The Stamper

Elegant, stylist and wow

This fun card was created with Stampin' Up!'s Establish Elegance stamp set.  I really like this set, it has so many pieces that work well together and yet you can create a different look with each one.  

The colors are Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy and Comfort Cafe Designer series paper all from Stampin' Up!

The technique I use was a torn edge, this softens the edges and creates a stylist look.  I added an Antique brad accent and used it to tie linen thread to.  

To order go to my Stampin' site:  http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net 

Bright Blossom hello card

This simple little card was made using Stampin' Up!'s Bright Blossom stamp set.  I stamped on whisper white cardstock and layer a few more flowers with dimensionals.  Punched the image with large circle punch and added a freehand frame.  

The 3 sqares were punched from the coordinating designer papers for the Bright Blossom stamp set.  Add a little ribbon and a hello tag and you have simple little card that would be a fun surprise in someone's mailbox.  

To order Bright Blossom stamp set go to my Stampin' site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net

 

Purse Scrapbook

Bryn was invited to a special birthday party and we wanted to create a special gift.  We decided to create this purse scrapbook.  We traced the purse front plus bottom onto cardstock and did the same for the back but added a front flap and then glued the bottoms together to make it stable and so it could stand.  We added designer series paper accents as well as stamped flower images and a large button.  The flower images were stamped and then the centers were sponged with another color of ink to soften the middle. 
The inside pages were added by scoring a 1/4" in the center of 6x12 sheets of cardstock and glueing that 1/4" into the bottom of the purse.  We added flower accents to the pages so it is ready to drop photos onto by her friend. 

To order supplies to create a purse of your own go to my Stampin' Site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net 

MDS2 check out the details

What a great summer of visiting family and friends, this page is one celebrating my downline retreat I held at my American Fork house. It was created in MDS2 in just a few minutes using one of their templates.  Even though the summer was great  I am ready to get settled into a daily routine of Bryn going to school and Ted going to work and me creating.  

One of the ways I will be creating is with My Digital Studio 2.  Stampin' Up! has updated their digital scrapbooking programs and it is better than ever.  We still have the great art work but even more.  We can download the program through the web and get started creating with over 150 new techniqes waiting to be used.  I love the recoloring tool where you can recolor any image to another color.  And designing two page spreads is even easier.  

Check out the details and what is on sale for the next two weeks at my stampin site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net  

Patterned Party Birthday card

It's a party!  This stamp set was new last year and I liked it so right away I ordered it and sent it to my friend in Georgia where Ted was suppose to be going in a few weeks, that was last fall and because of a change of schedule Ted did not go back until late spring so my stamp set sat in Georgia for months and of course I did not want to purchase it again because I knew it was there.  

So when this stamp set and I got in the same place I quickly put it together to play with it.  This card was one of my creations.  It was created for my Hands On class last month.  I used Not Quite Navy, Daffodil Delight and the new paper Summer Smooches.  

Most of this card was done with marker techniques.  The Happy Birthday I used the technique of omitting.  The stamp has flags that say "to you" that I left off this card.  The balloons are colored with markers so they all have a different color and punched with a large circle punch.  The present used both of these techniques, I omitted the rest of the gifts and colored the ribbon a different color.  This rectangle is easy to create with punches.  First stamp the image close to the edge of your cardstock, then using a small sqaure punch, punch the image with part of the square punch hanging off the cardstock edge.  Now glue the stamped image to the edge of the color frame you want leaving a small edge of the frame color showing then using the large square punch frame in your image and punch.  Now you have a rectangle image using square punches.  

To order the Patterned Party stamp set and accessories go to my Stampin' site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net 

Established Elegance Retreat card

It won't be too much longer and I will find myself back in the United States for summer break and Stampin' Up! convention.  This year I invited all my downline to join me at our home in Utah for a couple of days before convention for my STARZ retreat.  It will so great to see everyone again.  

As part of my retreat we each create a wow project and then bring cards to exchange.  This card is my exchange card, it has that vintage style to it.  I really like how it turned out and hope you enjoy it as well. 

I used Stampin' Up! new in color Summer Starfruit for the base and 4 x 5 1/4" Designer paper from Stampin' Up! new paper pack Comfort Cafe.  Then I  added 1/2 of the Bigz Clear Oval Accent die cut from Cajun Craze cardstock.  I stamped a flourish in Cajun Craze on the top part of the die.  I also stamped the words on the DSP paper. 

