February 19, 2021

Cosy is a Feeling

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2021, As You See It, campology, card, challenge, embossing, framelits, sponging, technique 8 Comments

Let’s begin with a discussion on the English language, shall we? LOL!

I’m Canadian. Canadian culture, language, and numerical systems are a bit … wonky. We’ve been strongly influenced by both our British connection and our American neighbours. Thus, the title of this post uses the British influenced spelling of “cozy”, even though my spellcheck underlines it in an irritated, red squiggly line! However, I will continue to measure my cardstock in inches, my height in feet, and my weight in pounds. Celsius stands firm, though, because I will never understand what any number in Fahrenheit means! I will spell “favourite”, not “favorite”, “catalogue”, not “catalog” and “counsellor”, not “counselor”. We’re weird like that.

Let’s just call it a cute little quirk and move on.

So, how ’bout we talk stamping!

The card for today’s post is inspired by the As You See It Challenge, which happens to be, what we like to call, a “fill in the blank” challenge.

I had to really think about what it means to me to be cosy. Often it’s about being warm, comfortable, and becoming one with the couch (or do you prefer “sofa”, “settee”, or “chesterfield”, LOL!). But, as I considered what colours make me feel the most cosy, I realised it’s less about the colour and more about the environment. So, I thought, “which environments make me feel the most cosy and what colours are associated with those environments?”.

I’m pretty sure I’m overthinking this, LOL!

I feel cosy curled up under a blanket watching the flames dance in the fireplace while sipping a hot beverage from my favourite mug. I couldn’t really associate a colour with that image, though.

My final thought was the cosy comfort and security of a glowing light source in the deep colours of the evening sky.

I found my colour. The deep colours of the evening sky!

Pretty Peacock is the closest I have of this colour. When paired with the contrasting warmth of Bumblebee, it’s as cosy as cosy can be!

I enjoyed all the sponging on this card! I started with a piece of Pretty Peacock and sponged around the edges with Pretty Peacock ink, Night of Navy ink and Tuxedo Black ink. I stamped the trees from the Campology Stamp Set with Tuxedo Black ink on the Pretty Peacock, then die-cut the paper with one of the rectangles from the Stitched Rectangle Dies and the Stampin’ Cut and Emboss Machine. That was layered on Bumblebee cardstock, wrapped with Linen Thread, and attached with Stampin’ Dimensionals to the Pretty Peacock cardbase which I had lightly sponged around the edges with Pretty Peacock ink to add a bit more of a rich and full colour.

I fully admit to going a little crazy with the details around the lantern image from the Campology Stamp Set. I first stamped it with Tuxedo Black ink on Basic White cardstock. Then I used a Sponge Dauber to apply Mango Melody ink to the centre of the light and used circular motions to blend the colour out as I increased the circumference of the circle. I then went in with the Pretty Peacock and Night of Navy to darken the surrounding areas on the Basic White. I coloured the lantern a bit here and there with some Stampin’ Blends. I used a bit of Bronze, Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake. I even went in with my Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker to sharpen up some of the black lines in the image. I finished the lantern by applying a bit of sparkle to the glass on the image with my Wink of Stella Brush.

Now this is where it gets a little crazy …

I cut around the bottom of my lantern and straight out from the sides so that I could attach that piece to some woodgrain patterned paper in the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper, giving the lantern a picnic table to stand on. This piece needed to match the colouring of the lantern piece, so I grabbed my sponges again and applied the Mango Melody, Pretty Peacock, and Tuxedo Black.

When the lantern felt cosy enough, I used another of the rectangles from the Stitched Rectangles Dies and cut it out so I could adhere it to my card with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The final touch was to grab the sentiment from my stash. This sentiment is from the awesome background stamp called Many Messages. What makes it so awesome, is that it is one stamp with … well… exactly that – many messages. I had already stamped all these sentiments on Basic Black cardstock with Versamark ink and heat embossed all of them at once using White Embossing Powder and my Heat Tool. Then (now this is the coolest part) I used ONE die, to cut out ALL of the sentiments at once! Now I have a little stash of sentiments on labels ready for me to use at my greatest of convenience! If you haven’t considered the Many Messages Bundle, check it out on my online store or have a look in the January – June Mini Catalogue on page 35. I love it!

I’m so glad you visited me today. Be sure to take a moment to leave a hello in the comments so I know you stopped by!

February 5, 2021

A Little Note for You

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2021, as you se it, colour challenge, embossing, stitched dies 4 Comments

Check out this card, featuring the Enjoy the Moment stamp set from Stampin’ Up!. I received this stamp set for free as part of a demonstrator event in November (a demonstrator perk!) and it hasn’t seen any ink until today!

As usual, my card is inspired by the As You See It Challenge Blog. This time, it’s a colour challenge!

I wasn’t sure about the red and green combo. My first thoughts were Christmas and poppies, so of course, I rebelled and went with sponging ink and stamping images of seed pods!

I don’t know what all the seed pods are in the Enjoy the Moment stamp set, but the two that I chose to use are poppy seed pods and a lotus flower seed pod (special thanks to my friend, Google). I used a Stampin’ Sponge to apply Garden Green ink on my Whisper White cardstock (I haven’t moved into the new Basic White, yet), then I stamped the seed pod images with Tuxedo Black Momento Ink. With a Blender Pen, Basic Gray, and Sahara Sand ink, I added shading to the images. I also went in with my Basic Gray Stampin’ Write Marker to enhance some of the lines in the images. With that same marker, I added some Basic Gray ink onto the paper by flicking the end of the brush tip over the lip of the lid toward the paper. I’m not sure if this is such a great idea for maintaining the integrity of the brush tip over time, but it is one of my favourite techniques right now, so I’m willing to risk having to buy another set of the Neutral Stampin’ Write Markers.

