November 27, 2015

Time for Tinsel

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas As You See It, card, challenge, Christmas, colour challenge, Gorgeous Grunge, Stampin' Up, star framelits, Versatile Christmas 1 Comment

And here we are, in British Columbia, Canada, with the frosty cold weather finally upon us, the crunchy snow squeaking under our feet, the “whoah-that-was-close” feeling when you slip on a patch of ice and catch yourself just in time, the thoughts of Christmas decorations and all the crafty plans to make the season bright, and the cozy pleasure of drinking rum and Eggnog by the fire.

This is a season filled with warmth of heart. Family, friends, good deeds, and good food, all contribute to internal warmth when the weather outside is frightful.

Christmas cards are part of the sharing of that warmth – warming the hearts of others. The colour challenge for today’s As You See It Challenge might help you warm someone from the inside out!

Love these crazy colours. The Real Red and Bermuda Bay combo is wild and playful, while the Mossy Meadow is the “calm it down” addition to the trio.

I decided to work with a lot of white space to make my card bright and wintery with pops of colour to keep it fun!

I used the Whisper White Thick Cardstock for the card base (LOVE that stuff!), then did a narrow mat layer of Whisper White under the decorated layer of Whisper White that is paper pierced all around the edge using my Paper Piercing Tool, Stampin’ Pierce Mat, and my Updated Essentials Paper Piercing Pack. That layer is raised on Stampin’ Dimensionals to allow the shadow beneath it to accentuate the paper piercing detail.

The decorated layer of Whisper White was stamped using the splotch images from the Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set. I used Bermuda Bay and Mossy Meadow ink. Then I added the strip of the Holiday Fancy Foil Designer Vellum, before placing my star image with the sentiment.

The sentiment is from the Versatile Christmas Stamp Set and is stamped in Jet Black Stazon Ink on Whisper White cardstock. This was then carefully die cut with one of the stars from my Star Framelits. I then used my Paper Piercing Tool again with the template to add the paper piercing detail on the star.

The star was adhered to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The little stars were created with the Confetti Stars Punch from Whisper White cardstock and Red Foil paper. These were adhered with the very beloved Fine-Tip Glue Pen, perfect for adhering all your little detail items to your projects!

The Red Pom Pom trim and the Bermuda Bay Baker’s Twine were the perfect compliment to the playfulness of this card design.

Be sure to stop by this Tuesday to see what I have for blog candy!! It’s coming!

Have a great weekend! Be sure to play along this week with this fun colour combination. I hope you share what you come up with by linking it to the As You See It Challenge Blog. I can’t wait to see!!

November 20, 2015

Christmas Fantasy Box – Part 1

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Home Décor As You See It, box, challenge, Christmas, edgelits, gift, Itty Bitty Accents, photopolymer, pompom trim, Season of Cheer, thinlits, topper 4 Comments

My preparations for the bi-annual Fly the Coop Mini Retreat are slowly coming together. I love that this retreat takes place in my home, limiting the number of participants to only six people. With the small numbers, we can enjoy the cozy, intimate setting of my home without the interruptions or obligations of our everyday lives getting in the way of the good times we have! Then we can stamp away, finishing all the projects that we brought along to complete!

Things are coming along slowly because I am a very good procrastinator, doing things that shouldn’t really be given that much time when there are other tasks that should take priority. But … because of my amazing procrastination abilities, I have a great project to share with you (when I should have done a much simpler and quicker project instead, lol!)

However, all is not lost, as I will likely use this project (or a very close version of this project) for the Monthly Stampers Group appreciation night and Christmas party that is coming up in December. I get to spoil my monthly group members with special discounts, a free project (this one, whoop whoop!), and Stampin’ Up! door prizes. The members of this group are part of my stamping family and the appreciation night is my opportunity to say “thank you” for their support and loyalty.

Let’s get to the As You See It Challenge for this week. Check it out:

Today, I have a very cool box to show you. I made one only once before, but thought it would be a fun project to do with my Monthly Stampers group. I haven’t completed the inside of this special box yet, so stay tuned for when I share that part with you on Saturday!

