Northwest Stamper

Tag: holiday card

  • Happy Scenes Wonderful Winter Window Christmas Card

    I hope you don’t mind me sharing another Christmas Card with you today! I know, I know, Halloween has only just passed us by and we still have some time in Fall and Thanksgiving before Christmas time really hits… but well, I just loved this card and since I have it all edited and ready to go, I thought I would share it today instead of making you wait while I work on editing my other card pictures. Smile  Because more craft ideas are better than none, right?  Always so many fun idea to try and to share!

    So, I absolutely loved this card.  It was cased from Amanda Bates (her card is here) but I just loved it so much I had to make it and share it with my folks in class recently.

    Tips for making this card:

    • Start by stamping your background image of the trees using the trees from the Happy Scenes stamp set.  This set is awesome because it perfectly fits with the Hearth and Home thinlits to create the window frame.  From the spiderweb or frost for the corner of the window, to the fall and winter scenes to fit behind the window frame. image
    • But don’t feel like you have to keep your background constrained to the window!  Let them break free and stretch across the page!  In this case, I stamped the trees three times to make it reach all the way across the card front.
    • Add the falling snow using smoky slate ink and the snow fall stamp in the same Happy Scenes stamp set.
    • Add some color by sponging with Soft Sky using a yellow Stampin’ Sponge over the background to really set the scene.
    • Finally I added a little of the Dazzling Details glitter glue to the snow on the trees and along the black lines of my snowy hills.
    • Did you notice?  The “let it snow. let it snow. let it snow” is the exact right length to fit below the window frame?! 
      Tip – since this stamp set is in Photopolymer, so you can see right through it.  Adhere your window frame FIRST using Stampin’ Dimensionals and THEN stamp your sentiment below.  That way everything lines up all nice and pretty. Smile
    • I needed a little more though, so we added the Wooden Snowflake Element to the corner of the window frame with the rhinestone in the center.

    Easy, peasy and oh so pretty!  I think I may be making a bunch of these for my holiday card!

    PS – don’t forget! you can get the stamp set and the window frame die together in a bundle and save 15% off both!  And who doesn’t love a good deal? Smile 

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  • Friday Favorites–Partridge and Pears, Good Greetings, and Blendabilities!

    So, this post is supposed to be highlighting my favorite thing (since this is for the Friday Favorites over at the Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration design team blog) but man if I don’t have a heck of a time picking a favorite!  It’s kind of like being asked to pick a favorite child.  But there are a few things I’m loving right now in this card and so I thought that I’d just expend into my favorite things – plural – Partridge & Pears stamp set, Good Greetings stamp set, and of course, blendabilities!

    This is one of the cards we made in Stamp Club this month and so we kept it simple for the coloring so that everyone could actually get all of their projects done before it was too late!  I’m sure I’ll do another with the tree completely colored, but for now, I’ll let the bird get all the attention. Smile

    Tips for this card:

    • Just because a line art image has lots of space to color, don’t feel like you have to do it all!  Pick a few elements and let them shine by only coloring them.
    • Extend your color palatte by using the Skin Tone Assortment of Blendabilities to color other things like this partridge’s wing and face.

    • Use the Good Greetings hostess set to add a sweet sentiment to your holiday cards.
      NOTE – this stamp set is only available until Oct 31st to hostesses!  Email me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to talk about earning yours!
    • Tuck a piece of the Silver Baker’s twine just under the edge of the tree image for a little hint of glitz on your card for some subtle sparkle.

    This stamp set just LOVES to be colored with the Blendabilities markers and it is so fun to do. 

    Seattle/Bellevue Folks –  if you aren’t already signed up, you can come learn more about coloring with Blendabilities with my Technique Class on Tuesday 10/28!  RSVP today!

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  • Joyful Christmas Blendabilities Card–LAST DAY for these Stamps!

    Joyful Christmas Blendabilities Card–LAST DAY for these Stamps!

    Last night I held my Blendabilities technique class and it was a lot of fun chatting, stamping, and sharing with everyone who came out!  I wanted to share one of the cards I used as a sample in the class last night:

    This card uses the Joyful Christmas stamp set from the Holiday Carryover List – which ENDS TODAY!  So, make sure you’ve checked it out and let me know ASAP if you would like anything.  I’ll be putting in a group order today and can add you to the list.

    Tips for this card:

    • Stamp your image on a window sheet using Stazon Ink.  Then FLIP the window sheet over and color with your Blendabilities marker on the other side to give you the color you want.  DO NOT color on the same side that you stamped on
    • Use a thin mat of Glimmer Paper to add just the right amount of sparkle to your project
    • Adhere your colored image with glue dots to your paper

    Like I said, this stamp set is one of the many great sets going away TODAY, so check out the Carryover List and let me know ASAP if you would like anything.

