birds and Embellished Events… but I have a soft spot for Easy Events.

    Anyway, I kept the overall design of the card simple and instead focused on little touches here and there

    Some piercing around the circle (using the Essentials Piercing Pack) and a Designer Build a Brad for an extra accent.  And if you are curious, I just stamped the flower image again and then colored it in with the Certainly Celery marker and punched out just the flower head to go in the center of the designer brad.

    Add some sponging and you are done!

     

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

    See the Latest Availability & PDFs of all the retiring stamps and accessories here

    Supples Used
    Stamps
    – Easy Events
    Paper – Whisper White, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
    Ink – Basic Black, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink marker, Certainly Celery marker
    Accessories – Designer Build a Brad, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Bitty Punch Pack, Essentials Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer, 2 1/2” Circle Punch, 1 3/4” Circle Punch

  • Create a Cupcake Makes for a Bright Birthday

    When you are making a birthday card for someone, isn’t one of the top things on your mind all about making them smile?  Well, unless the birthday boy or girl hates cupcakes (is that even possible?!) I’m going to bet this one will bring a smile to their face!

    At least it does for me every time I pull out this card. Smile

    I designed this card for my technique class recently where we focused on paper piercing so I used the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack for the Decorative Label Punch shape around the outside of the punchout.  Then I used the rows of holes on the template to make even photo corners around each corner of the Whisper White cardstock.

    image

    Here is a close up of what I’m talking about:

    Plus, with the coordinating Cupcake punch, it makes it easy to get your cupcake together too.

    And speaking of birthdays, today is my Dad’s birthday!  I’m happy to be celebrating with him and my mom today and before we left to go visit, Nicholas decided to create a card just for Grandpa.  He picked out the stamp set, the colors, the punches, and where to glue everything down.  He may be 3, but he loves making cards for people too!

    2013-04-26 08.25.52

     

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

    See the Latest Availability & PDFs of all the retiring stamps and accessories here

     

    Supples Used
    Stamps
    – Create a Cupcake
    Paper – Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Brights Family Designer Paper Stack**
    Ink – Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight
    Accessories – Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Piercing Tool, Decorative Label Punch, Cupcake Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, 2-way Glue Pen
    **Items on the Retiring Stamps & Accessories List

    imageimage

  • Trying Out Ombre with a Fun Piercing Card

    At a recent class, I focused on different ways to use Paper Piercing in your projects.  Well, we made this card as a way to show how you can use a design from the Paper Piercing Templates without needing to have the matching Big Shot die or punch.

    See, as much as I think of myself as a hoarder of Big Shot dies and embossing folders, I still have managed to get by without the Apocathary Accents framelit set (I’m sure this will be fixed in the future though Smile)  But I had the piercing template and thought this shape would be a nice accent for some punched out butterflies.

    You can see it a bit better in this picture:

    I also pierced my Whisper White paper and glued it down so that the “backside” of where I pierced was what was facing up on my card (the pierced parts poke up and out from the paper instead of pushing into the paper).

    Plus this was a fun attempt to try out the Ombre trend.  I played with a few color themes but settled on Blues as my colors of choice.  I used the following blues in this card:

    • Baja Breeze
    • Pool Party
    • Island Indigo
    • Night of Navy

    But grab your favorite colors and try it out with pinks, greens, or purples.  Or you can step it up like some of the gals in my class did and start layering in on different blues using the Bitty Butterfly punch and layering them over these Elegant Butterfly punch outs.  Let me just say they look super pretty!

     

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

    Supples Used
    Paper – Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Night of Navy
    Accessories – Paper Piercer, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Piercing Mat, Elegant Butterfly Punch

  • You’re Amazing Ticket Banner Card from Convention

    Alright, today is another share of the Stampin’ Up! convention make & takes.  I LOVED the variety and number of different projects we got to make and I thought that the projects we made with the You’re Amazing stamp set were especially unique.  And I’ll admit, this card is not at all hard to do, it does take a little bit of time to put together. 🙂

     

    There are so many details to this card and after creating it, I think I might just hang it over my desk to remind myself that even when I’m feel low and my self-esteem has taken a hit, that I can have amazing moments too.  And I can remember how much I enjoyed creating this card.

