December 8, 2015

JOY!!

Amy Jasper Christmas Christmas, embossing, Stampin' Up, wonderous wreath 3 Comments

What brings you the most joy in your life? I find joy in my children, my family, my friends. I get the most joy from my relationships.

But there’s also ice cream, ice cream definitely brings me joy.

… and lattes. Lattes bring me joy.

My children, my family, my friends, ice cream and lattes.

… and wine. Yup, wine brings me joy.

My children, my family, my friends, ice cream, lattes, and wine.

… and maybe vacations. Vacations, too. They bring me joy.

My children, my family, my friends, ice cream, lattes, wine, and vacations.

…

… and stamping.

Ok, there are actually a lot of things in life that bring me joy. Life is pretty joyful if you stop to think about it. There’s a lot of things to be sad about or angry about. But I can choose joy.

And so I do.

(most times)

I am pleased to be able to announce the winner of the blog candy from last week! This woman’s smile brings me joy, her cards bring me joy, her knitting brings me joy, and her hugs bring me joy – Congratulations, Seana!! You have won the blog candy! You will receive it next week when it arrives at your door!

Thank you to everyone who entered and shared their Christmas traditions with us.

I would love to hear from more of you. So tell me … what brings you joy?

Write a reply/comment on this post and tell me what brings you joy. Maybe we find joy in some of the same things?

Amy.

Like this card? Here are the details: Soft Suede cardstock base, Whisper White layer, stamped with Wonderous Wreath stamp set in Lost Lagoon ink leaves, then rubbed with the Embossing buddy before stamping the Versamark ink leaves that are embossed with Gold Embossing powder, and Soft Suede ink berries that were glittered up using the Fine-Tip Glue Pen and Gold Glitter. The JOY was die cut using the Wonderous Wreath framelits and Basic Black cardstock with my Big Shot die cutting machine. The Linen Thread bow was adhered with the Fine-Tip Glue pen as were also the Gold Sequins. The strip of Basic Black cardstock was added to the bottom of the card to give it a bit of balance. Stampin’ Dimensionals were used to adhere the Whisper White later to the Soft Suede card base.

December 4, 2015

Hang a Shining Star

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas alphabet rotary stamp, As You See It, card, challenge, Christmas, embossing, envelope punch board, lighthearted leaves, sketch, spider web doily, Stampin' Up, star framelits 8 Comments

My favourite thing about a song, especially Christmas songs, is when someone says something in normal conversation and it sparks a song in your mind that you absolutely MUST sing out loud. As it was said in the movie, ELF, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

My hope is that my card today will cause a Christmas song to be placed in your mind when you read the words. (Basically, I’m working on developing my talents in mind-control.)

Don’t forget to check out my previous post, Fleecy Caribou and Blog Candy, for a chance to win a stamp set! Winner will be announced on Tuesday!

Here’s today’s sketch from the As You See It Challenge blog:

The card I have to share with you today is a 3″ x 5.5″ card. The elements that I chose simply demanded to be on a narrow card design. Seriously, the cards should just make themselves if they’re going to be so demanding!!

It begins with a 3″ x 5.5″ Mossy Meadow card base and the layer of patterned paper from the Merry Moments Designer Series Paper. The next layer is a Spider Web Doily that has been trimmed and turned around to show the white side rather than the black side of the doily. This, of course, was adhered with the Fine-Tip Glue Pen.

Next, the leaf image from the Lighthearted Leaves stamp set was stamped with Old Olive Ink onto Old Olive cardstock. This was then die cut on the Big Shot, using the Leaflets Framelits. I happily sponged away on the edges of my newly cut leaf using Stampin’ Up Sponges and Old Olive ink. Before adhering the leaf, I took a moment to gently curl and shape its edges.

