July 10, 2015

Speedy Colour Blocking

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2015, As You See It, card, challenge, Colour Blocking, Greetings Thinlits, speed, Stampin' Up, technique, thinlits 0 Comments

I love speed stamping! It gets the heart pumping and pushes my creativity! Today’s challenge is all about shades of pink! Can you make a card in under 10 minutes? It’s tough, but I’m proud to say that I did it just under the wire at 9 minutes and 59 seconds! Phew!

I decided to do colour blocking with my pink cardstock. Here’s what I came up with:

I probably would have done it in less time had I not had a minor issue with my big shot and then stuck my colourful layer down crooked! I’m pleased with the overall look of the card, but thought it needed one more thing. Can you see the difference?

The Blossom Accent in Watermelon Wonder adds a lot to the design, I think.

The card base is the Thick Whisper White cardstock (love this!). To a piece of Whisper White cardstock, I added strips of coloured cardstock (shades of pink) including Melon Mambo, Watermelon Wonder, Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, and Real Red (yes, red is a shade of pink … a very dark shade of pink). Then I trimmed it down to the size that I wanted it and ran it through the Big Shot with the ‘thanks’ from the Greetings Thinlits. The two bottom corners were rounded with the Project Life corner rounder punch and the Black Baker’s Twine was wrapped around this piece of cardstock for added interest and texture. That entire layer was then adhered to the card base with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals.

And the beautiful Blossom Accent was added after my 10 minute mark was done.

That’s it. Easy Peasy.

You should try this challenge. Seriously! This is such a good exercise to help you get your creative mojo going. Even if you absolutely HATE your card when you’re done, it can spur on some new creative flow and teach you to be more efficient in the future.

Give it a try and show it off on the As You See It Challenge blog so we can see what you’ve created!

Amy

June 12, 2015

Thanks a Melon!

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2015, alphabet rotary stamp, As You See It, card, challenge, quick and cute, Stampin' Up 1 Comment

A summer-themed watermelon card using the Alphabet Rotary stamp to create a play on words. How convenient that Stampin’ Up has the perfect colour, Watermelon Wonder, to make this cute design!

Here’s the sketch for this week’s As You See It Challenge #91:

I was short on time this week, but my design came together super fast! (this is a very rare occurrence, believe me!!). The most time-consuming part was to try to think of a cute saying that worked in watermelons or seeds, or even spitting! You never know what you might find on the internet!

Basic Black was used for the card base over which is a layer of Watermelon Wonder cardstock and Cucumber Crush cardstock using Stampin’ Up Dimensionals. A piece of Whisper White Organza ribbon covers the seam where the two colours meet and is simply wrapped around the back and secured with Tear Tape (a new product from Stampin’ Up!). A second piece of the Organza ribbon is tied in a single knot around the first piece of ribbon to create a faux bow.

Originally, I was going to use my Tree Builder Punch to create the watermelon seeds. However, I completely forgot that I loaned it out, so I used a black permanent marker on some Basic Pearls and placed them with “careful randomness” (pretty sure that’s an oxymoron, lol!). I think the pearls are actually the better choice as they add some texture and dimension to the card, while the water drop part of the Tree Builder Punch would have only created flat black seeds – much less interesting. A win for me!

Before putting it all together, the 1 3/4 inch Scallop Circle punch was used to create the bite out of the top of my card. Then, very carefully, the sentiment was added using the Alphabet Rotary Stamp with Jet Black Stazon Ink. There is coordinating ink sponged around the edges of the two pieces of coloured cardstock to bring some extra richness – kind of like creating a vignette border around the card. This can help pull the eye into the center of your artwork.

You can see other designs that use this sketch by going to the As You See It Challenge blog where you can also link the project that you make with this sketch! I hope you do! It’s amazing to me how much variety can develop from the same starting point.

Glad you stopped by!

Amy

January 23, 2015

Sunshine and Smiles

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2015, As You See It, Best year ever, challenge, kinda eclectic, Occasions catalogue, quick and cute, Sale-a-bration, Stampin' Up 2 Comments

Just a quick post today without any flares or gimmicks to share my design for As You See It Challenge #071.

Here’s the challenge sketch:

And here’s my design using the Kinda Eclectic stamp set and the So You stamp set with Hello Honey, Wild Wasabi, Tangelo Twist and Jet Black Stazon ink. I used a clean Whisper White base with a Whisper White cardstock layer and a strip of the Best Year Ever designer series paper (only available with the Sale-a-bration promotion). I added some Linen Thread, Basic Pearls and used the small butterfly punch to cut out the butterfly.

Sorry for the brevity. I’m just inking on the fly, as I often do, lol!

Check out what the other designers created with this sketch and share your own creations on the As You See It Challenge blog. I love how your creativity spurs on my own!

Amy.