July 5, 2019

Christmas in July

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Techniques 2019, As You See It, card, Christmas, magnolia, make a difference stamp set, technique 4 Comments

I just can’t get enough of the Good Morning Magnolia stamp set!

The As You See it Challenge this week is what we call an assortment challenge. You have to include all of the listed elements on your card design.

I wasn’t sure how to pull this one off as I like to use current Stampin’ Up! product for the cards I post on my blog and I didn’t have ANY stars!! Not a single current stamp set or die cut with a star. I’m a little bit shocked at this finding. It appears that I need to make a purchase, lol!

Since I didn’t have stars, I remembered a technique using the Chalk Marker to dot the background to look like stars in the night sky. That was the beginning of this card.

I sponged some Night of Navy ink on to Night of Navy cardstock fading it lighter as I moved down the paper. The Chalk Marker dots were then added to make the starry night sky. The sentiment is another problem that I came across as I couldn’t find any Christmas sayings that were the right size for that small space. So I created my own using the Make a Difference Photopolymer Stamp Set. It’s a bit more effort, but it allows you to write whatever you might choose. I stamped each letter with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

I used the Rectangle Stitched Dies to cut the Night of Navy piece to the size I wanted. That was attached to a piece of Gold Foil Paper on which I added a little peek-a-boo amount of the Gold Metallic Edged Ribbon. Both of those layers were added to the Thick Very Vanilla cardstock card base.

The magnolia image is the main attraction on this elegant Christmas card. I stamped the image on Whisper White cardstock with Tuxedo Black Momento ink, then coloured it using my Stampin’ Blends Markers: Poppy Parade (light and dark), a tiny touch of the Cherry Cobbler (I think it was the light one, but I can’t remember now, sorry), Mango Melody (dark) for the centre, Mossy Meadow (light and dark), and the Color Lifter Blends Marker to intensify some highlights on the petals. I then coloured around the outside of the flower with the Sark Night of Navy Blends Marker so that when I die cut the image, it would blend more with my background colour. I attached the die cut magnolia with Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

But that’s not all!

I stamped the magnolia a second time on Whisper White cardstock, colouring just the flower centre and four centre-most petals. I then fussy cut around those four petals. I attached them with Multipurpose Tombo Liquid Glue under the centre of the group of petals, and with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals under the outer-most area of the petals, giving the flower more of a 3D look.

I love how it turned out!! I am definitely going to share this 3D look with my technique class in the future. I think they’ll really like it!

Now it’s your turn to give this assortment challenge a try and share it with us on the As You See It Challenge Blog! We would love to see how you pulled all of those elements together.

And if you like this Good Morning Magnolia stamp set as much as I do and you are in Canada, why not go over to my ONLINE STORE and add it to an order. You’ll probably love the whole Magnolia Lane Suite! It’s all just gorgeous!

June 21, 2019

Keeping It Together

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2019, As You See It, aysi, card, Good Morning Magnolia, greatcyclechallenge, Love You to Pieces stamp set, markers, Puzzle Pieces dies 4 Comments

I have been riding my bike this month for the Great Cycle Challenge, raising money to fight childhood cancer. The money will help fund research to find better cancer treatments, provide care for sick kids, and work toward finding a cure for kids’ cancer! I have pledged to ride 750km throughout the month and am aiming to raise $1500 for the cause.

I have pedaled over 590km since June 1st and have practically met my fundraising goal, pulling in $1499 so far! My deeper wish is to actually go way over that and hit $2500 in donations, but I think that might be a bit of a stretch. You see, with that amount raised, riders in the Great Cycle Challenge earn a very special jersey of honour – the Hero Jersey! How I would LOVE to ride around with my “Batman” symbol and utility belt! LOL! With the struggle to find time for my long rides and with the pain and fatigue I’ve been experiencing in my legs, I kind of feel like it would all be even more worthwhile with that very special jersey as physical evidence of my effort. However, that is a very big leap (a superhero sized leap!) to go from $1499 to $2500 with only 10 more days left to go!

At the end of the month, every dollar raised is a huge win in the battle against childhood cancer with or without the Hero Jersey. I believe, that with enough funding, we can truly make a difference in the lives of children and their families who are fighting cancer. I am very pleased with the support of my friends and family who have donated and encouraged me along the way. My stamping community has been a significant part of my support and I am so grateful that you’ve got my back!!