I stamped image from the Established Elegance stamp set and punched and added them to the card. The Typewriter stamped in Black stazon; framed in Soft Suede.  Circle image was stamped with Early Espresso punched with circle punch.  Crown was stamped with Cajun Craze punched with square punch and framed with Summer Starfruit cardstock punches with square punch.  The key was stamped with Black Stazon and cut out and natural twine was tied in a bow. The accents were popped off the page with dimensionals.  

 How to make the ribbon flower:  The ribbon flower is about 7 inches of seam binding ribbon, you pull a string from one edge gathering the ribbon as you pull, then I rolled and wrapped the ribbon back and forth around itself and stuck the bottom edge to a dimensional.  I used the same dimensional to stick the ribbon flower to the card.  

To order supplies to make a card like mine go to my Stampin' web site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net 

 

Cherryish You scrap page

To start my daughter's grad books I write a note to her as her mom and I also have her dad write something.  My husband enjoyed writing little poems for each of our daughters for this book.  They always make me cry.  I usually use Senior pictures plus one of them as a baby, for Chaylee I also used some from last year because they were great pictures of her. 

This page was one I made in my scrapbooking class a couple months ago.  I used the cherry stamp from Stampin' Up! Mouthwatering stamp set and designer papers also from Stampin' Up!.  I really like this layout and used it a couple of time in her books.   It works well when trying to fit lots of pictures on a page or like I did here with lots of journaling.  Some details you might miss is the 3/4 " circles that were punched from the same Certainly Celery cardstock as the base page and then glued onto the base page.  This is a nice subtle background and easy to do.  The frame are Stampin Up! new Framelits dies, I used Labels collections on this page.  

To see the catalogs and order you can go to my Stampin' site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net or contact via email at [email protected]

Grad books are done!

I must say now that I have finished Chaylee's grad books it might have been worth all the time and effort it took to do them but the real test will be when she opens them this coming Thursday and I see her face, then I will know for sure.  

The format I followed is one I have used for my two older daughters books with a few changes.  I make each child 4 books for them to take away to college and the rest of their lives (I make two copies so I have one here at home as well). I guess it is a tradition since this past winter Chaylee started dropping hints that she wants a set of scrapbooks for graduation like her older sister got, her hint dropping got so bad that I finally had to tell her that I was working on them because she was worried I would leave her out.  

The first book is about them; pages in this book are letter from parents, her heritage, the homes she lived in, personality pages, birthday pages, friends pages.  

Second book is her family book, this includes family pictures of her growing up, a page of her with each family member and note from that family member, family trips review and grandparent trip review pages.  

The thrid book is her school book, it included a two page spread of each school year from preschool to high school graduation (this page is added after she gets her book) and the fourth book is an expression book.  

This is a little mini album with pictures of her and the expression she makes growing up.  

The pages for these book are ones that I created in my scrapbook classes and I drop the photos I collected from her life onto them.  I will show you some of the pages over the next few weeks.  

To order scrapbooking supplies go to my stampin' web site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net 

New Catalog is here

June is the month for the new.  I am one year newer.  We have a new season; because summer is really here.  There is a new catalog; Stampin' Up! released the 2012-2013 catalog June 1st.
The catalog has new colors;  5 new colors Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse & Gumball Green. Don't those sound good!

You will also find new products; stamps set, buttons, ribbons, dies & much more.

You will also be able to view the new My Digital Studio downloads and products.  

To see all the new things you can check out my Stampin' Web site:  http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net 

 

New Catalog is coming June 1st

This stampin year we will be getting our new catalog earlier, you will be able to order from the new catalog starting June 1st.  That is a fun birthday present to me.  The new catalog will be smaller than in years past but it is packed full of the same quality rubber stamping and scrapbooking supplies.  This card was created with one of the new stamping lines called Smooch.  The stamp set is Bright Blossoms.  This little set and paper pack that matches is very versatile.  I used it for a mini scrapbook I made for my daughter.  

