May 4, 2018

Casual Grey

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, simple and cute 2018, Ribbon of Hope, speed, Stamparatus 0 Comments

Grey isn’t just for old ladies and sweat pants anymore.

Grey has become one of my favourite colours to wear because it’s not as harsh as black (I look terrible in black!!) and it goes with almost anything. It has also become a very common colour for home decor – there are a lot of grey walls out there!

Grey can be elegant and classy, but I don’t think I have seen many fancy evening dresses in grey. I think of grey as a cozy, casual colour. It is a colour of river rocks, misty skies, and foggy roadways. Casual grey is a comfort colour for me – in the same way that mac and cheese for some people is a comfort food.

Today’s card is all about grey – shades of grey!

(good grief, NOT the movie!! *shudder* LOL!).We haven’t had a speed challenge for a while. I LOVE the speed challenges because they really push me to work fast and keep it simple. I don’t always love how my cards turn out, but I ALWAYS find inspiration. It’s as though the pressure to complete a card is just the right catalyst to get my creativity to flow.

I did this card in 8:28 minutes! It was a good thing, too, because when I started making it, I had 10 minutes before I had to leave my house to pick up my daughter at school. This is another reason that I love speed challenges – I can get ‘er done!!!Friends, I have a terrible time photographing my white cards lately. The white never looks right AND it just looks worse the more I fiddle with it in my photo editing program. I think I need to consider trying some different light bulbs for my light box.

I started with the heart stamp from the Ribbon of Courage Stamp set and used my Stamparatus to stamp it multiple times in a row on my Whisper White cardstock with Smoky Slate Ink.

(I am so excited for you all to be able to purchase this awesome tool in June! It is “da bomb!”)

The sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped on Whisper White cardstock using Tuxedo Black Momento ink. I die cut it using one of the circles from the Stitched Shapes Framelits. That is layered over top of a Sahara Sand (we would categorize this as “greige”, I believe) scallop circle from the Layering Circle Framelits Dies.Behind the circle are the leaves made from Basic Black cardstock punched with the Leaf Punch and adhered to the back of the circle. I attached a triple loop of the Basic Black Metallic Thread to the back of the circle/leaf combo using Stampin’ Dimensionals, then attached the entire ensemble to the card front.

Behind the “hearty” Whisper White layer of of the card, you can see a thin matte of Sahara Sand cardstock over a Basic Grey card base.All of this classy, cozy, casual grey goodness in less than 10 minutes!! 8 minutes and 28 seconds, people!! I take hours to do some cards – literally HOURS!! It is quite an accomplishment to design a card in such a short time for me.

And I actually LIKE this one!

So, now it’s your turn. I challenge YOU! You can think it through, gather your supplies (no precutting allowed!) and set your timer for 10 minutes. Show us over at the As You See It Challenge blog what you come up with and get your creative mojo flowin’ in the process!!

July 10, 2015

Speedy Colour Blocking

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2015, As You See It, card, challenge, Colour Blocking, Greetings Thinlits, speed, Stampin' Up, technique, thinlits 0 Comments

I love speed stamping! It gets the heart pumping and pushes my creativity! Today’s challenge is all about shades of pink! Can you make a card in under 10 minutes? It’s tough, but I’m proud to say that I did it just under the wire at 9 minutes and 59 seconds! Phew!

I decided to do colour blocking with my pink cardstock. Here’s what I came up with:

I probably would have done it in less time had I not had a minor issue with my big shot and then stuck my colourful layer down crooked! I’m pleased with the overall look of the card, but thought it needed one more thing. Can you see the difference?

The Blossom Accent in Watermelon Wonder adds a lot to the design, I think.

The card base is the Thick Whisper White cardstock (love this!). To a piece of Whisper White cardstock, I added strips of coloured cardstock (shades of pink) including Melon Mambo, Watermelon Wonder, Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, and Real Red (yes, red is a shade of pink … a very dark shade of pink). Then I trimmed it down to the size that I wanted it and ran it through the Big Shot with the ‘thanks’ from the Greetings Thinlits. The two bottom corners were rounded with the Project Life corner rounder punch and the Black Baker’s Twine was wrapped around this piece of cardstock for added interest and texture. That entire layer was then adhered to the card base with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals.

And the beautiful Blossom Accent was added after my 10 minute mark was done.

That’s it. Easy Peasy.

You should try this challenge. Seriously! This is such a good exercise to help you get your creative mojo going. Even if you absolutely HATE your card when you’re done, it can spur on some new creative flow and teach you to be more efficient in the future.

Give it a try and show it off on the As You See It Challenge blog so we can see what you’ve created!

Amy

March 6, 2015

Butterfly Bliss

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques Adventure Bound, As You See It, butterflies, card, challenge, photopolymer, speed, Stampin' Up, thinlits 3 Comments

Oh, speed challenges, how I love thee. Let me count the ways: I love you because you are quick; I love you that you push me; I love you that you’re quick; I love that I have time for you; I love that you are simple; I love that you are quick!!

My card today was designed for the As You See It Challenge Blog. The challenge is to create a card from start to finish in 10 minutes or less!! Can you do it? I’m usually just under the wire and find it very challenging. My design style is very … involved. Making a quick card is NOT my usual style at all! But I love that these challenges stretch me and force me to do something simpler. Sometimes I’m very unhappy with my final results, but today, I quite like how it turned out.

Here’s the speed challenge theme:

I decided to try working with a cute technique I saw using the Butterflies Thinlits. The card I saw was simple white cardstock, that had the butterfly cut out of it, then put back in place so that a colourful patterned paper showed through the detailing of the wings. I thought I would turn it inside out just a little bit and have the patterned paper on the topmost layer, with the solid colour showing through. Of course, if I HAVE to use purple (not my favourite for cards), I choose to use the gorgeous, rich, Blackberry Bliss!

9:47

Blackberry Bliss is very striking along side the soft neutral tone of Sahara Sand, so I chose one of the patterned papers from the Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack that has a nice tone-on-tone plaid pattern. This I stamped with the leaf image in Sahara Sand, then thoroughly rubbed my Embossing Buddy over the paper before stamping the sentiment in Versamark ink and heating the applied Black Embossing Powder with my Heat Tool.

Once all the stamping was taken care of, I grabbed my butterfly die and headed on over to my Big Shot to cut it out from the stamped patterned paper. The Blackberry Bliss Satin Ribbon is wrapped around this paper and tied in a bow, then applied to the Blackberry Bliss cardstock layer with many Stampin’ Dimensionals (thin paper that has been heated for embossing, tends to get a bit curvy and needs support). Next, half of a Stampin’ Dimensional was used to attach the cut out butterfly back into its place in the patterned paper. And, finally, all that is attached to the Sahara Sand card base.

Love it, love it, love it. Simple, pretty, elegant, and QUICK!! I could easily whip up a bunch of these in different colour combinations and package them up to give away as a gift. Hmm. Maybe I’ll do just that!

I hope you’ll give the speed challenge a try and share your finished result on the As You See It Challenge Blog. I’d love to see what you do with purple!

Amy