Farewell to One Of The Most Versatile Stamps!

Back when I ran my new catalog retiring stamps prediction contest, I had people guessing that the Delightful Decorations stamp set would retire.  I thought, “No Way!”  This stamp set has been great for more than just Christmas so I figured that for sure it was saying. 

Sadly, they were right and I was wrong.  Both Delightful Decorations & the Ornament Punch are retiring!  (Though at least the punch is 25% off!)

So, today is a walk down memory lane of some of my favorite cards using this stamp set.  First up, a recent card that we made at my Fabric Technique class. 

I die-cut out 4 flowers using the Floral Framelits and folded them together to make this cute flower.  But every flower needs a vase and the ornament stamp/punch with the bottom point trimmed off works just perfect!  The stamp set also contains that cool dotted circle that I used for my background.  See…totally doesn’t have to be Christmas. 

Flower Card Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful Decorations**, Lovely & Lacy
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Lucky Limeade** pad and marker
Paper:  Lucky Limeade**, Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Accessories:  Flirtatious designer fabric, Big Shot, Floral Frames framelits, Ornament Punch**, In Color Brads**, 1 3/4” Scallop circle punch, Sponge Dauber
** indicates item retiring on 6/3/2013

Next up… how about a fish?

I love how you can turn the punch on its side and make it be a cute punch art fish.  If you are curious which punches I used for this card and how I put it together, you can check out the blog post here – Fish Punch Art.

And yes, Christmas too!

Of course, just because I don’t have to use it for Christmas, of course it is perfect for Christmas tags and cards too.  This simple card was one of my favorites from my holiday collection.

I hope you enjoyed my stroll down memory lane….I think I’m off to give my set some love.   And if you don’t have this set yet, make sure you pick it up by tomorrow before its gone!  Shop the retirement lists online here.

 

Sweet Party Invitation & a Quick Idea for Using Fabric on Your Cards

If you want an idea for a fun handmade invitation – whether a shower invitation or birthday party invitation, check out today’s post as I play with cute colors and fabulous fabric as part of this month’s Stylin’ Stampin’ Squad blog hop.

You’ve seen the cute fabric patterns out there and love the idea of using fabric in your crafting projects… but if you are like me, that often means piles of fat quarters languishing in a drawer or on a shelf.  I’m serious, I have a tall stack of fabric in my drawer behind my craft table!

Well, I’m here to give you an idea for using your fabric in a way that is super quick and can add some pizzazz to your projects.  Check it out:

You may be thinking, “that is it?”  And I’ll tell you – Yep!  See, the cool thing is it took me just a few seconds to rip a strip of my fabric but that rip gave me an awesome fringe that adds just a bit of texture to the card, not to mention the fibers of the fabric.

Anyway, in real life I really liked the contrast of the Melon Mambo in the fabric with the Melon Mambo in the cardstock on the banner.  I also mixed and matched the height and colors of the banner pieces – all elements from the Hearts a Flutter stamp set and coordinating framelits.  Then a final touch with one of the flowers from the Flower Trim that has been sponged with a Sponge Dauber to have pink edges.

Finally, my last cool touch – the bows on the banner!

Why are these bows cool?  Because they totally match!  Did you notice?  They are made from the extra threads that came off when I ripped the fabric strip.  So, it was an easy way to effortlessly have matching “twine” to go with your project.

When I finished and needed a sentiment, I was just drawn to the “You’re Invited” stamp from the Oh Hello stamp set.  So, I’ve decided this is a great invitation whether for a birthday, wedding shower, or baby shower… or I guess whatever else you could imagine!  Does anyone else see “party” too?

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Now, if you want even more ideas for how to use fabric in your crafting projects, hop on by to the next stop on tour and be ready for some FAB ideas!

