December 11, 2015

Merry Christmas to All Buckle Card

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Techniques alphabet rotary stamp, buckle card, Christmas, filter paper, stars confetti punch, word window punch 2 Comments

Have I got a fun card for you today! I wasn’t very excited for the theme this week. Not really my thing, but someone will love this card, simply because it’s so fun!

Here’s the As You See It Challenge that I started with:

I really wasn’t sure where to go with this theme. I don’t have any Santa stamps or anything other than patterned paper with Santa’s on it from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper. In the end, I remembered a tutorial I used a while back for a Buckle Card. And that’s where I landed!

I used a Basic Black cardstock for the card base and layered it with Whisper White, Real Red, and Gold Glimmer. The words are created using the Alphabet Rotary Stamp and Momento Tuxedo Black ink. I stamped them first, then cut them out with my paper trimmer so they would be straight with less room for error. Each of the word pieces are on Stampin’ Dimensionals and the little flourish of Gold Metallic Thread is just stuck to the Dimensionals to hold it in place.

I added the little Gold Foil star by punching it out using the Stars Confetti Punch, then adhering it with the Fine-Tip Glue Pen.

Can you see the fuzzy look to Santa’s coat trim? Some Filter Paper (a heavier version of tissue paper) was flattened and adhered to the Whisper White layer after I tore the edges and crumpled it up. Santa’s coat was too flat and boring otherwise.

The Gold Glimmer paper buckle was cut using the Square Framelits and the Big Shot.

You can see inside the card a little bit and how it fits together in the photo above. I added a sliver of the Holiday Foil paper in the inside to make it pretty. The paper under the gold buckle slides into the Word Window punched slot in the front of the card. That’s how it all holds together. Isn’t it fun!

I still need to finish the sentiment on the inside. Any ideas what I will put? . . . I have to finish the the last line of that poem, of course – Twas the Night before Christmas:

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

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!

August 14, 2015

Celebrate Good Times

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge alphabet rotary stamp, As You See It, bright colours, card, challenge, faux stitching, lots of labels, lucky stars folder, photopolymer, Stampin' Up 0 Comments

Welcome to the place where I get to share my love of stamping and creating with the wonderful people of the internet. Yes, that’s you fine folks! lol!

My 11 year old son gave me the inspiration for the card today. I was short on time and told him the theme of the challenge for this week on the As You See It Challenge blog. He said, “stamp a bunch of the word, ‘celebrate’, lots of times in lots of colours on a square piece of paper (like you often do) and stick it on a card. Then add balloons and confetti.” BRILLIANT!

Here’s the challenge today:

So, I didn’t do all of those things, but he definitely had a great idea and got my mojo going! I started with my Alphabet Rotary Stamp and stamped the word ‘celebrate’ all over a Tempting Turquoise piece of cardstock and the design for today’s challenge card just pulled together from there. Thanks, bud! Love that kid!

Here’s our finished card:

I decided to go with a set of bright colours and am trying to move away from my white card bases that I have been leaning toward so often lately. I just love that look! But I’m realizing I need to branch away from that and work with some different colours. Here, I chose to start with a Tangelo Twist card base, which I ran through the Big Shot with the Lucky Stars embossing folder. I sponged the edges with Tangelo Twist ink, just to add some richness to the card base.

There is a strip of Melon Mambo that I scored parallel lines on with my Simply Scored tool, then sponged around the edges with Melon Mambo ink.

I chose to do some paper-piercing with my new Updated Essentials Paper Piercing Pack as it has the coordinating shapes to go with the Lots of Labels framelit that I used to cut the Tempting Turquoise cardstock. My White Signo Gel pen allowed me to create the faux stitching. Love it!

Of course, the Tin of Cards stamp set came in handy for the Happy Birthday sentiment, which is stamped in Melon Mambo ink (though I think I stamped it a little too quickly and made the image a bit smooshy – mental note: don’t stamp quite so vigorously next time).

And with my son’s confetti in mind, I added the sparklies: the gold sequin pieces for an added celebratory feel.

You might not have my fabulous son to give you inspiration, but you do have this great theme idea from the As You See It Challenge this week. Try this one and load it up on the challenge blog to share it with us!

Amy