This card layout was copied from a card in Stampin' Up! monthly magazine they produce for their demontrators.  I just changed it up a bit.  The card was cardstock cut 4 1/4x 11 and scored with the strips embossing folder.  The tag is 2" wide, you clip the bottom to make the bottom of the tag, not perfect is best.  The rounded top was created by tracing a brad or button container making sure it was placed even on both sides of the tag's cardstock.  Everything was sponged for an antique look.  The belly band was created by punching two Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border strips from Real Red cardstock and glueing half of each along a piece of Smooch Designer paper.  I used a word window punch for greeting which can be found inTeeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and tucked it under the tag.  To finish the tag I put ribbon behind the tag and glued a button to the front with glue dots.  

I inked the Bright Blossom's stamp set with markers and stamped it on the tag and also one of the flowers on a scrap of cardstock.  Then cut it out and used a part of a dimensional to pop it up off the tag.  

Because the new catalog is quickly coming our way remember you have until the end of May to order the retired products you want before they are gone.  I used the Distressing Essentials kit to antique this card and also the cardstock is the Confetti cardstock that will also be retiring.  So go to my stampin' web site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net to order today.

Grad Hat from petal cone Big Shot Die

My friend, Wendy shared this cute graduation hat box that a friend had shared with her, with me.  Sharing is so much fun!

With all the graduations in my life this year I just loved this little box.  It was simple to make and the perfect box to hold a little something for a graduate in your life. 

To create the box, cut black or any color cardstock into 2 pieces 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, lay these cardstock pieces onto the petal cone die so that the rounded edges of the die are covered by cardstock, the pieces will not fit the whole die but that does not matter it is just the top part of the die you want. (cutting one layer at a time is best because of the score lines on this die)  After cutting box pieces, you want to score below the petal cone score lines one inch.  Now, glue the box flaps to each other and fold on score lines.  Tuck the petal or round piece together and then glue the opposite ends together.  You will now cut a 3 x 6 piece of black cardstock and fold it in half and glue over the back part of the box.  And white cardstock that was cut using the petal cone die and loosen the fibers with a bone folder, attach this piece to the top of the card with a antique brad.  Add 2 3/4" pieces of white cardstock to the inside of the card to cover the back of the brad and so you can write a simple message of congrats. 

To order Big Shot and Petal cone die go to my Stampin' web site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net

Big Shot Quilting

While I was in Utah for graduations I had the opportunity to visit with one of my good friends who is also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  It is always fun to network and share ideas.  Her name is Wendy also and she has been doing a lot of teaching of quilting with Big Shot dies.  These quilts are fun and easy to make, even people who have not quilted before can successful make a quilt. 

The quilt Wendy made was done with large squares of fabric which you sew together in strips and then the strips together.  Then using the Big shot and scallop square die, you cut fabric squares and glue them over the corners of the large squares using Stampin' Up!'s glue sticks.  Repeat the process with the fun flower die and then take your quilt to a long are quilter and she will quilt the patterns into your quilt.  After you wash the quilt the edges of the die cut images rag up and create a old worn look that is so charming. 

To order the Big Shot and dies go to my Stampin' Web site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net

Preschool Pages

My third daughter is coming to the end of her school days, she will be graduating soon.  For each of my older daughters I have created a 4 scrapbooks of their life for them to take with them to school and their grown up lives.  My third daughter had not seen me working on them and had watched me make the ones for my other daughters, she became worried that she was not getting them and decided to drop some major hints and she wanted a set of scrapbooks for graduation.  It made me smile because I had been working on her books for months, had started before moving here because I knew I would need some of the materials that I was packing and leaving in the states.   I finally had to tell her they were being made so she could calm down and know I was not going to not do them for her.  One of the books I do is a school book with pages recording my child's school years.  This is the book I am currently working on.  What fun to watch them grow again, right before my eyes. 

This two page spread is a page we made in my last scrapbook class.  In class we used pet stamps and created a pet page but I did not add the pet images to my page because we don't have a pet and I knew I wanted to use it for Chay's school scrapbook so I used images found in the From your teacher stamp set.  this layout is a fun one that will work for any themed page.  I love pockets on scrapbooking pages that you can tuck more journaling or pictures and this layout has one, to create the pocket just glue three sides of base designer series paper and across the middle so the tags don't fall all the way to the bottom of your page.  Stampin' Up! designer papers are perfect for this type of layout because they have several coordinating sheets in one pack. 

To order designer series paper go to my stampin' site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net  You can shop by paper only which can make it easy to select the right back for your scrapbooking needs.