    Some tips if you are making a card like this:

    • When using the Essentials Paper Piercing pack to create a dotted outline for a die cut shape or stamped image, I recommend placing the piercing template on your card base first so you can line it up exactly where you want it to be; then do your piercing, and then add in your center piece.
    • If you want to make a string of little punched tickets (or any shape), I stamped my images first, pierced the hole for running the linen thread through, and then punched out the ticket shape.  You can punch them out and stack them up and pierce the hole, but I didn’t want to have to deal with trying to hold onto the little tiny pieces while piercing.
    • I actually tied the linen thread through the end of the die cut shape to help hold the banner up
    • Depending on your personality, you can opt to leave the ticket banner hanging loosely in the front of your card…. or you can be like me and use a glue dot behind each ticket to place it precisely where you want it to go! 🙂  The tickets may not necessarily hang evenly, but at least they will stay put.
    • The little hearts are actually a clever trick of punching out the 4-petal flower from the Itty Bitty Punch pack and then trimming off two of the petals to make a tiny heart.  This makes it even smaller than the single small heart punch.
      image

     

    Like I said, there are a lot of details, but honestly, that is what made this card so fun for me.  If you check out my blog very often, you see that a lot of the projects I tend to make are the more quick and simple cards – cards that have one or two cool details but don’t take much time to put together.  So, when I get to sit down and focus on more details on the card every now and then it is actually pretty relaxing for me. 🙂  Am I the only person like this?

     

    So, even if you don’t have time to do this whole project, hopefully you got some ideas for different elements to try in your projects in the future.  Though I’ll admit, I’m most addicted to my Essential Piercing Pack, what is your favorite piece to try?

     

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    Check out the 2012 Holiday Catalog

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    You're Amazing Clear-Mount Stamp Set

    Ticket Banner Card Recipe
    Stamps:
    You’re Amazing
    Ink: Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, More Mustard
    Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Primrose Petals, More Mustard, Midnight Muse, Early Espresso
    Accessories: Punch Pack, Linen Thread, Basic Pearls, Essential Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer, Piercing Pad, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Big Shot, Ticket Builder punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

  • Four Frames Pierced Frame Card

    Ok, so this is my last card we did at my card stash class on Friday.  I really, really wanted to get out my new Piercing Pack and start playing with the new shapes and designs they have and thought it would be fun to highlight on of the punches.

     

    I also pulled out the new Polka Dot pack of designer paper to give a subtle look for the background of the card so that it was interesting to look at but the focus was mostly on the stamped image.  This paper pack is one that I didn’t give much of a glance to when I saw it in the catalog but I have a feeling it is going to get A LOT of use!

    Anyway, back to the piercing, here is a close up of the design.  I actually did something a bit different too when I put this together.  Normally, I pierce the holes from front to back (so the part that is pushed up is hidden), but this time I decided to make those raised pierced parts face up toward the stamped image.

     

    If you haven’t seen how they redesigned the Mat Pack (now called the Essential Paper-Piercing Pack), you get 3 plastic mats with predesigned holes that coordinate with edgelits, framelits, and punches!

    Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack

     

    Oh and ps – there are going to be more of these cool piercing packs coming out soon with the new Holiday catalog!  I get my hands on my new pack in a few days, I can’t wait!!

     

    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!

    Four Frames Pierced Card Recipe
    Stamps:
    Four Frames, Fabulous Phrases
    Ink: Early Espresso, Marina Mist
    Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Marina Mist, Polka Dot dsp
    Accessories: Essential Paper-piercing mats, paper piercer, neutrals brads, stampin’ dimensionals, decorative label punch