February 6, 2015

Just Mail it Already!!

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Events, Techniques As You See It, blendabilities, challenge, embossing, leadership2015, masking, photopolymer, Stampin' Up, technique 0 Comments

Oh, how I missed you last week. How’ve you been? I was away at the Leadership Conference for Stampin’ Up! down in Orlando, Florida. The time change was harder for me than ever! But I learned so much and have a lot to work on to improve my business and my home life! I was especially touched and inspired by what our keynote speaker had to say about the power and significance of handwritten notes and letters in this world of emails, texts and Social Media updates. His words and the stories that he shared of people reading messages from loved ones who have passed on, sparked a flame in me to change my ways – just a little bit.

I love making cards. Really love it. And I love showing others how to make cards. But do you think I can get myself to send a card? To remember to send one before the birthday or event for which that card is intended? No. I am TERRIBLE at that! I have an ever-growing collection of hand-made cards that have been mailed to NO ONE!!

So, this week, I decided to share the inspiration with my Monthly Stampers group. I gave them each an envelope with a postage stamp and encouraged them to use one of the cards that we finished in our class that day to mail to a loved one. To write the address on the envelope right then and there. To write in the card, and mail it on their way home. I did this for them, yes, but I did this for me. My card will go to my Granny, whom I seldom see, and it seems as though she is a world away. I have written in my card. I have addressed the envelope. It has been mailed. My hope is that lives will be touched by our hand-written notes of love and gratitude. The notes and cards that share a bit of us. Our hand-writing is only ours. These notes are not about the words on the page so much as they are about the hand that wrote them. Hand-written notes have a personal touch, and therefore, a personal and relational connection, that typed messages will never carry.

Oh ya, and here’s the As You See It Challenge Sketch for my design this week:

And the card that I made:

This card kinda makes me smile. I can’t say that it’s my favourite, but the colours are happy and fun. It’s playful.

I started with the Coastal Cabana card base and added the piece of Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper (only available for FREE through the Sale-a-bration promotion). I adhered that piece with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals simply because I have the added bulk of the Baker’s Twine around it, making it lumpy if I were to adhere it flat to the card base. I have a White Paper Doily behind the Basic Black piece of cardstock. That piece is where the real fun began!!

I used one of my free stamps from Leadership, out of the Balloon Bash stamp set, and inked it up with the clear Versamark ink, stamping it on the Basic Black cardstock and heat setting some White embossing powder on it. I stamped it multiple times over the cardstock, being careful to mask off the words under the candles on this particular image. Then I used my Blendability markers (I received 4 new colours from Prize Patrol at Leadership!) over the embossed candles. It makes them so fun and colourful! I love this technique!!

The Basic Black embossed piece was attached to the card with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals. That same stamp, from which I masked off the words, I now masked off the image and used the words with Tuxedo Black Momento ink on the Pink Pirouette banner. The HB image was inked with Melon Mambo ink, stamped on Whisper White cardstock, and hand-cut to apply (yes, with Dimensionals again!) to the 1-3/4″ circle punch of Basic Black cardstock.

The hashtag sentiment was stamped with Tuxedo Black Momento ink by masking off the HB part of that particular image, so I could just capture the word on that piece of the card. This resulted in a Melon Mambo smudge of ink just under the hashtag symbol, but, guess what, you can barely see it!! Why can’t you see it, you ask? I used my White Gel pen to colour over the pink smudge! Phew! Saved!

I hope you’ll try this technique with your Blendability markers. It only works with the alcohol markers as the water-based markers will wipe right off of the glossy finish. Keep in mind that if you spend too long colouring over the heat embossed areas, the alcohol in the markers will start to break down the embossed material, so keep your colouring brief!

Now, go, make a card for this sketch challenge, load it up to the As You See It Challenge blog so we can all ooh and ahh. Then … just mail it already!!! Bless someone with a hand-made, hand-written, personally to them, card. You’ll make their day better 🙂

Amy

January 16, 2015

Think Happy Thoughts

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge As You See It, challenge, journal, photopolymer, Stampin' Up, Sweetheart 2 Comments

Oh Happy Day!

The New Year brings us opportunity to develop new healthy habits and start fresh. My project today is part of that desire to be better. I started with a 3.5″x5.5″ grid journal and the So You stamp set from Stampin’ Up! and, of course, the next As You See It challenge – #070!

Sometimes these assortment challenges can be, well, a challenge! I needed to make something relatively quickly for this week’s project as I left it to the last minute again!

