October 25, 2019

Remember to Breathe

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, simple and cute 2019, As You See It, card, challenge, colorful seasons, feels like frost, quick and cute, speed, Stampin' Up 2 Comments

Today was a rough day. Lots of unplanned unpleasantness, resulting in a very frustrated, irritated, grumpy, and very spent, me. When I remembered that I hadn’t made my card for this challenge yet, I very reluctantly dragged myself into my messy and crowded craft room (I haven’t unpacked boxes from my last event yet and they’re all over the floor and completely in the way). I started to consider the card I would make and I realized that this card was going to be for me today. I reminded myself to breathe. The worst of the day is done. I got through it.

Just breathe.

Today is a speed challenge on the As You See It Challenge blog. Not the best activity to take on at the end of the day when you’ve already been stressed and rushing around, but no problem. I didn’t rush. I knew what I wanted to do. I had a plan. I took it slow. (well, not too slow!)

Even with taking it easy, I made this card in 8 minutes and 10 seconds. Attaching any kind of ribbon always adds a significant amount of time for me, but I think it was worth it.

I made a card with a similar layout just the other day, so the basic measurements were fresh in my mind, even though it was different paper, stamps, and embellishments.

The Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper makes anything look amazing, don’t you think! It feels like cheating! I cut mine to 3-7/8″ x 4″, then cut it on a diagonal so I could split it over the piece of 4″ x 5-1/4″ Whisper White cardstock. I laid the lower portion of the split dsp on the Whisper White cardstock so that I could use it as a guide to position my stamped words from the Colorful Seasons Photopolymer Stamp Set, which I stamped in Night of Navy ink.

Before attaching the Feels Like Frost pieces with Dimensionals, I laid the length of Linen Thread down the left side of the Whisper White cardstock so I could tie it after the dsp was adhered.

The Whisper White is layered on a Night of Navy cardstock base. Clean and fresh. Breathe in. Breathe out.

The finishing touch was to add the three Rhinestone Basic Jewels to the Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper.

And the very last thing was to actually do what the card says, just breathe. Ahhhh. Feels good.

My day is behind me now and tomorrow will be better.

As always, you can order the products featured in my post, by going to SHOP in the menu at the top of the page, or click on the SHOP circle on the sidebar if you’re on your computer.

Now, go and try this speed challenge and share it with us at the As You See It Challenge blog. We want to see your creations!

October 11, 2019

Moose Birthday

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2019, birthday, challenge, fall, merry moose, subtles folder, woodland folder 2 Comments

Another challenge card for you today, inspired by the As You See It Challenge Blog.

Here’s the theme challenge:

I decided to take the tree theme and go with the autumn colours, using my beloved Merry Moose stamp set from Stampin’ Up!

I love moose! How many other creatures do you know of that are so majestic and awkward-looking at the same time!

The card base is Mossy Meadow. I deepened the colour by sponging Mossy Meadow ink around the edges of the card base. In fact, I was a happy little sponger and did that with all of the paper pieces on this card (excluding the Very Vanilla matte, which I left clean. Each piece has the edges sponged with the coordinating ink.

The Crushed Curry background layer has multiple trees from the Merry Moose stamp set, stamped with Cajun Craze ink. Some are stamped full strength and some are stamped off to create some depth to the scene. I also added a strip of Crushed Curry cardstock, which was stamped with the Buffalo Check background stamp from Stampin’ Up!. For that I used Crushed Curry ink for a tone on tone effect. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Stampin’ Up! host stamp set, New Wonders, and is stamped with Cajun Craze ink.

You can also see that I used the Woodland Embossing Folder on the Cajun Craze strip of cardstock and the Subtles Embossing Folder on the circle, which was punched from Early Espresso paper with the 2-1/4″ circle punch.

My moose was stamped with Early Espresso ink on Whisper White cardstock. I used my Blender Pen to drag some of the ink from the lines of the image and shade my moose. I also coloured around the outside of my moose after I punched him out (ooh, that sounds so violent!) with the coordinating Moose Punch. I don’t like leaving a white edge around a cut image very often and choose to coordinate it with whatever the colour is behind it. A bit of sponging was added to the edges of my moose in Soft Suede ink to add a little bit more shading.

The Mossy Meadow linen thread was tied around the Cajun Craze piece of cardstock before adhering it and the Early Espresso circle to my card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The moose is also on dimensionals.

As always, you can purchase any of the stamping supplies that I use on my blog. Just click on the SHOP button in the sidebar or in the menu at the top of the page. Not in Canada? No problem. There are Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators all over the world.

Why not give the theme challenge a try? If you do, be sure to upload it to the As You See It Challenge blog and show us your take on the theme!

September 27, 2019

Woven Threads and Botanical Tags

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2019, As You See It, aysi, botanical tags, card, challenge, Darling Label Punch Box, markers, Stampin' Blends Markers, Stampin' Up, woven threads 4 Comments

I have not used my Botanical Tags dies nearly enough. They are so beautiful!

The card I have to share with you today is inspired by the latest As You See It Challenge:

I love how this type of challenge is so open to your imagination. As long as your design includes all of the elements listed on the challenge, you are good to go! I knew that the Botanical Tags Dies would be part of this one because the die I used covers 3 of the elements required right away! It’s a tag. It’s a die cut. It has leaves! Whaaa!

I cut the tag out of Whisper White Cardstock and coloured it using the Stampin’ Blends. I ended up colouring the entire lower portion with my Black Stampin’ Blends! A bit colour happy, perhaps? LOL!

The Triple Banner Punch was used to cut the bottom of both the botanical tag die and the Pool Party banner. The branch/vine was cut using another of the dies from the Botanical Tags Dies and was also coloured with my Blends Markers.

The sentiment is from the stamp set in the Darling Label Punch Box by Stampin’ Up!. The Darling Label Punch was also used on this card as part of the layers on the tag. The sentiment was stamped on Sahara Sand cardstock using Pretty Peacock ink, then punched out with a circle punch to layer over the punched out Pool Party Scallop circle. I used yet another punch, the Leaf Punch, to cut the leaves that are tucked under the left side of the tag. The little Rhinestone Basic Jewel and the Whisper White Solid Baker’s Twine were just the right embellishments to complete the look I wanted for my tags.

All this is layered over the Woven Threads Designer Series Paper, matted with Whisper White cardstock. Stampin’ Dimensionals hold that onto the Pretty Peacock coloured Woven Threads Designer Series Paper layer on the Pretty Peacock cardstock base of the card.

Did you know that the Woven Threads Designer Series Paper is part of the BUY 3 GET 1 FREE DESIGNER SERIES PAPER SALE!?! Click on the link to go to my online store to see all the papers that are included in this deal!

Now it’s your turn. Give the challenge a try and share it with us at the As You See It Challenge Blog!