It’s time for another As You See It Challenge design!
Here’s the challenge sketch:
I decided to use the Lots of Labels Framelits for this one. Here’s my take on the challenge:
I wanted to use some of the Be Merry Designer Series Paper, but I find the Garden Green/Cherry Cobbler/Whisper White colour combo a bit dull on its own. That’s when I decided to add the Powder Pink, Crumb Cake and Sahara Sand into the mix. I think the iridescent pinky colouring of some of the Metallic Sequin Assortments is what makes the Powder Pink cardstock work quite well.
I don’t know if you can really see it in the photos, but the snowflake die from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits is cut from the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper and is so pretty and sparkly! I wanted it to be popped up off the page, but it’s too delicate to hide a Stampin’ Dimensional behind it, so I first adhered a 1/2″ Crumb Cake circle to the back of the snowflake with the Multipurpose Liquid Glue. After that, I could hide a Dimensional behind that circle without losing the delicate design of the snowflake.
The sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, was stamped on the Powder Pink cardstock using Early Espresso ink. Then, it was die cut with a banner die from the Bunch of Banners Framelits for that perfect flagged end (I cut the other end off – two perfectly flagged ends would have been more than this card could handle. lol!
Another challenge, another half of the month is over! Wow, time goes so fast!
News alert! I am now unemployed!! Whoohoo! This is a GOOD thing, folks. I will now be able to focus on my family, my household, healthy life choices, and, yes, my stamping. Technically, I am employed as an Independent Demonstrator for Stampin’ Up! However, this is more like a hobby that gives me a bit of spending money to pay for my … well, my hobby, lol! I am thankful for the bit of cash that I bring in as a demonstrator to pay for haircuts and vet bills. Perhaps, once my home life is more at a maintenance level, rather than the current “catch up on all the things that have fallen apart since starting a family 13 years ago”, I will be able to put more time into building my business. I am incredibly happy with the last couple of weeks – I have been cleaning, gardening, running errands, cycling, camping, going on field trips, and I am looking and feeling healthier and more satisfied with each day. I am blessed to be able to make this change in my life and I acknowledge all the women who desire to be stay-at-home moms or wives, but do not have the financial freedom to do so. I wish for you the opportunity to make any changes that you can to live on less so you can spend more time on life. That is my motto for this season in my life, Live on Less, because the things in life that are most important are not the things that cost money, but are the relationships, the experiences, the adventures, and the memories.
The challenge this time is another sketch:My design is a representation of my home here in the Okanagan Valley in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, where we have orchards filled with fruit trees and hills lined with vineyards. I love that I can find wines in my neighborhood liquor store that have been made from grapes that were grown just a moments drive from my house. The coloured image on the card is from the Tuscan Vineyard stamp set from Stampin’ Up!
I decided to use this sketch in a landscape orientation rather than portrait orientation.The image was stamped with Archival Basic Black ink on Watercolor Cardstock, then cut using the largest oval die from the Stitched Shapes Framelit Dies from Stampin’ Up. I coloured the image with the Stampin’ Up Watercolor Pencils and blended the colour on the paper with a Blender Pen. Behind the oval, you can see the 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon and the looped Linen Thread. The burlap was the last 3 inches on my spool, so I cut it into four pieces and tucked it just underneath the oval with Stampin’ Up Mini Glue Dots. For each side of the oval, I tied a large bow of Linen Thread, folded the bow in half so that the loops were together, and attached it with a Mini Glue Dot on the knot to the backside of the oval. This gave a fun loopy look to the thread and added much needed texture to the design.There is a strip of Wood Textures Designer Series Paper behind the oval as well. Behind that, is the Crumb Cake layer, on which I stamped the sentiment from the Wild About Flowers Photopolymer Stamp Set with Early Espresso ink. Because the stamp set is photopolymer, it was easy to get the necessary curve of the stamp on my acrylic block to match the curve of the oval. You may also have noticed that the “Congratulations” from the stamp set usually has a “on your” attached to the same stamp. I simply masked that part off with scotch tape before inking up the stamp, then removing the tape before stamping the sentiment. I like that this allows the card to be a fairly general congratulations card that can be used for retirement, graduation, completing a marathon, surviving the school year (I’m thinking of all the teachers this year who survived fidget spinners, bottle flipping, and general classroom chaos) or even just getting through a rough week and being given a bottle of wine as a reward (believe me, there are weeks when I wish someone would do this for me!)
The Crumb Cake layer also has a bit of detailing added around the edges. I used the Simply Scored Tool and Stylus to create the embossed border around this layer, then lightly sponged some Crumb Cake ink around the edges and over the embossed lines. This added so much more interest to the card, without making the card appear too busy.The rest of the card is just about layering and colour. The card base is Soft Sky, then I used Tempting Turquoise and Lemon Lime Twist as very thin layers to frame the Crumb Cake Layer. Of course, Stampin’ Up Dimensionals are also an important element to most of my card designs. I used Dimensionals under the Tempting Turquoise layer and under the oval to give the card a bit more depth.
The inside of the card has the same base layers as the front of the card: Tempting Turquoise, Lemon Lime Twist, and the scored and sponged Crumb Cake layer.
Now go forth and stamp! Use any of the As You See It challenges as a starting point to get your creative mojo flowin’!!
My card has an umbrella and two clouds in place of the balloon images in the sketch. I used the Weather Together Stamp set and the Umbrella Weather framelits from Stampin’ Up!
I’m actually not going to go into detail about this card, but will just share a couple elements with you. I started with a piece of the not yet available Wood Texture Designer Series Paper stack. It is a very light, almost white wood pattern that I sponged with Soft Sky ink using the Sponge Brayer, just to make it a little less stark.
The rounded corners framing the wood texture patterned paper was created by using my Layering Circles and Layering Squares framelits with my Big Shot. I simply chose one circle framelit and one square framelit that were close to the same size. Then I cut out first, the square from a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock. Then I lay the circle framelit over the newly cut square piece of cardstock, dead center. Then I ran it through the Big Shot again, so that the circle cut off the corners of the square, giving me four corners to adhere in the corners of the woodgrain patterned paper.
The card base is Pumpkin Pie cardstock. I used a thin matte layer of Soft Sky cardstock and another layer of Crumb Cake cardstock.
I am IN LOVE with the Wood Texture Designer Series Paper stack! I can’t wait until all my customers can buy it when the new catalogue comes out in June!!
The banner is from the Number of Years stamp set and framelits. The umbrella is Peekaboo Peach, stamped on So Saffron cardstock. Pumpkin Pie cardstock is used for the card base, then a thin matte layer of Soft Sky, then Crumb Cake.