The star on this card is die cut from Silver Foil paper, using the Star Framelits. After using my Embossing Buddy to remove static, dust, and finger prints from the Silver Foil paper, I used the Alphabet Rotary stamp to create the words and stamped them on the star with Versamark Ink. Then they were heat embossed with Silver Embossing Powder and a Heat Tool.

I saw my crooked words and decided to go for it anyway. I think it adds an authentic, kind of, stamped metal look.

The star is adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop it up off the page. The Silver Sequin Trim and the Real Red 1/8″ Striped Ribbon were attached using a Mini Glue Dot.

Because I had an unusually-sized card, I needed to make a custom envelope to go with it. The Envelope Punch Board is the perfect tool for just that very thing. Unfortunately, the envelope sizes available on the punch board still didn’t match what I needed. I played around a bit, changing the starting size of the paper and the different positions for scoring and punching and determined this:

To create an envelope for a 3″ x 5.5″ card, start with a piece of 7.5″ x 7.5″ paper (Red Envelope Paper, in this case), using the Envelope Punch Board, punch and score at 2 7/8″. Then carry on with the punch board as you normally would until your envelope is complete.

I also took the time to trim one of the side flaps on my envelope to give it a professional finish. I just drew a pencil line where I wanted to cut, then used my paper trimmer to remove the unwanted bit of paper.

This sketch is simple and cute. You should give it a try and share it with us on the As You See It Challenge blog. We love to see your take on our challenges!!

Did my card make you sing out loud? The words on the star are from one of my favourite Christmas tunes, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.

Do you have a favourite Christmas song? Leave a comment and let me know!

December 1, 2015

Fleecy Caribou and Blog Candy

Amy Jasper Christmas barnyard babies, card, Christmas, Season of Cheer, Stampin' Up, wonderland 17 Comments

I’m curious about holiday traditions. Everywhere I go, I’m hearing about different traditions. Many I’ve heard of before, like chocolate advent calendars, touring the Christmas lights in town, or waiting in long lines to get photos with Santa in the mall.

I’d love to make it a tradition to shoot down all the tacky plastic Santa’s from people’s rooftops, but I’m pretty sure that’s illegal. Too bad. I think it would be very satisfying. Perhaps someone should add that to a rifle range somewhere… a tacky plastic Santa rifle range, lol!

More and more, I’m hearing about new traditions like wine advent calendars, or tea ones, or chocolate ones, or Lego ones! There’s Elf on the Shelf. Different movies, like Die Hard (yes, it is a Christmas movie) are enjoyed over the holidays. Some people don’t exchange gifts anymore, but give to people in need, instead.

I make Christmas crafts. Cards and decor. Gift wrap and gift tags.

Here’s one of my simple and quick Christmas cards using the Barnyard Babies stamp set in combination with the Wonderland Stamp set.

I love this little lamb with the caribou antlers. I created another card with him on a previous post here.

Did you know that caribou in North America are the same as the reindeer that pull Santa’s sleigh? Just a fun fact for you.

“You know Dasher and Dancer, and Prancer and Button,

Comet and Cupid and Donner and Mutton”

The Season of Cheer patterned paper and the Red Foil paper from Stampin’ Up are so pretty and festive together! Don’t you think?

I added the stars on this card using Soft Sky ink and the Jingle All the Way stamp set from Stampin’ Up. I used the Sahara Sand Marker to give a slight shadow outline to my image, while adding a slight blue tone to my white fleecy caribou by “in-lining” the image with a Soft Sky Marker.

It’s your turn now. In the comments on this post, tell me what your favourite holiday tradition is from when you were growing up and/or one new holiday tradition that you have started or would like to start with your family.

Your comment and information in the entry form will count as an entry into a draw for my *blog candy today!! Be sure to check back on Tuesday next week to see if you won!!

*Enter to Win!

Christmas Tagables photopolymer stamp set by Stampin’ Up!

*You must be a Canadian resident to enter. Please fill out the entry form below AND leave a comment on my blog about your holiday traditions. Just one entry per person please. Winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 8th.

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