    VIEW THE HOLIDAY CARRYOVER LIST HERE

     

    Also, you CAN get these Carryover items as part of your Starter Kit if you would like to join my team and get $150 in product for only $99 and get all the discounts and perks of being a demonstrator.  Get started here.

     

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  • A Fun Christmas Card and Coloring Tip for Embossed Images

    So, this started out as me trying to figure out the answer to a question for my downline, Liz, about how to get rich color on the top of the flowers from the Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder.  I thought I knew what to tell her, but I wanted to try it out first so I could make sure I told her the right technique (since there are quite a few ways to color with your embossing folder).  Plus it was a great excuse for me to get back into creating videos too!  Yay!

    Anyway, I finally figured it out and then thought I ought to do something with the finished colored and embossed paper, so this is what I came up with:

    Christmas Card with Petals a Plenty and Tag It

    Isn’t he cute?  I finally busted out my Tag It stamp set and used the coordinating Chalk Talk framelits to create the center tag.  Plus I accented it with my beloved Stitched Satin Ribbon in Gumball Green.  It makes it so happy, no?

    Want to know how easy it is to color the flowers on this embossing folder?

    Check out this quick video I made to show you how I did it.  (if you are reading this in email, click here to view the video on my blog)

     

    Thank you, Liz!!

    Now that I have this technique figured out, you can be sure I’m going to use it a lot.  It is so fast and I love the look.

    I’m also thinking of including this card in my upcoming Holiday Card stamp-a-stacks.  What do you think?  Would you want to make this card? Smile

    And check back tomorrow for another card idea using this same folder and technique.  See you then!

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  • Sponged Holiday Ornament Card for the Stamp-a-Stack

    Last night I was finished up the final design touches and prepping for my first Christmas Card stamp-a-stack this weekend.  I need to get the cards photographed so I can share some of the fun things we will be doing but I really wanted to get at least one up today so I hope you don’t mind the more “rough” photography I did for this one card.  🙂

    delightful decorations christmas stamp a stack card

     

    I wanted to have a good mix of colors for the cards so they weren’t all red/green combos, so I started thinking blue and that got me thinking sponging for whatever reason.  So, this card started coming together.  We are going to be punching out an ornament shape from some cardstock (the backing from the designer series paper packs you get) to use as a mask for our Whisper White base.  Then we will sponge using Baja Breeze and Island Indigo to make the mottled ornament shapes.  Add a bit of Dazzling Details for their “strings” and they make a nice background.

    The front ornament is stamped in Island Indigo and punched out with the Ornament punch but if it looks a little funny to you, that is because we are going to cover it with Shimmer Paint!  It gives it a really pretty shimmery sheen when you stamp.  Check it out:

    shimmer paint delightful decorations close up

     

    To get this look, you ink up your stamp in your color of choice, and then take a sponge dauber and dab it in your Shimmer Paint.  Tap the sponge dauber all over the surface of your inked stamp to add the shimmer and then stamp like normal!  Very pretty effect!

    Add a rhinestone to the middle and some Whisper White bakers twine for the string and you are done!  Its an easy card with a lot of pizzazz  I may have to do more of these for my own personal Christmas cards this year. 🙂

     

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  • Happy Hannukah Card

    I know I’m running a couple days behind since Hannukah started on the 1st, but I created this card on the first… does that count?  Smile 

    I made this card using scraps and one of my favorite retired sets – Hebrew Holidays.

    It is also hard to see, but I used Crystal Effects on the candle flames…such a fun use of Crystal Effects.  It adds a little shine and dimension when you see the card in person.

    So, to all of you celebrating the Festival of Lights right now.  I wish you a very happy Hannukah!

  • A Designer Fabric Holiday Card

    I ordered the new Designer Fabrics a long while back as part of a special for Stampin’ Up! convention attendees and was excited to try experimenting with incorporating fabric into my projects.  Well, I kept looking at the pretty fabric sitting on my shelf and couldn’t bring myself to cut into it (ok, and I’ll admit I was a little intimidated to try something different).  But after my friend kept asking me about the fabrics, I knew i needed to break them out and just start cutting!

    So, this card was a fun way to play with the fabric, experiment with fraying the edges (since I had seen a few cards that did this to a very cute effect), and then also use the matching designer series paper as an accent in the Build-a-Brad.