Sunflower card

When I was in Utah I was able to look over all my Stampin' Success, a magazine Stampin' Up! sends to their demonstrators.   I loved this card I copied from one of the Stampin' Up! magazines.  It was easy and fun and looked great when it was done. 

One of the benefits of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is the support we get from the company.  There are perks like; magazines, conventions, leadership meetings, great chat group and free product that the company provides for us to help us be successful.  I am excited about the new custom starter kit that for $99 you can become a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! and enjoy these benefits as well.  If you are interested please contact me at [email protected] for more information. 

The sunflower card was create by folding a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece of black cardstock in half.  Cut a vanilla and more mustard cardstock pieces to 4 1/4 x 4 1/2 and stamp the sunflower the same way on both pieces.  Glue strips of Stampin' Up!'s first edition speciality paper on the top and bottom on stamped vanilla piece and attach it to the black card.  Now tear more mustard stamped card in a couple of pieces, attach them over the stamped vanilla cardstock positioning it so the sunflower images match up.  Then using your nail rough up the torn edges.  Add  button and small tag greeting. 

Don't forget the retiring list, you have a couple weeks to order these products. To order retiring products go to my Stampin' web site: http:wendythestamper.stampinup.net Remember you have just a couple more weeks and these products will not be available.

Life is always changing

I always write a life's happening in my monthly newsletter I send out to my customers and this month I wrote this note on change and thought I would share it here as well.   This note is about change.  Going back to the states always brings this to my mind but this time it seems like I got hit with it from all angles.  My oldest daughter graduated from college, yea, we are proud of her and her husband. Change... she is married and has a life of her own and not as much time to spend with me when I go back to visit with her.  She is working part time, job hunting, taking care of husband and house and serving others, all great things but I missed the little girl who would shop for hours and just sit and tell me all the things in her life and what she felt and thought about them.
Change...my nieces and nephews are getting big... it was only 8 months and yet they went from little kids to that age when you see the pre-teen trying to break free.  It was no longer cool to let Aunt Wendy take tons of pictures of them.  Change...  while I was gone my maid lost her husband and her sponsor that lets her and her daughter work and live here in Arabia.  By the time I got back she was gone and I will miss her and her quiet way of serving others.  Change... it was winter when I left and I came back to over 100 degree weather, summer is on it's way big time, after the cool temperatures of Utah I felt so hot driving home, thank goodness for air conditioning.  Change... both of my daughters here are graduating this month, Bryn from Aramco's schools and going to the International school here in Dhahran and Chay from high school going to college.  She is going to BYU Idaho in the fall and has an apartment all ready for her there, she is moving out and I am sad to see her go.  Change happens all around us, all the time but every once it a while it knocks you flat and you have to pick up the pieces and change with it.

Mixed Bunch flower card with embossed butterfly

I was designing scrapbooking pages and loved the idea I came up with so I created a card using the same colors and techniques.  I will show the scrap pages at a later date, they are for my April class that will be held April 14th.  This card was created using the Mixed Bunch stamp set by Stampin' Up!.  This flower set is available for at least the month of April and then the mini catalog will be retired and we will have to wait and see if it makes it in the main catalog.  If you love the flower images in this stamp set you can order today at my Stampin' Site: http://wendythestamper.stampin.net

The card is Certainly Celery cardstock, I folded a 8 1/2x 5 1/2 piece of cardstock in half then tore off the front edge and added a piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock.  I then torn the edge of a 5 1/4 x 3 1/4" Whisper White cardstock.  Stamp the flower image on white cardstock and punch using the matching punch Blossom.  I added a 3/4" circle center from scrap designer series paper.  I also stamped an image from the Mixed Bunch stamp set on certainly celery cardstock and folded in to look like a leaf.  Cut 1/4" celery cardstock for the stem and glue these piece to the front of your card.  The greeting was stamped using Wisteria Wonder ink and punched with oval punches. 

The butterfly was die cut and embossed using the Big Shot and the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die.  I tied the middle with Baker's twine and glued it to the card.  To order from the mini catalog before these items retire go to my Stampin' Site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net

Strawberries and Strawberry Basket

These cute little strawberries boxes will capture your heart and you will like making them even though they take a little time.  Using cardstock, a big shot and texture impression die and the flower fold die you can create a little box that holds a chocolate kiss or other small treat.

