May 30, 2021

Camping is in Tents

Amy Jasper Techniques 2021, blending brush, campology, embossing folder, nature, Stampin' Blends Markers, stitched rectangles dies 2 Comments

I have a lot of great memories of camping with my family. We never had a trailer or RV – always a tent.

When I was 12, we hiked the 78km West Coast trail. I complained a LOT, but what an amazing adventure! We would hike about 10km each day (my oldest brother carried my backpack for me for some of the trek), then pitch our tents and eat our meal by the open fire and dry out our clothes. In the morning, we’d pack everything up again and carry it to the next tenting spot.

The best camping ever is backpacking. No vehicles. Very few people. A minimalist experience where you can fully appreciate nature and all of its scary and beautiful glory!

I love camping, but I have to admit, I’m a bit of a snob. I get very annoyed at campers who play their music without any consideration of the other people in the area. Many campers prefer the sounds of the wind in the trees and soft buzzing of the busy insects as they maintain the balance of the ecosystem.

I’m also not a fan of big RV’s and their loud generators that are strategically placed far away from themselves because of the noise. Which, of course, means that the noise is closer to my tent. My tent! With its thin fabric walls that provide shelter from the wind and rain, but absolutely no protection from the noise pollution of a generator or music.

If you are someone who camps in an RV, offer me some of the ice cream from your freezer and I just might forgive you for stealing my peace and quiet. 🙂 Better yet, consider powering-up with solar panels, if you can. This is better for the environment, your camping neighbours, and your bank account.

But, enough about my camping snobbery. Let’s get to the card I want to show you!

I created this one with the Campology stamp set from Stampin’ Up! and it will be the card that I give to my Dad this Father’s Day. He’s the one who passed on his love of nature and the outdoors to me. I feel incredibly blessed and privileged to have the positive experiences that I did.

Here are some of the products used:

Thick Basic White, Basic White, and Misty Moonlight cardstock
Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder, Stitched Rectangle Dies, and Tasteful Labels Dies
Campology Stamp Set
Mossy Meadow Ink for the trees, Misty Moonlight Ink with a Blending Brush
Tuxedo Black Momento Ink to stamp the tent image
Light Night of Navy, Dark Balmy Blue Blends Markers and the Color Lifter to colour the tent
Old Olive Watercolor Pencil and Blender Pen for the grass
Versamark Ink, Black Embossing Powder and the Heat Tool
Dad stamp is from the Batter Up Paper Pumpkin stamp set
Black Baker’s Twine

After the card was completed, but before the DAD sentiment was attached, I used the Light Night of Navy Blends Marker to flick the spatter of colour over the card. Some of these I tapped with the Colour Lifter Blends Marker to soften them so they would appear out of focus.

Are you a tent camper or an RV camper? Maybe you’re in the middle somewhere and have a tent trailer or a camper van. What matters in the end, is that you’re getting out to enjoy nature and have a little break from the world!

Oh, and don’t forget, if you camp with an RV, offer some ice cream or freezies to your tenting neighbours on those hot summer days. They will love you for it!

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!