As You See It

Playing Along with a Colour Challenge

I’ve felt as though something has been missing in my world of Stampin’ Up!® and I finally realized what it is!

I miss playing!

I’ve been completely focused on designing cards for others to make at events and classes, that I forgot to do the one thing that drew me into this art form in the first place. I need to create for the sake of creating!

When I make cards for a class, I have to consider the skill level, how many steps are involved, how to work within the time available for the class, and adhere to the limits of the supplies available to the number of people involved. However, when I create for the sake of creating, I can be free of limits and can let myself become absorbed in the joy of the moment. It’s delightful. It’s when I’m at my happiest in my craft room.

For those reasons, I thought, “What if you did a colour challenge?”. Of course, my first thought was to go to my favourite challenge blog: As You See It Challenge! I used to be a designer for them a couple years back, but I really love their challenges. I also like that theirs are posted every two weeks, giving you plenty of time to create a card and share it.

Here’s the colour challenge that they posted last Friday:

My Card

I chose to use the Crafting with You Bundle for my design. You can see that there’s a bit of everything on this one: A watercolour technique, some ink blending with a mask, die-cuts and heat embossing, OH MY!

Technique for the Floral Image

I think some of these methods are familiar to you. However, you may not be able to achieve the floral image without a bit of explanation. With the Poppy Parade, Tahitian Tide, and Crumb Cake Stampin’ Write Markers, I applied ink to the floral image stamp, than stamped it on the Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. Little dots were applied around the image with the same coloured markers. I then very lightly misted the image with water from my Spritzer to soften the image and the dots.

I let this dry while I worked on other aspects of the card. Once dry, the markers were used again to accentuate the outline of the flowers and leaves. This allowed the image to appear watercoloured, but still have some definition. The final touch was to add a bit on Basic Black splatter. To do this, I simply flicked the brush tip of my Basic Black Blends Marker across the lip of the marker lid (this frays the brush tip, so be warned!). A little curl of the watercolour paper in the upper left hand corner, some Classic Matt Dots, and it’s just as I hoped it would be!

Other Products Used for this Design

Artistic Mix Decorative Masks, Black Baker’s Twine, White Embossing Powder, Versamark Ink, Heat Tool, Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Blending Brush, Blends Markers (Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Gray Granite, Basic Black), Cardstock (Crumb Cake, Tahitian Tide, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Gray Granite.

You can purchase all the elements that I used on this design by going to my Online Store or clicking on any of the specific links. And, hey, if you’re wondering who the heck I am, you can go to my About Page and find out. 🙂

Got questions? Ask me in the comments. I’m happy to help if I can.

I Love a Peaceful Autumn

Autumn is here and there’s no more denying that summer is over. It feels like I missed the transition somehow, though, as the new chill in the air seemed to come on so suddenly. In reflecting on the last couple months, I’m realizing that I’ve hardly been outside! Yikes!

Colours of Fall

The As You See It Challenge gives us some colours to design with that immediately made me think of fall. However, these colours would be lovely for any occasion all year round.

Fall is my favourite season; the crisp fresh air, the changing leaves, and the smell of the damp earth as it welcomes the tired plants to join it once more. Autumn brings with it the peace of knowing that the cycle is winding down. Life is slowing and preparing to rest before it’s big reveal in the spring.

There’s comfort in that.

Even though plants are dying and losing their leaves and colours, it’s not the end. Those same plants will flourish again or they’ll live on in the new plants that grow from the seeds they left behind.

I’m not one to keep up a routine or a schedule, but I know that I need to start making time each week to get outside. I have a few little goals that I’m trying to keep up with (and it often feels like I’m failing!), like cleaning and organizing my craft room, submitting my taxes (yep, still not done), keeping up with my blog, and now I need to add “get outside”.

Thankfully, I only work for myself and my family, otherwise, I’d be even more of a hot mess than I already am!

My Design

I have a card for you today that has this peaceful autumn feel. I’m not sure if the sentiment is an expression to a person, or, in this case, to the fall season itself. Maybe it can be both.