    Fabric Christmas Card smSide note – for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about when i say “Build-a-Brad”, it is that brad in the center of the card.  What makes these brads cool, is that they come as a blank flat-topped brad.  They are meant for you to punch out any paper/stamped image using a 1/2” circle punch and adhere that punchout to the top of the brad.  Then you can use the provided clear  adhesive-backed plastic pebble to make the brad looked finished. 

    Here is a close up of the brad showing how we punched out a circle from the Designer Series paper that had the same pattern as the fabric:

    Build a Brad with fabric sm

    I started with the idea of using the fabric and fraying it.  Then I added the Build-a-Brad.  I had the card done and all ready for the class when I looked at it and said, “Its so vintage, I bet a torn edge would look cool”.  So, I tore the bottom edge of the card, which looked cool but really popped when I added some Crumb Cake cardstock to the bottom of the card inside. 

    This card probably took the longest to make, but I love its fun accents and vintage feel.

    Some tips for this card:

    • When we adhered the DSP to the top of the brad, I like to use Crystal Effects as my glue as opposed to Snail or Glue Dots because you can get a flat even coating of the adhesive on the brad top and you know it won’t slide around on you in the future.
    • To adhere the fabric onto your cardstock, your best bet is probably going to be the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets.  But if you don’t have that (and we didn’t for the class), you can use sticky strip to do the job.  For this card, I recommend cutting your fabric and determining where you are going to lay it on your card.  Cut a piece of Sticky Strip that is 1/2 – 2/3rd the height of your fabric piece and place it on the edge of the cardstock and then press your fabric onto the sticky strip.  I found that if you tried to put sticky strip directly onto the fabric, it can be hard to get the red backing off the tape without pulling the tape strip off of your fabric at the same time.
    • When fraying the edges of your fabric, only pull one or two threads at a time to minimize punching and pulling of your fabric. 
    • Pull extra threads for fraying by using the tip of your Paper Snips to separate the thread you are going to pull from the flat fabric piece.

    Don’t miss your chance to get the Designer Fabrics for 50% off!

    If you like the idea of playing with fabric in your projects, don’t miss your chance to try it out for half-off as part of the Online Spectacular sale.  You only have until Nov. 30th, so don’t delay!  Check them out HERE.

  • A Clean and Simple Holiday Card

    When I was at the Stampin’ Up! regionals in Portland, I saw a demonstration that showed how cute a scalloped edge could be on a card.  I got inspired by the example and started playing with a card layout that has evolved into this design which I really like. 

    I have made this design in the past using Whisper White cardstock as the base with Cherry Cobbler accents but I had some scraps lying around and so went ahead and tried it with Soft Suede.  It looks really nice in person (better than I think it shows in the picture).  The other thing I vary with this card – in this example I used a strip of Soft Suede cardstock for the string the ornament is hanging on, but when I used a white base, I really like using Early Espresso narrow taffeta ribbon.

    Thanks for looking! 

    Happy Holidays Card Recipe:
    Stamps:      Tags Til Christmas, Many Merry Messages
    Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso
    Paper:  Whisper White CS, Cherry Cobbler CS, Soft Suede CS
    Accessories:  Ornament Punch, Scallop Trim Punch, Adhesive Rhinestones, Stampin” Dimensionals

    Love crafting and sharing it with others? 

    starter_kit_widgetDon’t miss this amazing opportunity to get the demonstrator starter kit for 50% off!  Become a demonstrator before November 30th and you’ll get over $310 worth of product and supplies for less than the cost of the stamps!

    My team is growing and I’d love to have you join us!  Contact me today at jennifer@nwstamper.com  for more information or click here to get started.
    (my recruiter code is nwstamper).

  • Another early Christmas card

    Here is another Christmas card I put together trying to use just a few pieces.  The layout is not too complex but I just love how it turned out. 

    The hardest thing about this card was making the bell gold and still have the bell’s ribbon red.  I didn’t have a gold marker, so I cut a small circle out of an index card and used that to mask the Jingle all the Way stamp except for the bell.  Then I inked it up with my gold Encore inkpad and removed the index card.  At that point, I could go to town on the stamp using markers to color the words and the ribbon.  I seriously don’t know what I would do without my marker set…best purchase ever!  The rest is just straight forward cutting and layering of paper.

     

     Recipe:
     Stamps:     Christmas Classics
     Ink: Encore Gold
     Paper: Kiwi Kiss CS, Ridinghood Red CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Whisper White CS, Real Red DSP (retired)
     Accessories: Stampin’ Write markers
    Images copyright 1990–2008 Stampin’ Up!