Blog Hop Participants:

• Shellie G. of Craft Smashup
• Annie L. of Love Me Cards
• Nancy B. of Lady Stamps-A-Lot
• Rose C. of Stamp with Rose
• Tonya B. of Stampin’ with Tonya
• Dawn S. of Dawn’s Creative Chalet
• Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
• Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
• Justin K of JK Cards
• Heidi B of Stuck on Stampin’
• Jennifer B of NW Stamper  <– You Are Here!
• Bree of Craft-somnia
• Diana E of Stampin’ Fun with Diana
• Darcy J of Dj’s Stampin Place

 

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Make Your Own Craft Tote with your Big Shot!

I’ll tel(l you up front that this project requires sewing, which means you know I didn’t make it myself.   Instead, my fabulously talented friend Annie Lee created this for me using some of the Springtime Vintage fabric I gave her (and Yes! This is one of the fabrics that is on clearance right now for only $0.99!)

Isn’t it super awesome?!  I have it sitting by my craft table all the time.  Though what I love about it is that I feel like even the sewing newbie like me could make this!

See, the trick to me is cutting lots of squares out of the fabric using the Scallop Square Bigz die.  It gives you consistent sized pieces for your projects, its easy, and did you know you can run multiple layers of fabric through in one pass through your Big Shot?

Wha-Bam!!  Talk about speedy cutting for your sewing project, right?

Anyway, the caddy is 2 squares long on each side with a divider down the middle.  Then divide one half again to give you the three compartments.  Does that make any sense?  I think, this took 22 Scallop Squares (one on the outside and one on the inside for each square you see).  She also stitched in some of the retired – so sad – stitched 5/8” Rose Red grosgrain ribbon.

Wanna see it again from another angle?  Oooh… Pretty!

Now just think for a minute how expensive these totes are in the stores… now imagine how much money you save when you buy this fabric from the clearance rack for only $0.99 for 3 extra-large fat quarters.  Um, yeah, you would probably save enough to buy some goodies to stuff your bag with.  hee hee… or maybe that is what I would do.

Shop online to snag your fabric now

PS – Did you know, that if you decided to sign up with Stampin’ Up! as a demonstrator this month, not only would you get the $125 worth of product for $99, plus the free Halloween project kit, but you would also receive 20% off your order of fabric.  So, those $0.99 fabric sets just got knocked down to about $0.79!  Just saying!

 

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Don’t Miss Designer Fabric on Clearance–only $0.99!

If you are a fan of my Facebook page, you’ve already seen me post about this special clearance sale, but just in case you missed it… you still have time!

While Supplies Last!  Get any one of these sets of designer fabric for only 99 cents!  Each package contains 3 patterns and each piece is an extra wide fat quarter (27” x 18”).  They are great to make cute projects and work awesomely with your favorite Big Shot dies!

 

 

Want to see what you can create with these?  I have a number of projects posted on my blog, so check them out here – http://www.nwstamper.com/category/fabric/

And even if you don’t sew, you can grab your trusty Fun Flowers Big Shot die and a brad or hot glue and create this:

So, snag them up while you can!  Shop online or contact me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to place your order before they are all gone.

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Something Different–a Fabric Credit Card Holder!

I thought today I would share something different then my usual card/paper craft project, plus it is a great example of what you can use with some of the fun 60% off items in the Stampin’ Up! Clearance Rack!

This is a cool little project that my friend Annie Lee made for me that I use every single day!  This was made as a business card holder but I started using it as my credit card wallet and I love it!

 

So, this used some of last year’s Candy Cane Christmas fabric and the Big Designer Buttons.  She sewed two pieces of fabric together for the cover (so there is cute striped fabric on the inside and polka dot fabric on the outside).  The clever part is she took a hair rubber band and stitched it between those two layers on one side to be used as the “clasp”.  There is also a line of stitching half way between the two short edges to hold the fabric together and make a clean fold for the wallet to fold in half around.  Finally, she added another polka dot fabric piece to each side to make the pockets.

Add a button to the front and it works awesome!  Having a diaper bag with me all the time, it is nice to be able to have a small wallet for my credit cards that I can put in the pocket and not have it take up too much space in my overstuffed bag.

