October 9, 2015

Glade Jul

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas As You See It, challenge, Christmas, embossing, Stampin' Up, star framelits 8 Comments

I used to work at a care home for people with brain injuries and dementia, primarily elderly men and women who were at risk of wandering and getting lost or of being confused to the point that they could become aggressive. I was a student nurse at the time, so was often asked to simply visit with the residents and help maintain a calm environment. Sometimes, I would walk around the hall with a very very VERY tall, elderly Norwegian man and he would correct me on what little Norwegian I knew. I would count to ten with him “en, to, tre …” or sing with him.

My favourite thing would be to walk arm in arm with him and sing “Silent Night” in Norwegian. “Glade jul, hellige jul …”. Silent Night is one of my most loved Christmas carols. I think fondly of that time with that lovely man.

I never did see him act out in violence when I was there. Probably a good thing, since he was so very very tall.

My card for you today is inspired first by this sketch from the As You See It Challenge Blog and second by my favourite Christmas carol, “Silent Night”.

I just love the patterned paper with the notes on it in the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper from Stampin’ Up! I wish we could by sheets and sheets of that one pattern for this time of year!

Tip Top Taupe cardstock was used for this card base with a bit of light sponging in Tip Top Taupe ink around the edges of the cardstock. I also sponged some Tip Top Taupe ink around the edges of the sheet music patterned paper from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper. This was adhered along side the strip of Black Glimmer paper (not just for Halloween!!) to the card base.

But my favourite elements on this card are all in the middle with that star! I stamped the tree image from the Wonderland Stamp Set in Versamark ink and heat embossed it with Black Embossing powder. All this on the Happy Haunting piece of Designer Series Paper. WHAT! Yes, folks, I used Halloween paper on a Christmas card! The vanilla stars on the black background represent a beautiful ‘silent night’. I sponged some Tuxedo Black Momento ink around the edges of the star and adhered it to the card with some Stampin’ Dimensionals so it could be raised off the page a wee bit.

My friend, Stacey, was working with me in my craft room while I was designing this one and it was her suggestion to use the Window Sheet for the banner element. It was the perfect way to add a banner as per the sketch, without taking away from the image on the star.

I stamped the notes from the Jingle All the Way stamp set with Versamark ink onto the clear acetate Window Sheet, then heat set it with Gold Embossing powder. This was die cut using my Big Shot and the Bitty Banner framelit before very carefully wrapping the Gold Metallic Thread around the end and tying it into a bow. A Mini Glue Dot hides behind this cluster of gold thread to adhere the Window Sheet banner to the star.

For the final touch, the three Gold Sequin pieces were added to the card using my Fine-Tipped Glue Pen.

Glad you could check out my blog today. You can purchase stamping supplies online by clicking the “shop now” button on this page. Or you can contact me by email to order or ask questions.

Don’t forget to also check out the creations from other designers on the As You See It Challenge blog. They have some lovely versions of this very same sketch.

Here are some beautiful Norwegian voices singing ‘Silent Night’ for you. Enjoy:

October 2, 2015

Jingle Jingle Little Star

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Events As You See It, card, challenge, Christmas, home for christmas, jingle all the way, Stampin' Up, star framelits 0 Comments

My title makes me chuckle. Not that clever of a title, really, but I chuckle just the same.

It’s been a CRAAAAZY week. My family has hardly seen me. When they have, they find me completely distracted and disengaged from reality. I’ve been working on my preparations for the BC Crop for Kids event which takes place in Abbotsford this weekend. I am sponsoring a class and hosting my own vendor table on Saturday. I haven’t participated in this particular event, making it all new to me. I also don’t do vendor shows often – maybe once per year, so it takes a lot to get organized. The class I’ve chosen to do has a TONNE of prep, but I have been incredibly blessed with friends who gave their time to cut the gazillions of pieces of paper, ribbons, and dies to help me. Not only that, but many of them also donated supplies toward the class in honour of the BC Children’s Hospital foundation, for which the event is raising funds.

So, I want to give a shout out and a HUGE THANK YOU to all of those gals who spend hours at my house cutting and embossing!