  But don't stop there create a little basket to hold them using Stampin' Up!'s wood sheets found on page 216 of the main catalog under Base Materials for your Big Shot.  
This little basket was shown to me by Laree Stewart, one of my creative downline at a retreat a few years back.  After making a few of these strawberries I glanced up at my creative shelf and spotted her box and the two were a perfect match. 
To make the strawberries you can check out this tutorial by selecting this link. 

To make the box, you use: Eight 1/2" x 6" strips of wood sheets. These are weaved together in the middle of the strips, 4 one direction 4 the other, then squeeze them together and bend the remaining ends upward, now weave Two 1/2 x 9 1/2" strips around the strips that are poking upward, the ends of each strip place a glue dot so when you add the rim a 9 1/2" x 3/4" piece of the wood sheets you can attach the ends of the woven basket to it.  The rim was colored with Chocolate chip ink using a sponge.  Add little ribbon handles with brads and a mini tag for decoration.  I also crimped small strips of crumb cake paper for basket filler. 

To order the Big Shot and dies needed for this project you can go to my Stampin' Web site: http://wendythestamper.stampin.net

Summer Smooches Stampin' Special

We don't have to wait until summer to design with these bright bold colors we can take advantage of Stampin' Up!'s Summer Smooches special and order these products that will be in the 2012-2013 catalog this month instead of waiting until June when the new catalog comes out.  The Summer Smooches Special is good from April 1 to April 30.

  There are all kinds of products; paper packs, fabric, stamp set, purse die as well as new ribbon and a decor stencil.  I am excited to start designing with these products.  You can see the flyer by selecting hereor you can go to my stampin' site to see more details or order: http://wendythestamper.com

 

Framelits Dies for simple card

In Stampin' Up!'s Occasions mini catalog they came out with Framelits dies collections.  They have a heart collection and the Labels Collection I used for this card. 

These are thin, wafer-like dies that you can cut different sizes of the same shape to create frames or to be used like I did here as a base for my image.  You can stamp first then place the Framelits die over stamped image so you get the perfect placement or just cut out a stamped image and place it over the die cut cardstock.  No matter how you use these dies I am sure you will love them. 

I will show you other samples in the future.  This simple card was made with Crumb Cake cardstock, added a scrap of the striped designer series paper pack Everyday Enchantment.  I die cut a framelits from Peach Parfait carstock and added a very vanilla oval punched image.  Added my cut of blooms from the stamp set Bordering on Romance and a punched Baja Breeze cardstock strip using the Dotted Scallop lace ribbon punch.  The words are stamped from one of my favorite stamp set in the Occasions catalog Loved Ones.  It has these great images that attach to the family words that are so much fun to use. 

Don't forget just a couple more days left to order during Stampin' Up!'s sale-a-bration.  Order now at my stampin' site: http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net

 

Bordering on Romance

This month I created this scrapbook page for one of my scrapbooking classes.  I loved how it turned out and used it for my daughter's senior book I am working on.  I still need to add a title and journaling but I won't be working on it again for a while so I thought I would show you how it turned out anyway. 

I used Stampin' Up!'s Sale-a-bration paper pack Everyday Enchantment. I have loved designing and working with this paper pack.  It can look really frilly like this two page spread or less girly like the truck page I showed last week. 

I used one full sheet of the darkest color and trimmed it by 1/2" on one side, I then cut 2" off the sheet and glued one sheet to one page and the other sheet to the other one.  I tucked coordinating cardstocks accents under these two sheets.  The accent image was done using Designer Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, now that is a mouthful.  These are great little frames you can emboss into your cardstock using the Big Shot.  I love the way they look, they make a terrific frame for the Bordering on Romance stamped image.  I stamped it with Early Espresso ink and colored it using chalks and a q-tip.  Chalking use to be my favorite way to color and I got out of the habit of using them so it was fun to color with chalks again. 

I finished the page off by stamping the long flower stamp image with Very Vanilla craft ink and added a simple bow tied using the 1/8" organdy ribbon that comes in the Everyday Enchantment ribbon and brad pack. 

You can earn several of these items for free, when you order before Sale-a-bration ends of March 31st at my stampin' site:  http://wendythestamper.stampinup.net