If you want to make your own, there is still some retired fabric and a few colors of these designer buttons in the Clearance Rack for a great deal!!  The retired fabric is only $3.99 and the buttons are only $3.59!  Didn’t I tell you it is an awesome deal?   That is 60% off!

Well, hope you have a great Friday…. and only 4 days until I’m off to the Stampin’ Up! convention!

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Fabric Pocket Tissue Holder

So, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not a sew-er.  As in, I don’t own a sewing machine or wouldn’t know what to do if placed in front of one if I had to do anything other than push the pedal down and move my fabric forward.  🙂

I do, however, have a great demo friend name Annie Lee who loves sewing and when I was getting ready for the Northwest Women’s Show, offered to take some of my Stampin’ Up! designer fabric and make some project samples with it.

In this case, it is a fabric holder for those pocket tissue packs using the retiring Candy Cane Christmas fabric (right now its 70% off too! Total steal! Check out all the designer fabric options):

 

I mean, seriously, who wouldn’t feel a bit cheered up with these bright and fun colors when you are feeling under the weather?

 

So, a huge THANK YOU to Annie for showing me some super fun ideas for when I get over my fear of the sewing machine and try it out myself.

 

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

Retiring Stamps | Retiring Accessories | Retiring Décor Elements

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First Day of the Stampin’ Up! Convention 2011

My word!  Its been a whirlwind of a week starting with me desperately trying to get swaps made and everything packed and ready to go for convention this year.  But I made it and flew into Salt Lake City on Tuesday in anticipation of a great week…and I haven’t been disappointed! 

Today was the first day of convention and boy was it a doozy!  Lots of sneak peeks of upcoming products, freebies, amazing ideas, and fab projects.  I’ve been posting pictures on my facebook page when I could so if you want to see a few more pictures, check it out.  But I couldn’t take pictures of a lot of the details I learned so I wanted to share a few pictures and more details!  Enjoy!

Ok, can I have a personal toot for a minute? :)  Each year they invite people who met certain milestones or achievements to walk across the stage.  I am still working towards that, but this year they added 2 more marches – first time attendees and anyone who recruited in the last year.  Well, Bethani, my downline, got to walk for first time attendee and I got to walk for recruiting!  Yay!

 

Next we had a HUGE sneak peek at the upcoming Holiday Mini that launches in September.  No joke, I am in so much trouble with how much I want out of it.  There are new ribbons (can you say velvet and quilted satin?), new punches including a stocking punch that has a matching stamp set!!, fun holiday dies and embellishments (like mini jingle bells that I have no idea what I’m going to do with yet but I have to get), more adorable fabric (I’m just saying check out my next picture), of course new papers and stamps, and a ton more.  Then they showed us this bag that we could buy in Memento Mall that looks like this:

Know what it’s for?  AAAAHHHHH!  I’m so excited!!!  It’s made to fit the new Simply Scored tool!  That’s right, a super awesome scoring tool.  It takes the best features of what’s out there and adds some, like besides giving you lines every 1/8”, you get a metal tipped ergo stylus, multiple plastic arrows to mark which score lines you are using for a given project, a storage compartment, multiple ruled edges, etc.  I’m so stoked!

Ok, moving on.  At lunch, I had another amazing experience where when we entered the Gathering Place to get our lunches, we got picked for a You Crew experience.  You Crew is their name for randomly selecting people to have one of a variety of one of a kind experiences and in our case, we got a special table with glasses, plates, lemonade, a staffer who made sure we were well taken care of.  Pretty fun!