I adore how this box turned out! It’s called a Fantasy Box and has a special surprise with the inside design. No scary pop-ups, though. Just something really cool. You’ll have to come back on Saturday morning to see more!

A lot of different Stampin’ Up! supplies were used for this Christmas Fantasy Box. You will find them all listed at the bottom of the page. My favourite part about the way the box looks, is the lid and topper. The Sleigh Ride Edgelits helped me create the sloping lid design.

I’m in love with this box topper. The pine cone was created by layers of paper punched little Gold Glimmer hearts. I adhered them to a mini cone-shape of paper, then wrapped the top with Gold Sequin Trim, finally topping all that with the Gold Satin Ribbon bow.

Can you see the white doily under all those leaves? It is a Spiderweb Doily from Stampin’ Up!! I simply trimmed away some of the edges and used the white side of the doily instead of the black side.

I love that I can use a challenge sketch for projects that aren’t cards. I try to think … outside the box when I design for the As You See It Challenge blog.

Come back on Saturday and check out the inside of this cool Fantasy Box. In the mean time, what will you do with today’s sketch? Don’t forget to link it up with the As You See it page, so we can see what you came up with!

Happy Stamping!

Amy.

Supplies: Coaster Board (not visible), Season of Cheer Designer Series Paper, Red Envelope Paper (not visible), Bitty Banner Framelit, Happy Scenes photopolymer stamp set, Tuxedo Black Momento ink pad, Whisper White cardstock, Real Red Cardstock, Spiderweb Doily, Red Pompom Trim, Gold Sequin Trim, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (sorry, it’s a retired product), Lighthearted Leaves photopolymer stamp set, Leaflets Framelits, Mossy Meadow ink, Old Olive ink, Old Olive cardstock, Sponges, Gold Satin Ribbon, Glue Dots, Tear and Tape, Fine-Tip Glue pen, Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Hot Glue, Big Shot, Stampin’ Trimmer, and Craft Scissors.

November 13, 2015

Deck the Halls

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Christmas, Home Décor, Techniques As You See It, Brick Wall, challenge, Christmas, Happy Scenes, photopolymer, Season of Cheer, sketch challenge, Stampin' Up, technique 2 Comments

Sometimes you need to add to your home decor. Here’s a 5×7″ piece of holiday artwork you can create using Stampin’ Up products.

Of course, I started with this sketch challenge from the As You See It Challenge Blog. Then I decided to go with a circular background instead of a rectangle. Always trying to see things a little differently. Here’s my framed holiday artwork that I ended up with:

I used the Season of Cheer designer series paper to create the layered poinsettia flower. Just a lot of fussy cutting using four flowers that were identical from a sheet of the patterned paper. I adhered the layers together with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Some Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details glue was painted on the petals to add a little shimmer.

Circle Framelits were used with my Big Shot to create the wreath look with more patterned paper and some Gold Glimmer paper. I even curled the 1/8″ Gold Taffeta ribbon just like you would curl paper ribbon with your scissors. This adds a festive texture to the artwork.

But the beauty of this project is really the brick background.

I started with Kraft paper. It comes in a 12×12 pack and is a different texture than Stampin’ Up’s other cardstock. I ran a 4×6″ piece through the Big Shot with my Brick Wall embossing folder, then sponged it. I sponged it a lot! I used relatively random placements of inks: Crumb Cake and Cajun Craze first, then Whisper White craft ink to soften the orange of the Cajun Craze. Finally, Soft Suede to sort of even it all out. I love how it turned out and will likely share it with my technique class in the new year.

I’m not great at home decor, but I thought you might like to see it on the wall, in my hallway. I thought I should deck my hall with this piece of art. (I know … groan)

Okay, that’s all I’m going to write today. My son and I are heading to Abbotsford, British Columbia, less than four hours from here, for a youth event. Whoop Whoop! Should be high-energy fun!

Have a great weekend and be sure to try this sketch for yourself. You can share it with us at the As You See It Challenge Blog! Hope you do!