(speaking of habits to change, this is one for me to work on!)

I decided to do something other than a card, so I scrambled through my disaster of a craft room until I found the Grid Journal that I bought a while back.

This journal is 3.5″x5.5″ and is a neutral craft colour. The three colours that decorate it are Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, and Coastal Cabana. I used the happy sentiment from the So You photopolymer stamp set and stamped it in Blackberry Bliss and Coastal Cabana. The Melon Mambo chevron patterned paper is from the Brights Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack. I sponged it lightly with Melon Mambo ink to cut down on the harshness of the white in the pattern. The strip of blue stripes below that is Washi Tape from the Beach House Washi Tape pack.

The Blackberry Bliss heart was punched out with the Sweetheart Punch and applied to the cover with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals for the ‘popped up’ requirement in this assortment challenge. And the Basic Rhinestones add a little flair to this cute journal.

Lastly, I sponged all around the edges of the journal, front and back, with Soft Suede ink to create that smoky edge.

This journal will fit neatly in my purse and is just right for all my happy thoughts:

hearing joyful fits of giggles as my son tickles his little sister
finishing a card for a good friend
seeing a moose 20 feet away while skiing in the dark with my 6 year old
listening to my husband working on a New Orleans accent for a role in a play
taking a dance break while shoveling the driveway with my husband
smiling faces at work

… this is fun!

I could go on, but I’ll save it for my journal.

What will you do for your Assortment sketch? Hope you share it on the As You See It challenge blog!

Amy.

June 13, 2014

Excuse me, I mustache you a question …

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Home Décor AYSI#41, challenge, embossing, mustache, photopolymer, thinlits 7 Comments

Welcome to my blog where I share my love of designing using Stampin’ Up paper, tools, inks and stamps! I wanted to share what I recently did with my new Mustache Framelit and Little Letters Thinlits! All this for the As You See It Challenge blog for which I am one of the designers.

It is time for another challenge from the As You See It Challenge Blog!

I really like challenges like this one because it’s left WIDE OPEN!! Because of the recent new catalogue, I actually have a lot of new craft supplies, but in my last box received from UPS were a few things that I was particularly excited about trying: My new Little Letters Thinlits dies and my Larger Than Life Alphabet & Numbers Photopolymer set. I really love all alphabets because they provide so many possibilities! These are also quite cost effective alphabets in comparison to getting them in alternate forms. The thinlits are much much less costly than they would be if they were offered as a Bigz Die set (though Bigz dies do offer the cutting of many more materials, while thinlits are limited primarily to paper products). The photopolymer alphabet sets (as in the case of the Larger Than Life set) is less costly than the red rubber stamps in either the clear mount or wood mount options.

I love how the Little Letters thinlits can also be lined up on a piece of paper to cut one word – ALL AT ONCE!! This framed art showed how the thinlits can be used to add the letter A in black cardstock, but it also shows how they can be used to take away the shape of the letters from the grid patterned paper (from the new Typeset Specialty Designer Series paper) to reveal the Gold Foil Paper underneath.

I lost the center of my letter “Q” for a bit there, but had a little party when I found it on the window ledge where I’d “put it away where I would find it”! The entire time that I was creating this framed project, I kept saying “I mustache you a question” at random moments to my friend, Gwen who was stamping with me at the time. I even made up a song (oh if only I could write music, it would open up so many fun possibilities!):

“I mustache you a question,

It won’t take very long.

I mustache you a question,

I mustache it in song”

I should have paid more attention in piano lessons, lol!

The adorable Mustache Framelit was one item from the new Catalogue that I just couldn’t pass up. I used Basic Black cardstock and, after cutting it out with the mustache framelit, I used my Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder to add texture and make it even more fun. The mustache is, of course raised up with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals.

Those beautiful gold embossed letters are from the Larger Than Life Alphabet and Numbers set. I love the boldness of these letters!

Now the entire is framed with a thin mat of Gold Foil paper that also shows through the cutout of the letters spelling “question”. Then I have it matted with Basic Black cardstock and finally matted again with the 8×10 piece of Naturals Ivory cardstock so that it would fit in the black frame.

I love it and it makes me smile! I hope it does the same for you!

What is your most recent craft supply item? This is an easy one for you to submit to the challenge blog! Who doesn’t want to create something with their new supplies?!! All you have to do is put it on Pinterest or your blog and link it up to the challenge!

Don’t forget to leave a comment and have your name entered into the draw. Only a few days left before the draw date on Sunday, June 15th!

Thanks for stopping by!

Amy