  At the end of lunch, we saw that they had put out a special dessert.  Cookies…but not just any cookies, check out the designs:

Yeah, yeah you say, they have designs.  But these are special designs.  They are Stampin’ Up! cookie stamp designs!  Yes, as in a stamp that can make different impressed images on cookie dough.  How fun is that.  Oh, and the shortbread recipe that comes with it, if it is the same one they used for these cookies, is pretty darn yummy.  🙂

Finally we finished our day with make & takes, which I still need to finish so I can share with you, and one more session where we saw some great ideas for quick, easy, and inexpensive projects.  Like did you know you can get a package of quick accent stickers, 2 packages of notecards, and make 40 cards in no time flat?  And they are simple and cute too. 

I know I don’t have many project sample pictures today, but don’t worry.  I’ll have more of the projects and products I can photograph and share posting over the next few days.  And don’t forget to stop by my facebook page to see more photos and updates when I can.

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Dress Card using Designer Fabrics

I saw a project someone made at convention last year that created the dress part of this card using cardstock and a paper napkin.  Then, when I was looking for ideas for using the Stampin’ Up! designer fabrics, I ran across some cards that used the dress and put it onto a standard card base.  Cute, right? 

I originally found instructions from Lorraine Castellon-Rowe’s blog and then started playing with the fabrics and papers I had around.  Because I wanted to use the swirly pattern from the Deck The Halls fabric set, I decided to use my swirly pattern Texturz Plates for my BigShot to emboss the background piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. 

To make the dress bodice, I used a series of punches:

	1.  Punch a circle using the 2 1/2” Circle Punch for the base of the bodice
	2. Punch out the waistline of your dress using the 1 3/4” Circle Punch.  If you want to be very precise, you can take the cut out from the first side and trace that curve on the opposite side.  Then use the pencil line as your guide when lining up the punch.
	3.  Punch the neckline using the 3/4” Circle punch

Then embellish as you like.  I used the adhesive pearls and added some ribbon to the waistline but you could get creative with gems, buttons, embossing, or whatever sounds fun to you.  The skirt was just run through the BigShot using the Scallop Square die though I think for future cards like this, I would probably use the new Scallop Square Duo die.  And then adhere to the back of your bodice.

It’s a fun card and one you could make in so many variations to be a perfect match for the recipient of the card. I hope you enjoy this project!

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Just For You Dress Card Recipe:
Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Basic Black
Paper:  Riding Hood Red cardstock, Very Vanilla cardstock
Accessories:  BigShot, Scallop Square Bigz die, Backgrounds 1 Texturz plates, 2 1/2” Circle punch, 1 3/4” Circle punch, 3/4” Circle punch, Adhesive Pearls, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Small Oval punch, Deck the Halls designer fabric

More Ideas with Designer Fabric

*** Reminder! Today is the LAST day of Sale-a-Bration.  If you haven’t gotten your favorites yet, get shopping!  You have a few hours left to shop online or contact me with your order and get FREE STAMPS or accessories! ***

Continuing in my sharing of the fabric technique cards we made at a recent class using the Stampin’ Up! designer fabrics, and I thought I would post a couple more today.

Sure, this is the most basic way to use fabric… but its fun!  And while I grew up with a mom who is a fantastic sewer, I never quite go into it and so didn’t internalize some of the basics.  So, I was excited to be reminded by Bethani about the fact that when you tear a piece of fabric, it will give you a wonderfully straight edge every time.  I’m so used to paper that will has a complete mind of its own when it comes to tearing, so I was thinking I had to use a cutter for every edge.  Sure, the tear gives you a slightly feathered look… but it’s a CUTE feathered look.

I just LOVE how this turned out!  Most of the card is pretty self-explanatory.  We stamped the flower image on the base cardstock in Versamark, and then did simple sponging and punching for the other elements.  And then we get to the fabric flower…SO FUN!! 