Here’s the As You See It Challenge that has inspired the card design for this blog post:

My card today is a bit of a tribute to my supporters. I have been very busy with my bike riding and fundraising, but I have also been managing some untimely life stresses as well. The family van transmission has finally kicked the bucket and we are in a bit of a pickle trying to find a new family vehicle before we leave on a road trip in less than a week. It’s time-consuming to drive to neighboring towns to try out vehicles, talk to sales people, research options and manage the family’s needs with only one working vehicle. Then there’s the normal busyness of June with end of school activities and celebrations for our three kids and the usual day to day things that we still need to keep up with.

It has been overwhelming and I feel like I am falling apart, but with the support of my family, friends, and customers (who are also friends), somehow I’m able to keep it together. They (you) have been keeping me together! I am so grateful for my community!

So, like I said, this card is for my supporters this month.

My favourite colour to wear is orange. Orange is my happy colour. I also wear a lot of grey (it’s my comfort colour), so I figured why not just get them both in there! I used the gorgeous Good Morning Magnolia stamp set and my Stampin’ Blends (Pumpkin Pie and Smoky Slate) for the main image and I added some sponging around the flower with Smoky Slate classic ink.

Then I used the Puzzle Pieces Dies with my Big Shot die cutting machine to cut the coloured image into the puzzle shapes. This I adhered to a Smoky Slate cardstock matte with Multipurpose Liquid Glue for some of the pieces and Mini Dimensionals for all the pieces with flower petals on them.

I inked the sentiment from the Love You to Pieces Stamp Set so that the middle was Smoky Slate (inked with my Smoky Slate Stampin’ Write Marker) and the top and bottom were Pumpkin Pie (inked carefully with my Pumpkin Pie ink pad). This was die cut using the Stitched Nested Labels Dies, which I trimmed to fit.

I added the Whisper White Solid Baker’s Twine, attached the label with Mini Dimensionals and adhered the whole card front to the Basic Gray cardstock card base with more Stampin’ Dimensionals. The final touch was to add the Seaside Spray coloured sequin from the Woven Threads Sequin Assortment pack. The Fine-Tip Glue pen and the Take Your Pick Tool are the perfect combination to get those little guys to stay where I want them..

Thank you all for your amazing support!

If you’d like to cheer me on by donating to this great cause, you can click on THIS LINK and help fight childhood cancer with me!

Together, we can make a difference!

Together, we can find a cure!

May 24, 2019

Bird Ballad and Paper Pumpkin

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2019, As You See It, card, challenge, paper pumpkin, sketch challenge, Stampin' Up 0 Comments

I was so pleased to see that the bird images in the May Paper Pumpkin kit by Stampin’ Up! were a perfect match to the birds on the Bird Ballad Designer Series paper! (Available for purchase June 4th when the annual 2019-2020 catalogue sales period begins!). I figured this was too perfect to pass up! You can find out more about Paper Pumpkin by clicking HERE.

My card design today uses some elements and stamps left over from the May 2019 Paper Pumpkin kit, Hugs from Shelli.

But first, here’s the As You See It Challenge sketch that was my jumping off point for this card.

I started with a piece of Pool Party cardstock on which I already applied Embossing Paste with the cloud mask as part of one of my Facebook Live tutorial videos. If you’d like to see more about how you can use Embossing Paste, click HERE to see the Facebook video.

The strip of Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper was adhered to the card, then I die cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock using one of the circles from the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and ran it through the Big Shot die cutting machine. On the circle, I stamped one of the bird images from the Paper Pumpkin kit with Basic Gray Classic Ink.

See how it matches the patterned paper! So cool!

Adhered to the circle with Stampin’ Dimensionals, is one of the vellum feathers from the Hugs from Shelli May Paper Pumpkin Kit along with a strip of woodgrain patterned paper from Nature’s Poem Designer Series Paper. One of the sentiments from the Paper Pumpkin kit was stamped on the woodgrain paper strip. Linen thread tied in a bow around the strip of woodgrain patterned paper adds a bit of texture.

To complete the card, the cloud covered Pool Party Paper was adhered to a piece of Basic Gray cardstock. Finally, it was all attached to the Pool Party card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The Hugs from Shelli May Paper Pumpkin Kit is beautiful. You can see it being unboxed and assembled in this VIDEO. Stampin’ Up! is putting out some gorgeous Paper Pumpkin kits lately. Subscribe to Paper Pumpkin so you can get these beautiful crafting kits delivered to your door each month. Click on this LINK to make it happen!!

Why not give this sketch a try for yourself. You can even share it with us by posting a photo of it online (your blog, Pinterest, public Facebook post, etc) then linking it to the As You See It Challenge Blog by following the prompts. I hope you do! We love seeing your beautiful creations!

(There’s a lot of links in this post, I hope you find your way.)