July 27, 2018

Letter Board Card

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques, tutorial 2018, As You See It, card, challenge, coffee cafe, easel card, frame, make a difference, technique, tutorial 2 Comments

What are you obsessed with? That is the challenge for the As You See It Challenge blog this round. I actually had to do some soul searching to figure out if I was obsessed with anything in the first place, then determine which of the many obsessions I discovered I have was worthy of a card design.Here are some items that I had on my list:

Fitness (running, cycling, hiking, strength, endurance)
Wine
Outdoors (nature, sunshine, peace, escape)
Doctor Who
Self-discovery (reflection, self-care, solitude, self-improvement, resilience)
Words (witty, inspirational, punny, jokes)
Coffee
My phone (this is actually an unhealthy obsession – I’m working on it … sort of)

There were a few others, but we’ll just stop there.

I thought more specifically about my obsession with words and realized that it has become focused on letter boards. Have you seen any letter board images on Pinterest or Instagram? They seem to be the latest thing and have definitely caught my attention. I don’t have my own letter board, but it is on my Christmas wish list! How fun to create sayings that suit your mood or your current state of mind. Or maybe some words that reflect how you want to feel or think?

Here’s my card, inspired by the latest As You See It challenge:I chose to try to create my own letter board card with a funny saying I found on Pinterest. Conveniently, the saying also allows me to bring in another obsession I have – coffee. LOL!

Most letter boards have black felt backgrounds with white lettering. I have seen others that are grey, some that are white with black letters, and even pink ones with white letters.

I started with trying to create the appearance of a letter board first. For that, I used a black journaling pen and a ruler and drew lines across the Basic Grey cardstock.The letters used are from the Make a Difference stamp set from Stampin’ Up! It required some finesse to get them all straight – not an easy task and definitely the most time consuming part of this design.

The Embossing Buddy was an absolute must for all this embossing!!

I did one line at a time, wiping my cardstock with the Embossing Buddy, stamping the letters in Versamark ink, sprinkling with White Embossing Powder, tapping off the excess, then heat setting the powder with the Heat Tool. One line. Then I would take out my Embossing Buddy and start the process again with the next line. Eventually, I realized if I placed a piece of washi tape on my block, it made it a bit easier to get my words straight. It was challenging to create the words with appropriate spaces for any letters that I needed more than one of, then add any missing letters afterward.The next thing to do was to create a frame for my letter board. Many of the boards I’ve seen have a simple natural light-coloured wood frame. Thankfully, Stampin’ Up! has just the right paper with lots of wood patterns to choose from! The Wood Textures Designer Series paper is one of my favourites and it is included in the Buy 3, Get One Free offer for paper packs now until the end of July.To create the look of a frame, I cut the desired length of paper for the size of frame I wanted. Two pieces cut at 5-1/2″ and two pieces cut at 4-1/4″. I made each piece 9/16th wide so that I could keep a black matte visible around my 3″ x 4-1/4″ letter board cardstock. I wanted to create the appearance of mitered corners, so I held two strips of the Wood Texture paper together and cut from the inner corner to the outer corner with my Paper Snips.

I really only needed to trim one end of each of the strips of paper. That way the angled end of one strip of the frame could overlap the straight cut end of the same corner. This allows for a nice clean corner that looks like a well-glued mitered wood frame. The strips were attached using Stampin’ Up Dimensionals to give a three dimensional appearance, just like an actual frame.

The thing that really makes this design work, is making it an easel card. If you’ve never made an easel card, be sure to google it and find a quick tutorial. It is a super easy thing to do.

My card base is made with Basic Black Cardstock. I used a piece of Whisper White cardstock as a layer inside the card as a blank canvas on which to create the lower portion of the easel design. For this, the Coffee Cafe stamp set and coordinating thinlits from Stampin’ Up! were the perfect choice! I also used an image from the Timeless Textures stamp set from Stampin’ Up! that looks like a coffee cup stain.

To prop up the front of the easel well, I made sure to add extra loft to the lid of the coffee cup with a piece of Adhesive Foam Strips. Additional Stampin’ Up! products used include: Leaf Punch, Solid Black Bakers Twine, 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon, Mossy Meadow cardstock, Garden Green cardstock, Crumb Cake cardstock, Stampin’ Sponges, Tranquil Tide ink (sponged on the Garden Green leaves and the Mossy Meadow paper strip), Crumb Cake ink (for the coffee stain image and sponging around the coffee cup, lid, and sleeve), Tuxedo Black Momento ink (for stamping the coffee happens sentiment, coffee beans, and coffee cup lid).Now it’s your turn. What are YOU obsessed with? Share it on the As You See It Challenge blog as a card design and/or leave a comment on this blog post!

July 13, 2018

Happiness Looks Good

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2018, botanical tags, make a difference, share what you love 0 Comments

Have you ever thought about how we compliment each other? A friend mentioned this on a Facebook post recently and it really made me think. Here’s what she wrote:

“Many times I hear people being complimented on their appearance – what they are wearing, their hair, the weight they’ve lost, the stuff they have bought, the amazing house they have. I wonder why we don’t really compliment people on how happy they look, or how relaxed they look, or how kind or compassionate or authentic they are. We could compliment people on their generosity and helpfulness. I guess it’s just a reflection of what we value In our society.”

My card today is a reflection of this. I decided to create my own sentiment using the “Make a Difference” stamp set from Stampin’ Up! It has the beautiful hand lettering script and the small block print letters so you can create your own words.

Of course, as usual, I started with the As You See It Challenge sketch.

(but before I did anything, I had to clean my stamp room! It was back to its ol’ disaster of a mess again – silly room – I don’t know why it can’t just clean itself and let me get on with creating!)

Here’s the As You See It Sketch:

The sentiment on this design is great for anyone who is experiencing something in life that has brought them happiness – an engagement, graduation, new home, new baby. I love how the Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper is cardstock weight so you can use it for a card base. The Petal Pink and Grapefruit Grove rectangular frames were created using the Layering Squares thinlits – to cut the rectangle inside, I just cut a square twice – side by side. Easy peasy. A tag was made using the Botanical Tags thinlits and Soft Seafoam cardstock and attached with Dimensionals. Layered over that is a Grapefruit Grove scallop circle cut using a circle die from the Layering Circles framelits with a Very Vanilla circle cut using a circle die from the Stitched Shapes Framelits. A few leaves from the Botanical Tags Thinlits were cut from Tranquil Tide cardstock and adhered to the card front.The sentiment is stamped one letter at a time using the Make a Difference stamp set. I drew some lines very lightly in pencil to help me stamp my words straight, then erased them when I was done. It turned out quite well for my first try!