January 8, 2016

Tip Top Birthday

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques rose wonder 1 Comment

It’s time for another card design for the As You See It Challenge Blog!

This is called an assortment challenge and you have to have each of these elements incorporated into your card, scrapbook page, or 3D item. After that, it’s up to you! I decided to go with an elegant monochromatic card for a friend’s birthday.

I used Thick Whisper White cardstock for the card base, then layered Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White, and Tip Top Taupe again before adding the last later of Whisper White cardstock. I like how it frames the central image.

The background image is from An Open Heart stamp set and was stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed using Clear Embossing powder. The ink resist (a requirement for the challenge) comes into play when Tip Top Taupe ink was sponged over the embossed images which do not absorb any of the water-based ink like the paper does. It’s such a fun and simple technique with a very pretty effect.

I also embossed the wood snowflake element by gently covering it in Versamark ink, then embossing it with White embossing powder. To get the best coverage, I allowed the heated embossing to cool, then covered it in Versamark again, added more white embossing powder, and heat set it a second time. This gives a nice smooth enamel finish.

Those Silver Foil leaves are cut using the new Rose Wonder Thinlits and the Big Shot. The label is also cut using the Rose Wonder Thinlits. The sentiment from the Rose Wonder photopolymer stamp set is stamped with Early Espresso ink, while the frame around the sentiment (also from the Rose Wonder set) is stamped with Tip Top Taupe ink. You can purchase the stamp set and the thinlits together in a bundle, making it more affordable to get them together! Yay!

That’s my take on this assortment challenge. It’s all there, folks!

Now, I get to enjoy an evening with my husband who’s been so very sick over the last few evenings that he has just gone to bed after supper. Tonight, I get my husband back! I think we’ll watch some “Chuck” on Netflix. I know, we’re a pretty exciting couple, lol!

Why not give this challenge a go? Don’t forget to show it off on the As You See It Challenge blog!

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!!