Ok, to make the flower, we cut out 4 flower shapes – in this case using the Cherry Blossom embosslit.  Once you have those four flower shapes, take a small square cut from a Sticky Pages sheet.  Expose one side of the Sticky Page square and then take one of the fabric flowers and fold it in half.  Place that folded flower on half of your sticky square.  Next, take your 2nd fabric flower, fold it in half, and place it on the sticky square so that it overlaps the the first fabric flower and now forms an “L” shape.  Ok, on to fabric flower 3.  You guessed it!  Fold it in half!  Place it on the sticky square so that it overlaps flower 2 and the folded edge is flush against the folded edge of flower 1.  Finally, grab and fold flower 4.  Place it on the sticky square so that the folded edge is flush with flower 2, its right corner is on top of flower 3 and its left corner is under the right corner of flower 1.  At this point you should have a flower that is stuck to the Sticky Pages square.  I then pierced a hole in the center with the paper piercer and placed an antique brad.  Then remove the remaining backing on the sticky square and place where you want it!  In my card, I layered it on a Rose Red scallop circle that was punched using the 2 3/8” scallop circle.

 

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You Take the Cake Card:
Stamps:  Party Hearty
Ink:  Rose Red, Regal Rose, Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Markers
Paper:  Wild Wasabi cardstock, Baja Breeze cardstock, Whisper White cardstock
Accessories:  Candy Lane designer fabric

Lucky You Card:
Stamps:  Afterthoughts (hostess set)
Ink:  Versamark, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Old Olive cardstock, Whisper White cardstock, Rose Red cardstock
Accessories:  Sticky Sheets, 2 3/8” Scallop Circle punch, Corner Rounder punch, Sponge daubers, Paper Piercer, Antique Brads, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Playing with Designer Fabrics the “No Sew” Way

When my downline, Pam, suggested having a class focused on using the designer fabrics; I thought it was a great idea.  She was looking for more ideas on how to use all the cute fabrics and I needed the kick in the pants to start cutting more into my fat quarters.  So, I organized a fun afternoon where I shared “no sew” ideas and Bethani, another of my downline, brought an awesome card for everyone to do as well.  Since two of the cards used Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, I thought I’d share them first.

So Happy For You Butterflies

 

For this card, we use the Sizzix Multi-Purpose adhesive sheets to put adhesive on the back of the blue and red polka dot fabric (we didn’t put any adhesive on the multi-colored polka dot fabric).  Then we ran both fabric pieces through the Big Shot using the butterfly Bigz die. 

Tip:  Place the fabric on the adhesive sheet prior to running it through the BigShot.  It not only will make it easier for you to have an exact shape match without having to try to line anything up, but the BigShot will provide all the pressure you need to ensure a no-bubble seal between the fabric and adhesive!

We adhered the cardstock and then ran a piece of cardstock vellum through a crimper for a fun little touch (ok – and really I somehow completely forgot the vellum at home and so the ladies used whisper white paper and it looked really good too).  I adhered the crimped paper in the center only.  Then used the big butterfly with the adhesive back as the main adhesive as I layered it over the crimped paper. 

Then we used glue dots in the center of the little butterfly and the button to layer them on top.  By only using adhesive in the middle of the small butterfly and the vellum, it gave the card a little extra dimension and/or movement.  Finish it off with my favorite sentiment set right now – So Happy For You from the Sale-a-Bration catalog

 

Sweet Summer Flowers

This is the card that was designed and taught by my downline, Bethani Semple.  Isn’t it so fun looking!  I think she did an awesome job and though I changed my version up a little by wrapping the ribbon around the Old Olive cardstock, I now think her original version that wrapped the Night of Navy taffeta ribbon around the cardbase was better.

Anyway, for this card, we took a strip of the Sweet Stitches Fabric and twisted it (kind of like how you twisted a towel when you were a kid and were going to “snap” someone in the kitchen).  So, once you had the twisted strip of fabric, we curled that around a small stick – in this case a paper piercer – to form the flower head.  When you were finished coiling, you tucked the end of the ribbon up through the center of your flower.  Then, add some hot glue to a punched out circle of cardstock and squish in your flower head.  Ta da!  Your very own custom accent.  Totally fun, huh? 

In this case we used the ribbon flower as a head for one of our Sweet Summer flowers, this set is also from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.

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