The Blackberry Bliss is so striking against the Basic White layers on this design.

I die-cut the Peaceful Place patterned paper with one of the Stitched Leaves dies. Then, I inked a portion of the leaf image from the Love of Leaves stamp set with Granny Apple Green. With a Sponge Dauber, I applied Blackberry Bliss ink to the rest of the stamp, blending it slightly with the green. While holding the die-cut patterned paper in position, I was able to stamp the leaf on the Basic White.

For a bit of extra interest, I used the die that cuts the stitched veins over the stamped image and put that through the Cut & Emboss machine. It ended up being quite subtle, but adds a nice detail.

The layers could then be adhered to my card with the patterned paper lifted using Stampin’ Dimensionals. My sentiment was stamped, heat embossed with White Embossing powder, cut into sections and also adhered to the card. Because the sentiment pieces are placed over two different levels, I used Dimensionals under the right side and my Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the left.

The final touch on this peaceful autumn design are the clear Elegant Faceted Gems. They seem to play well with the silver foil in the Peaceful Place patterned paper.

Enjoy the Season

I cycle through seasons just as the earth does. Sometimes, I am flourishing with new growth, while other times, I’m winding down and preparing for a rest. At this moment, I am in my own peaceful autumn.

Ah yes. That is a comfort.

Things are slowing, but only for a time. It won’t be long before I cycle back around again. Soon, the inspiration will sprout up, where it will leaf into new ideas and blossom with renewed vibrancy.

It can be challenging to be in this phase, but now that I recognize it, I will allow myself to settle into it. I can observe it, welcome it, and even enjoy it.

And tomorrow, I will get outside and enjoy the crisp autumn air!

Send Holiday Love with this Peaceful Christmas Card

The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are changing colour. For me, that means it’s time to cozy up and prepare for winter. This is the season to wrap yourself in your most comfy knitted sweater, make a cup of tea, slip your feet into those slippers and do some holiday crafting.

The only thing that would make my holiday crafting even better is a gas fireplace in my craft room! That would be glorious! It’s not a realistic goal, by any means, but I do wonder if I could make room for a small electric fireplace. My crafting studio is in the basement, so it gets chilly. The ambience and warmth of a fireplace would be so delightful, don’t you think!

As You See It Challenge

As a part of the As You See It Design Team, I get to share another card inspired by today’s As You See It Challenge blog.

It begins with a sketch!

Events & Classes

For the past couple weeks, I’ve been having fun creating with the Peaceful Place Specialty paper. I showed my September technique class how to make a very special fancy fold card using this patterned paper along with the coordinating Cabin Dies. My technique cards and tutorials are exclusively available to those who purchased the class. That means they get VIP Access to the tutorials for two months. After that, I get to share the projects with you! So keep watch for that fancy fold card to show up here on my blog in November!

To find out more about my virtual classes (only available in Canada) or about purchasing VIP Early Access to the technique class tutorials, go to my Events & Classes page.

You can also find lots of tutorials on my YouTube Channel.

Peaceful Christmas Card

Since I’ve had the Peaceful Place patterned paper on my mind AND on my desk, it made its way into this design.

I LOVE this paper!

The Cork Specialty Paper and the Knit Together cling stamp have been waiting so patiently for me to bring them into a project. They both offer such a warm and cozy texture. Stamping tone-on-tone with Gray Granite ink on the Gray Granite cardstock works beautifully with that stamp.

I wasn’t sure what colour of cardstock to use for this design. Many of the neutral colours that I considered were too drab, while some colour options seemed too loud. Finally, I tried the Evening Evergreen.

It was perfect! Neutral enough to feel calm, but rich enough to feel cozy and inviting.

Also on this design, you can see the soft layer of Vellum, the white embossed sentiment from the Snowman Season stamp set, and the red stitched ribbon from the Playful Pets Trim Combo Pack.

Give this sketch a try and share your final take on the As You See It Challenge blog. We love to see what you design with that creative brain of yours!