November 26, 2021

Make this Jolly Pets Holiday Card

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas 2021, animals, Christmas, theme challenge 4 Comments

I have a sweet Christmas design to share with you featuring the Sweet Stockings Designer Series Paper, the Snowy White Velvet Sheets, the Cabin Dies, and the Holly Jolly Wishes Stamp set from Stampin’ Up!®

A Fond Farewell to As You See It

My card for you today is the last card that I will be sharing as an As You See It Designer for the As You See It Challenge Blog. I’ve been doing cards with the blog for years and can hardly even remember when I WASN’T part of this awesome design team!

It has been an incredible honour and a pleasure to be among those fantastic creators. Not only have I enjoyed designing some of the challenges and sharing my sample cards for them, but it is also a privilege to vote on our winners. I have to say, most times it is VERY difficult to pick my favourites.

In addition to sharing my card designs for each challenge, I also created the current graphics for the blog. Developing the digital graphics was a labour of love (there were days when I forgot to eat … or pee!). Many hours were spent working on the different challenge banners, the digital badges, the blog header, and the bio images, and I loved every minute of it! My ADHD hyperfocus superpower kicked into high gear during the process; 8 hours could easily fly by and it felt like only half an hour had passed! I suppose, in a small way, my graphic designs allow me to continue to be part of the blog.

The Theme Challenge

My design begins, of course, with an As You See It Challenge.

As designers, we take turns coming up with ideas for the challenges. This theme challenge is my own idea: pets.

Because I designed the base graphics for all the theme banners, I was able to take this graphic a bit further and make it my own. I think the animals are super cute, peeking their heads into the frame! Special attention was spent adding the splash of water for the fish to jump into the scene and bringing the turtle into the foreground. Since this is my last challenge on the As You See It Design Team, it seems fitting to be finishing with my own challenge, don’t you think!

The Card

I don’t have a lot of stamps that would fit into this theme, but I did have the Sweet Stockings Designer Series Paper. This paper is adorable with the various pets in their holiday poses. I fussy-cut the two furry festive friends from the patterned paper for my card!

The card base is Thick Basic White cardstock with a layer of the Sweet Stockings Designer Series Paper layered on the front. Stampin’ Dimensionals were used to layer the Granny Apply Green cardstock to the card. It is on this layer that all the fun happens!

I stamped the sentiment from the Holly Jolly Wishes stamp set with Versamark Ink on the Basic White cardstock and heat set it with White Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool. Then I used a Blending Brush and Pool party Ink to apply the colour to be boldest in the centre and softening to the edges. After wiping the excess ink off of the embossed sentiment, I tapped some water droplets over the inked area to create the spatter in the background.

Next, the Cabin Dies were used to cut the Snowy White Velvet Sheets. These pieces were layered on the card with glue dots for some subtle dimension. Then, I added the crazy Christmas canines with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The sequins are the perfect finishing touch to the wintery background!

I hope you like this card as much as I do! This is my last time to share a project as a designer for the As You See It Challenge Blog, so be sure to play along for this one!

November 12, 2021

Repeat the Sounding Joy

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas 2021, Black Glimmer Paper, Christmas, Merry Melody embossing folder, Ornate frames, Pattern Party DSP, trees, whimsy & wonder 1 Comment

Sometimes I start making a card with a very specific plan, then something happens and my plan morphs into something completely different. That’s exactly what happened with this design.

Not that my original idea was bad, it just wanted to be something else, LOL!

I made this card as one of the samples for the As You See It Challenge blog. You can go over there and check out some of the other ideas posted. If you’d like to try this challenge, then you can also share it over there on the blog. We love to see your beautiful designs!

Today, the AYSI blog has an assortment challenge for us. You must include all of the items listed to participate in the challenge.

Originally, I wanted to work with Crumb Cake and Basic White for a classic and clean design. However, as I went along, I ended up with a Smoky Slate card and only a pop of Crumb Cake! The black accents were not part of the original plan, but once I reached for the black gingham paper from the Pattern Party designer paper, that’s when everything started to shift.

As you can see, my one word sentiment is “joy”. Using this word on a card inevitably has me singing “Joy to the world”. Am I just weird or do you do that, too? The sentiment is stamped and embossed with White Embossing Powder on a Crumb Cake label, which was cut using the Ornate Frames Dies. I sponged the edges with Whisper White Craft ink. Cute, right!?

The Basic White layer lays over a layer of Gray Granite. I used the beautiful Merry Melody Embossing Folder to give it some texture and, of course, to make sure I have that embossed element required for the challenge.

The three little Black Glitter Paper trees are die-cut with the Christmas Trees Dies. I love these little trees!

The White Baker’s Twine and the black stars from the Cute Stars Adhesive Backed Sequins pack add just the right amount of texture and interest to catch the eye.

As always, you can go to my online store to order Stampin’ Up! supplies from me in Canada. If you don’t want to order, you can show your support by leaving me a note in the comments. I love to know that you stopped by!

October 29, 2021

My Challenge Results were Joy and Peace

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Events 2021, Christmas, holiday, markers, Ornate frames, Peaceful Place, stars are shining, vellum 4 Comments

It feels funny to be talking about Christmas this week when my kids are wearing their Halloween costumes to school today! However, in my stamping and crafting world, I have to work on Christmas projects all through the fall. That way, December can’t sneak up on me!

The As You See It Challenge blog has a challenge for us, and this one is all about Christmas!

I’ve been working on designing cards for an upcoming event. Conveniently, this challenge allows me the opportunity to create one card for two purposes! WhooHoo! I love how efficient that makes me feel! *grin*

My results for this challenge? Joy and peace, of course! This card represents the emotions that perfectly sum up Christmas for me.

Making the card

First, I used a Real Red cardstock base, layered with Gray Granite and Vellum. Next, I coloured the Peaceful Place patterned paper before adhering it to the Basic White. To colour the paper, you can either use some of the light Blends Markers or the Stampin’ Write Markers. Of course, the Stampin’ Blends Markers are super easy, as you can achieve a very even colour.

On this particular card, I used Petal Pink and Sahara Sand Stampin’ Write Markers directly on the cabins and the fox. Then, I scribbled Mint Macaron and Pool Party Stampin’ Write Marker on an acrylic block, so I could pick up the colour with a Blender Pen to create a softer colour for the trees and the snow drifts.

The sentiment from the Stars are Shining stamp set has been stamped on Basic White cardstock. This and the Real Red frame were die-cut using the Cut & Emboss Machine and the Ornate Frames Dies.

To make it festive, the Real Red Satin Ribbon and the Linen Thread topped off with a Black Glitter Paper star, are added to the card. I love that little star! The Starlit Punch, which can be purchased separately or bundled with the Stars are Shining stamp set, is what I used to punch out that sweet element.

If you tend to skip over the Halloween products in the catalogues, then you may have missed the Black Glitter paper. Even though I don’t make a lot of Halloween crafts, I made a point to snatch up that paper for other occasions. In this case, it is a great accent for a Christmas card!

Holiday Stamp Camp

This card will be one of the 10 cards that we’ll be making at the Holiday Stamp Camp event in November. Once again, Desirée Spenst and I have teamed up for another day-long virtual event! Anyone in Canada can join us for this event. Registration closes October 31st, so don’t wait! Go to my Events & Classes Page to find out more and to register.