The New Year brings us opportunity to develop new healthy habits and start fresh. My project today is part of that desire to be better. I started with a 3.5″x5.5″ grid journal and the So You stamp set from Stampin’ Up! and, of course, the next As You See It challenge – #070!
Sometimes these assortment challenges can be, well, a challenge! I needed to make something relatively quickly for this week’s project as I left it to the last minute again!
(speaking of habits to change, this is one for me to work on!)
I decided to do something other than a card, so I scrambled through my disaster of a craft room until I found the Grid Journal that I bought a while back.
This journal is 3.5″x5.5″ and is a neutral craft colour. The three colours that decorate it are Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, and Coastal Cabana. I used the happy sentiment from the So You photopolymer stamp set and stamped it in Blackberry Bliss and Coastal Cabana. The Melon Mambo chevron patterned paper is from the Brights Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack. I sponged it lightly with Melon Mambo ink to cut down on the harshness of the white in the pattern. The strip of blue stripes below that is Washi Tape from the Beach House Washi Tape pack.
The Blackberry Bliss heart was punched out with the Sweetheart Punch and applied to the cover with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals for the ‘popped up’ requirement in this assortment challenge. And the Basic Rhinestones add a little flair to this cute journal.
Lastly, I sponged all around the edges of the journal, front and back, with Soft Suede ink to create that smoky edge.
This journal will fit neatly in my purse and is just right for all my happy thoughts:
hearing joyful fits of giggles as my son tickles his little sister
finishing a card for a good friend
seeing a moose 20 feet away while skiing in the dark with my 6 year old
listening to my husband working on a New Orleans accent for a role in a play
taking a dance break while shoveling the driveway with my husband
smiling faces at work
… this is fun!
I could go on, but I’ll save it for my journal.
What will you do for your Assortment sketch? Hope you share it on the As You See It challenge blog!
I’ve got what I call an uber-card for you today. Every now and then I get to make something fancy. This one is a 5×7″ retirement card designed for many people to say their well-wishes and farewells to someone who has brought meaning and inspiration to their lives and has earned the title “Retired”. A time where you get to live off of your savings and live out your golden years. I used Gold Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper and my beloved An Open Heart stamp set from Stampin’ Up!
I decided to use a challenge sketch to find some inspiration and creative mojo to get this card going. This is the sketch I used:
When I make cards with multiple writing pages inside, I like to create the card with a 1/8″ to 1/4″ spine to allow for the extra bulk of the pages. This one started with a 7″x10.25″ piece of Soft Suede cardstock which I scored at 5″ and 5.25″ to make two folds for the book-like shape of the card base.
Unfortunately, I realize that none of the pictures taken of this card allow you to see the spine, but you can see the same extra depth added to the envelope beside the card in the photo above. The spine of the card is narrower, but this gives you an idea of what the spine would look like.
I chose to add some layers on the card base to frame the Gold Soiree Specialty Designer Series paper (DSP). You have the base layer of Soft Suede, the second layer of Crisp Cantaloupe, another layer of Soft Suede, until the final matte of Whisper White cardstock to frame the geometric gold base of the artwork. This Gold Soiree Specialty DSP is very unique as it has a sheen and texture that is cool and smooth, a bit like plastic. It makes for a nice professional finish on your projects.
The bow was created using a fingertip double loop bow technique and the long tails were twisted into submission a bit at a time and strategically adhered with glue dots along the way.
Isn’t that bird from the An Open Heart stamp set cute? You can see that he was stamped twice, once in the center of the circle and again on a seperate piece of Whisper White cardstock from which he was carefully cut out with my Paper Snips (I didn’t cut out the legs, but relied on the legs from the first image). I coloured both birds, with more detail on the top layer, using my inks and blender pens. I chose Calypso Coral for the breast, Tangerine Tango for the beak and feet, and I carefully added a shadow outline with Sahara Sand and a blender pen. That little guy is raised up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.
To create the pages of this card, I cut two 6.75″x9.5″ pieces of Whisper White cardstock and scored and folded them to create two 6.75″x4.75″ inserts which were placed one inside the other and tied together at the “binding” with Whisper White bakers twine. I added a little bit of the 1/8″ gold ribbon for a simple embellishment. The back of the last page of this insert was adhered directly to the inside back of the card base, allowing it to be secure inside the card.
