September 17, 2021

On the Brighter Side: A quick & fun get-well card

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, simple and cute 2021, animals, Bunches of Fun, get well, quick and cute, Sale-a-bration 2021, Speed challenge 0 Comments

I have a few personal rules that I follow when I have to make a card in a hurry:

No colouring
Do not emboss
Avoid die-cutting
Bows are out
Fussy-cutting? No way!

If I choose to break ONE of those personal rules, I can usually create a great card in less than 10 minutes, no problem.

Today’s card was created for the As You See It Speed Challenge and my rules got thrown out the window!

10 minutes or less!

I was frantically searching for my Glue Dots to attach my bow when I looked at my stopwatch. At 9 minutes and 48 seconds, I had to call it quits in order to meet the requirements of this challenge! Ack!!

My bow-less card is still pretty cute, though. I used the Bunches of Fun stamp set to achieve the playful comedic approach required for this challenge. This dog looks so embarrassed, don’t you think! He has exactly the same expression that my dog had when he had to wear the cone. LOL!

Step it up!

Even though this card turned out pretty cute, it just didn’t feel done. I decided to do another one, without the time limit, so that I could step-it up.

I didn’t change much, but you can see how switching the card base from Basic White to Crumb Cake makes a big difference. Also, I DID add that bow along with a few of the clear Elegant Faceted Gems. That’s all it needed for me to be satisfied that it was complete.

I gave this self-conscious canine his brown fur with a combination of my Stampin’ Blends Markers. Dark and Light Soft Suede Stampin’ Blends Markers were used, then coloured over with the Light Crumb Cake. His black spots are accented with Dark Smoky Slate and Light Basic Black. For the cone, I used the Light Soft Seafoam. Finally, to give this pitiful pooch a bit more dimension on the Basic White background, I carefully outlined the image with the Light Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blends Marker.

After colouring, Rover was given his circular frame with the Cut & Emboss Machine and one of the Layering Circles Dies. I attached him to patterned paper layers with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

There are a couple different pieces of patterned paper used on this design. First, the pink stripes paper is from the Pattern Party host exclusive paper pack. Second, the black polka-dot paper is from the Beautifully Penned paper pack, only available as a FREE item this month during Sale-a-bration.

Of course, you can see that I used White Embossing on the Basic Black cardstock for the sentiment.

Side by side comparison

**Card on the left**: 9 minutes 48 seconds **Card on the right**: Same design, but took my time and made some changes.

Are you up for the challenge?

As a designer for the As You See It Challenge blog, I have the privilege of creating samples to give some inspiration to our players. If you feel inspired to try this speed challenge, be sure to share your finished card with us over at the blog. Remember to use a stopwatch so you can tell us your time!

In Canada? You can order from me anytime at my online store and register for any of my virtual classes.

June 25, 2021

Fast Masking with Foliage

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, simple and cute, Techniques 2021, Biggest wish, Forever fern, Speed challenge 0 Comments

Haha! What kind of title is THAT!! “Fast masking with foliage”! Ah well. I’m just going to run with it.

And run I did! Figuratively speaking, of course, because the card that I have to share with you today is for the As You See It Speed Challenge.

What is a Speed Challenge?

A speed challenge is when you make a plan for the card you want to make, gather all your supplies (no pre-cutting allowed!), set your stopwatch, and make a card in 10 minutes or less!

It used to be really difficult for me to do this challenge. If you’ve seen other cards I’ve made, you may have noticed that my designs tend to be … involved. However, I’ve had lots of practice and now feel quite confident. More often than not, I am very happy with my finished design!

Making the Card

For this card, I used the Biggest Wish stamp set. The sentiment is stamped in Bermuda Bay Ink and Tuxedo Black Momento Ink on the Basic White die-cut Stitched Rectangle.

To stamp the images from the Forever Fern stamp set so that they didn’t end up with a mess of stems on top of my sentiment, I used a sticky note (aka a Post-It Note). I place the sticky note and stamped the fern images. Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, and Mango Melody are colours that make me so happy! The dots from the same stamp set were added using Tuxedo Momento Black Ink.

After stamping the ferns, I removed the sticky note. I wrapped the twine from the Playful Pets Trim Combo Pack around the stitched rectangle and tied it in a bow.

This layer was then applied with Stampin’ Up! Dimensionals over the Thick Basic White card stock and the layer of Polished Pink Shimmer Vellum from the 2021-2023 In Color Vellum pack.

Step It Up

I made another version of this design with a few extra elements to step it up a bit!

For this one, I added more foliage above the sentiment and applied some Mango Melody ink along the masked edge before removing the sticky notes. I also created an embossed line above the sentiment with my Simply Scored Tool.

And do you see the little Bee Embellishment! So cute!

I’m not sure which version I like better! Which one do you prefer?

Try out the speed challenge and share it with us at the As You See It Challenge Blog. We love to see your beautiful creations!

If you’re in Canada and are interested in purchasing the products I used for this card or if you want to see what else Stampin’ Up! has to offer, click on the SHOP circle on my blog anytime, or click HERE.

April 2, 2021

Bloomin’ Fast

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, simple and cute 2021, free as a bird, quick and cute, speed, Speed challenge 2 Comments

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!