The sentiment was stamped with Poppy Parade ink, providing a pop of colour to catch the eye.

The Stitched Rectangle die and the Big Boss (Stampin’ Cut &Emboss Machine) made the fantastic stitched edge to frame the images. I also used the Big Boss to emboss the piece of Vellum on my card with the Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder. The Vellum is adhere to the Sahara Sand layer and Basic Gray card base with Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue, then the Stitched Rectangle was attached with Stampin’ Dimensionals and the Linen Thread Bow attached with a Glue Dot to finish the design.

Initially, when I finished this card, I didn’t have the Basic Gray as the base layer. I’m not really sure which I like better. What do you think?

Be sure to give this colour challenge a go and share your creations with us at the As You See It Challenge Blog.

January 22, 2021

Scattered Gold

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2021, As You See It, challenge, Fine Art Floral suite, Sale-a-bration, sketch, technique 0 Comments

Do you do anything to occupy your mind when you’re doing a task that you don’t enjoy?

I dread doing any kind of maintenance chores, like folding and putting away my laundry, making dinner (ugh), planning meals, cleaning my craft room, (cleaning pretty much anything, actually), and grocery shopping. To avoid boredom and reduce the torture of performing some of these tasks, I will often binge a show on Netflix or Prime. I find that 20 to 30 minute episodes work best and they can’t be a show that I have to pay to close attention to, since I need to actually accomplish the unpleasant task at the same time. I’ve tried watching some of those home improvement or organization reality shows, but those aren’t working at all. They’re nice to look at, but really boring to listen to, LOL!

The shows that keep me company and make my tasks a bit more bearable are my tried and true favourites. I just come back to them over and over. They’re fun and light and always help to lift my mood.

The Office (my son bought me the complete box set for Christmas!)
Brooklyn 99 (absolute gold!)
New Girl
The Good Place

I’ve watched some other shows that I’ve enjoyed as well, of course, but these ones are a few of the ones that I can listen to while I work and I know exactly what’s happening without looking at the screen most of the time because I’ve seen it before. They’re my friends and they always make me smile.

The one circumstance on my list above where I have to give my full attention, is grocery shopping. Maybe listening to music with ear buds would help? Kind of like my own personal movie soundtrack!

How do you endure the unpleasant and boring tasks in your day? Do you have any special tricks that dust a little bit of gold over the dull and dreary parts?

Of course, some of the shiniest gold that’s scattered throughout my week is when I get to play in my craft room! AND PLAY, I DID! As usual, the card I have to show you today begins with some creative inspiration from the As You See It Challenge Blog! It’s a sketch!

My Gilded Leafing from Stampin’ Up! has been quietly waiting for me to play with it since I bought it over a month ago. I have to admit, I was a little nervous to even open the container after being warned that it will expand or make a horrible mess. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for ACTUAL scattered gold to be all over my craft room! But for my card today, I’m happy to report that my Gilded Leafing has been a wonderful and fun art experience that definitely needs further exploration.

I used the Art Gallery Bundle, which, if purchased between now and February 28th during Sale-a-bration, will allow you to choose a free Sale-a-bration item. Coincidentally, I also used the Oh So Ombre Designer Series Paper on this card, which is a free pack of 6×6″ patterned paper with a $60 CAD purchase. I used one of my new Blending Brushes with Bermuda Bay ink to sponge a little extra colour behind where my flower was going to be. The stem and leaves were stamped with Shaded Spruce and I stamped the two steps of the flower on a separate piece of the same paper using Pretty Peacock and Night of Navy ink. After adding some Wink of Stella to the accents on the flower, it was die-cut with the coordinating die.

Before attaching the die-cut flower, I played with my Gilded Leafing and some Multipurpose Liquid Glue. I had NO idea what I was doing. That’s what made it fun (and a little bit scary, too!). I wondered if I could create a splatter kind of effect by mixing a small amount of water with the liquid glue on a paint brush, then tapping the brush on my finger over the paper to splatter the thinned glue on the surface. Then I would apply the leafing to the glue. This didn’t go as planned at all because I applied the gilding while the glue was too wet. It smeared the glue, resulting in a less defined placement of the gold leaf. If you make sure the glue is completely dry (remember, this glue stays sticky when it’s dry!) before you apply the leafing, you will not get the smudged gold like I did. The splatter the the left of the flower was dry, while the splatter to the right was too wet when I applied the leafing. See the difference?

I decided I liked the smeared imperfection! I carried on with the piece by rounding the two corners of the ombre paper with my Detailed Trio Punch and attached the flower with Stampin’ Dimensionals. This was glued to the Basic White layer and the Gray Granite card base. I added a bit of texture and interest to the Basic White layer by running it through my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine with the Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder. I also added some splatter by flicking some ink from my Black Stampin’ Blends Marker onto the white cardstock.

The final elements on my card are the Fine Art Ribbon and the white heat-embossed sentiment on the black die-cut label. The sentiment and label are from the Many Messages Bundle. This bundle is really cool because it has a bunch of different sentiments on one large background stamp AND they line up perfectly with the ONE die that cuts them ALL OUT AT ONCE! Oh my gosh! Talk about a time saver for making multiple cards for multiple occasions! I think that will be my next project – make a set of cards using all the sentiments from this bundle. Ooooh! I can feel the creative wheels gaining momentum! Yup. That’s my next project, for sure!

Make sure you give this sketch challenge a try and share it with us over at the As You See It Challenge Blog.

But before you go, don’t forget to share with me any tips and tricks you have to scatter gold

(or smear it, LOL!)

over the dreaded tasks you have in the day. What is your dreaded task and how do you get through it without dying? Or is it just me? Am I the only one who feels like it’s torture to do these things? I tell you, if I was a wealthy person, I would pay good money to have all of those things done for me!