December 28, 2015

Exhale the Crazy

Amy Jasper Christmas, Home Décor chalkboard, Christmas, pompom trim 2 Comments

I hope you are making beautiful new memories with the people around you whom you love most. It’s this time of year that is supposed to be the most wonderful and most magical.

Yet, for the last few years, I’ve been caught between the magical moments that happen in spite of my hard work to create them and the pressure and stress of … well … all the hard work trying to set the stage for magical moments. Funny thing to say, isn’t it? I bet I’m not the only one, though.

Many of us put lights on our houses, decorate the insides of our homes and workplaces, shop for the perfect gifts that will light up the faces of those who receive them. We make cookies and goodies, cook fancy amazing meals, and we try so hard to look extra special for the holiday parties and Christmas church services and kids concerts. It’s a lot of pressure and easy to get caught up in the craziness of it all, trying so hard to make the magic that we expect from this time of year – trying to control it.

The craziness has settled down here … At least, for a now.

I’m enjoying this particularly magical moment while sitting in the easy chair of my living room, awkwardly writing this post on my cell phone, drinking my rum and eggnog, and listening to Sarah McLachlan’s Wintersong album. I can reflect.

Funny how the magical moments come in their own time. I can’t really create them. They have to be given room to exist. When we fill the days with pressures and expectations (and panic), there is very little space left to notice the magic. We have to have room to breathe it in.

Inhale the magic, exhale the crazy.

So as you celebrate joy to the world, don’t forget to live it, too. Make sure you have enough room to inhale the magic – inhale deeply – inhale the joy of the world.

I won’t leave you without sharing a project, so here’s one that reflects the thoughts of the day.

I used the Chalkboard Banner from Stampin’ Up (you can buy it from the year end sale online) and added some banners of my own, cut from the patterned paper in the Merry Moments Designer Series Paper. The Red Pompom Trim on the sides of my banner are also from the year end sale online.

If you order online through me by December 31st, using hostess code DF4WF2EH at the checkout, I will send you a special gift of Stampin’ Up product in the mail in January.

Have a look online and check out the Year End Sale! You can click on the SHOP button to find my online store.

And, my friends, don’t forget to breathe.

Merry Christmas and a joy-filled winter to you and yours!

December 18, 2015

Under a Starry Sky

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas As You See It, card, challenge, Christmas, embossing, Sleighride edgelits, Stampin' Up, star framelits, technique, washi tape 2 Comments

So glad you stopped in for a visit. I am a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and a designer for the As You See It Challenge Blog.

Here is the sketch challenge this week:

And here is the card I designed with my Stampin’ Up! supplies, using the sketch to get my creative mojo started:

I inked up one side of the Star Embossing Folder with Hello Honey ink, so that when pressed in the Big Shot, the ink transferred onto the Very Vanilla cardstock. I used some patterned paper from the Timeless Elegance Designer Paper for the housed that are die cut with the Sleighride Edgelits and the Big Shot.

Season of Cheer Washi Tape was used to create the rays behind the Gold Glimmer paper star that was also die cut using the Big Shot and the Stars Framelits. The sentiment is from the Versatile Christmas stamp set and is stamped with Jet Black Stazon ink.

I don’t always spend much time on the inside of my cards, but this one needed something to write on. Plus, I accidentally scored the cardstock in the wrong place, so I decided to make it a design feature. I scored 4 lines and used them as dividers for the sentiment. This actually made decorating the inside really simple with only 3 pieces of paper: a practice run of my embossed stars was used for the top piece, Very Vanilla for the sentiment (again from the Versatile Christmas stamp set), and a piece of the same pattern of the Timeless Elegance designer series paper.

I also used Black Stitched Satin ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, and the Project Life corner rounder punch to add some detail.

Have a great weekend!!

December 11, 2015

Merry Christmas to All Buckle Card

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Techniques alphabet rotary stamp, buckle card, Christmas, filter paper, stars confetti punch, word window punch 2 Comments

Have I got a fun card for you today! I wasn’t very excited for the theme this week. Not really my thing, but someone will love this card, simply because it’s so fun!

Here’s the As You See It Challenge that I started with:

I really wasn’t sure where to go with this theme. I don’t have any Santa stamps or anything other than patterned paper with Santa’s on it from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper. In the end, I remembered a tutorial I used a while back for a Buckle Card. And that’s where I landed!

I used a Basic Black cardstock for the card base and layered it with Whisper White, Real Red, and Gold Glimmer. The words are created using the Alphabet Rotary Stamp and Momento Tuxedo Black ink. I stamped them first, then cut them out with my paper trimmer so they would be straight with less room for error. Each of the word pieces are on Stampin’ Dimensionals and the little flourish of Gold Metallic Thread is just stuck to the Dimensionals to hold it in place.

I added the little Gold Foil star by punching it out using the Stars Confetti Punch, then adhering it with the Fine-Tip Glue Pen.

Can you see the fuzzy look to Santa’s coat trim? Some Filter Paper (a heavier version of tissue paper) was flattened and adhered to the Whisper White layer after I tore the edges and crumpled it up. Santa’s coat was too flat and boring otherwise.

The Gold Glimmer paper buckle was cut using the Square Framelits and the Big Shot.

You can see inside the card a little bit and how it fits together in the photo above. I added a sliver of the Holiday Foil paper in the inside to make it pretty. The paper under the gold buckle slides into the Word Window punched slot in the front of the card. That’s how it all holds together. Isn’t it fun!

I still need to finish the sentiment on the inside. Any ideas what I will put? . . . I have to finish the the last line of that poem, of course – Twas the Night before Christmas:

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”