Due to the size of the card, a custom envelope was required. I used the matching Gold Soiree Specialty DSP and my Envelope Punch Board (which just so happens to be on sale this week!) to create a 3D envelope that is deep enough to fit the dimensions of my card. When I do custom envelope that are hand delivered rather than delivered by the postal service, I prefer to close the envelope with a belly band of paper rather than seal it with adhesive. It’s a bit of a prettier presentation, I think.
I hope you give the sketch this week a try and link your creations to As You See It Challenge #69. I love how your designs offer new inspirations each week!
Welcome to my blog! My design today is a 5×7″ card for As You See It Challenge #068 featuring the From My Heart stamp set and the Back to Black designer series paper.
I’ve been taking a break from crafty expectations and obligations for the past couple of weeks. It’s time to jump back into all the “doing”, but the sentiment on this card represents the need to not forget the “being”. I have enjoyed playing Rock Band on the Play Station 3 with my family, playing charades, playing boardgames, going skiing, eating too much food and making spirits bright.
“I will not allow my busy life to interfere with my creative living”, has been my motto for this past year. It still applies, but I also need to add that I won’t allow my busy life to interfere with quality time with my family. I thought that was a given, but I think it’s important to remind myself that I need to take the opportunities to play games and enjoy my kids and my husband. Sometimes, I find myself denying them because I’m too busy with things that need to get done. Obligations and expectations that are put upon me mostly … by me.
Do you enjoy the passing of time? Or do you get caught up in the tasks and all the things that you want to accomplish in a day? Could it be that you let too much time pass and nothing gets done? Maybe you got it all figured out and have found balance between family, work, home, and all the things. I’d love to hear your secrets.
It’s a fun sketch with lots of possibilities. You can check out the diversity of our designers over at the As You See It Challenge to see what they’ve done with this one. I wanted my card to be simple, and it is … sort of. I ended up complicating it with twisted layers. LOL!
I started with the idea of using Whisper White craft ink over a section of the Back to Black Designer Series Paper, so that my sentiment could be seen. I found that the thin layer of ink wasn’t quite enough to fade out the black and white design, so I used Versamark ink directly to the paper, then used White Embossing powder over the area and melted it with my Heat Tool.
After giving the powder a minute to cool, I stamped the sentiment from the “From My Heart” stamp set over the white embossing with Stazon Jet Black ink. Still, the black and white pattern in the background seemed to harsh. I decided to fade it out with a bit of Whisper White craft ink. I added the ink directly from the ink pad to the paper, focusing on the edges, then I used a sponge to soften the ink, giving a softer look to the paper.
After all that, I ended up cutting off a lot of the sponged areas as I worked on my card. I’ll definitely use that technique again, though. I quite like the softer look and I suspect it will work beautifully on other patterned paper as well.
I used Whisper White bakers twine and Basic Pearls for the embellishments. Basic Gray, Soft Sky and Whisper White cardstock were used along side the Back to Black Designer Series Paper. I chose to mostly use thin white borders to show the layered edges. I even pulled those angles and thin edges to the inside of this 5×7 card.
I’m trying to make sure that I complete the inside of my cards as soon as I’m done the design as it can be very frustrating to grab a nice card to quickly write in as you run out the door (this happens more often than not, for me), only to find that you forgot to add a writing space inside the dark coloured card base. sheesh!
Because my card is 5×7″, I also needed to use a handmade envelope, which I did using my Envelope Punchboard. I decided to avoid squishing the card by making my envelope slightly fatter. To do this, I added 1/8″ of an inch to the paper size required to make a 5×7″ card, then when punching and scoring, I started with the usual score guide number first, then added a second punch and score on mark that is 1/8″ more. So, the envelope punch board guide says that I needed to punch and score at the 4 inch mark. I did that, then punched and scored again at the 4.1/8″ mark and carried on around my paper following the directions on the punchboard, but adding that second 1/8″ bigger mark. Folding those little score lines can be fussy because they are so close together.
Glad you came by for a visit today.
Be sure to show off your card using the As You See It sketch this week by linking it to the challenge site.
Oh Happy Day!
