In case you missed it on my Monday Facebook Live, you can watch the replay of my unboxing video of the fun and cheerful April Paper Pumpkin kit from Stampin’ Up!. This kit coordinates with the Ice Cream Corner Suite from Stampin’ Up! and is embarrassingly easy to stamp and assemble!
I can’t wait to share some alternatives for this one next week! You can join me live at 10:30 (ish) every Monday on Facebook where I share stamping projects and Paper Pumpkin each week. If you’re not on Facebook, you can watch the replay here every Tuesday.
Click here to get your monthly Paper Pumpkin box with me here in Canada.
I love the contrast of Magenta Madness and the black cardstock.
Supplies include: Stitched So Sweetly Dies, Forever Ferns stamp set, Many Messages stamp set and Messages Die. Pool Party cardstock and Basic Black cardstock. Shaded Spruce ink, Versamark ink, White Embossing Powder, and the Heat Tool. Magenta Madness In Color 1/4″ Ribbon and Linen Thread. Glue Dots and Stampin’ Dimensionals.
Some of the current annual catalogue products are retiring, so be sure to check out the last chance products list by going to my online store.
One of my favourite challenges that we do at the As You See It Challenge blog is the speed challenge! If you haven’t tried the speed challenge yet, I strongly encourage you to give it a whirl!
Here’s why:
Forces you to think fast, exercising your creative muscles – My usual design style is to overthink it. I trial and error different colour combinations, I’m indecisive about placement of accent elements, I end up removing an entire card front just so I can try it on a different colour, and I often just change my entire plan and do something completely different! When I do a speed challenge, it helps me to learn to trust my instincts and reject my unhealthy perfectionism.
Takes very little time out of your day – you need a few minutes to plan in your mind what you want to make, then gather your stamps, putting them on their acrylic blocks, have your ink pads and tools close, and have the paper (whole sheets, because cutting before you start the clock is a big no-no) and your paper trimmer ready. Then you have 10 minutes or less to actually make the card! Total time is maybe 15 or 20 minutes!
Is a great jumping-off point – I’m often not completely satisfied with the cards I design during a speed challenge, but one thing that always happens, whether I like my design or not, is inspiration for a design based on my speed challenge process. I’ll like an element on my super-fast card and will use that on the next card I make. The speed challenge jump starts my creative mojo!
It starts your creative engine – Do you ever feel like you’re not really “into it”? You feel blah and can’t find any inspiration on Pinterest or your favourite blogs? You scroll and scroll and scroll … and scroll. When you’re experiencing a creative slump, try a speed challenge. It will get your blood pumping again and increase the creative mojo flow into your brain. I don’t have any actual research to back me up on this, but I bet if we studied our brain before and after a speed challenge, you would find an increase in endorphins and dopamine.
You get better at it – I mentioned above that I’m often not satisfied with the final result of a speed challenge, but you know what? … I’ve improved. I used to like the resulting cards about 20% of the time, but now that I’ve had more practice and completed quite a few speed challenges over the years, I find that I’m really happy with my finished cards about 80% of the time. I think that’s pretty cool!
The challenge over at the As You See It Challenge blog today is a speed challenge to make a card in less than 10 minutes with a blossom theme. Blossoms are a perfect choice for March here in beautiful BC as the crocuses and early bulbs are starting to bloom and we are so looking forward to the blossoms on the fruit trees!
The flowers on my card are from the Free As A Bird stamp set from Stampin’ Up! I started the stopwatch on my phone and stamped the images in Tuxedo Black Momento Ink on Basic White cardstock. I used the Small Bloom Punch to punch out the larger blossom, then used my Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, and Daffodil Delight Blends Markers to colour the blossoms and leaves. The Color Lifter on the larger blossom helped to soften the Flirty Flamingo a little bit.
9 minute and 44 seconds – just under the wire! Phew!
After my “bloomin’ fast” colouring, I trimmed the Basic White cardstock down to a square and used Stampin’ Dimensionals to attach it to the Sahara Sand card base. I stamped the sentiment on the Magenta Madness cardstock and cut it down to the size I wanted, attaching it to the Basic White square with more Stampin’ Dimensionals.
I tied a piece of Linen Trim into a bow and attached it and the larger punched out blossom to the card with Mini Glue Dots.
The final result is one that I can give to someone just to say hi and let them know that I’m thinking of them.
I might play around with this idea again and see if I can tweak the card base a bit. Maybe an embossing folder to add texture or maybe stamping a couple more leaves to the card base, peeking out from under the Basic White square. I’m feeling inspired with this particular jumping-off point, but I’m also happy with how this turned out. It’s a win-win!