Part of my prep involved having a make and take project at my vendor table for 40-50 ladies to enjoy. The As You See It Challenge this week seemed like a good opportunity to hit two birds with one stone. Here’s the challenge sketch:

My make and take card will be very similar to this one, but the patterned paper will vary, of course.

I used Crumb Cake cardstock for my card base, then a Very Vanilla mat under another layer of Crumb Cake cardstock. The next two layers are Cherry Cobbler and a strip of Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper.

I used some Gold Foil paper with my Star Framelits and embellished it with a triple swirl of Metallic Gold Thread. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop it up off the page a bit.

In the image above, you can see how the Very Vanilla banner is curled a bit. I did this by sliding the banner between a bone folder and my thumb until the paper curved to my satisfaction. I tacked down the ends of the banner to the paper with Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

The stamped images are from the Jingle All the Way stamp set. I used Real Red ink for the sentiment and Crumb Cake ink for the musical notes.

The final step was to add the Gold sequin with my Fine Tipped Glue Pen.

I think that’s the fastest post I’ve ever written! Back to prepping and planning. I have to be ready to go by one o’clock today. EEK!

September 25, 2015

Happy Winter Scene

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Techniques 12 Comments

I haven’t had my coffee yet. Hang on …

…

Ah … first sip is always the best.

It’s 6:30am on Friday morning. Usually I do my Friday post on Thursday, but hubby and I hunkered down for a couple episodes of “Chuck” on Netflix with a bucket of Chocolate Peanut Butter Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream instead. Seriously, how could I resist that?!

September is almost over. The kids are settling well into their school routine and I’m almost settled into my fall routine as well. The days are getting cooler and it’s getting close to the last time I’ll need to mow the lawn for the season. This time of year I start thinking ahead to winter. I think it’s because, as a crafter, I have to start planning my Christmas projects so they can all be ready before December 1st.

Ok, I don’t actually get everything done by December 1st, but I will tell myself that every year until I get it right! I need my December to relax with family and enjoy some Bailey’s in my coffee and have fun at Christmas parties. I need to be done by December!

My card today features Tip Top Taupe, Pool Party, and Night of Navy, all wrapped up with a splash of Cherry Cobbler. But first, here’s the sketch from As You See It Challenge #105.

Have you been to the challenge site lately? We are so excited to have a few new designers added to our design team, giving you more samples of the challenges each month!

I haven’t pulled out my Craft Whisper White ink for a while, nor have I used my Watercolour wash background stamp, so I thought I’d use them together! I stamped the background on an angle for the sketch. I think I might use it on an angle more often!!

The Season of Cheer Designer Series paper, combined with the neutral, but warm, Tip Top Taupe cardstock offers a calm and peaceful look. I used the Happy Scenes photopolymer stamp set for the tree image, stamped with Tuxedo Black Momento ink on Pool Party cardstock. I used my Chalk Marker to highlight the snow on the trees and stamped the snow falling with my trusty Whisper White craft ink. I then stamped a second image on Whisper White cardstock and fussy cut along the line of the hill so that the trees were cut right off. This I attached over the Pool Party cardstock to created the white snowy ground. “happy winter” was stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink.

Then came the fun part.

I wanted to attach the Reindeer Paperclip, but was having trouble getting it to hold in the lower right hand corner at the angle I wanted it to be in. After looking a bit online for how other people attach those adorable clips, I came across an image of some packaging (completely unrelated to Stampin’ Up), that showed paperclips stored in slits on their storage sheet! Brilliant! Out came the craft knife! I cut a small slit, slipped that paper clip through it and tied a bow with my Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine to finish it off.

Final touches on the card include the Gold Metallic thread in large loops in behind the winter scene which is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals, and the Night of Navy Candy Dots.

And there you have it folks! This is a great card for my to do with my Monthly Stampers group. If you’re in my area and are interested in joining my group, this is a great time to check us out.

I’d better go and make my kids school lunches as it’s now 7:30 and everyone else is awake, getting ready for the day.

Be sure to try this sketch and share it on the As You See It blog!