December 1, 2017

Floral Retirement

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Mini Album, Techniques 2017, accordion binding, As You See It, card, challenge, colour challenge, Detailed Floral Thinlits, framelits, Stampin' Up, technique 4 Comments

It’s time for ….

AN UBER CARD!!

Every now and then my husband asks me to design a card for staff at the university who are moving on to bigger and better things – like retirement! This is when I get to design what I call a book card; that is a larger card (usually 5″x7″, like the one today) with multiple pages inside for a large group of people to sign. I like to do the accordion binding, but sometimes I do different bindings with stitching, o-rings, or flip designs. The card I have to show you today has an accordion binding with three pages.

I chose to use the As You See It Challenge colour combination as a starting point for the design as my husband didn’t have much to give me to go on. I like to customize the card to the person, if possible.

I really struggle with blue and pink colour combos, but I think it worked out with the Whisper White and Sahara Sand neutrals that I chose to add to the mix on my Uber Card.

It is a 5″x7″ card with a 1/4″ depth (basically, it has a 1/4″ spine, like a book). The card base is created with Stampin’ Up’s Thick Whisper White Cardstock. I used Pacific Point cardstock as a very thin mat layer under the layer of Whisper White Floral Thinlit die cut. Peeking out from under the die cut, you can see the sponging of the three challenge colours, Pacific Point, Pool Party, and Flirty Flamingo that I did on Stampin’ Up’s beautiful Glossy White cardstock! I love how well the colour blends on this glossy paper!

The Flirty Flamingo scalloped circle and the Whisper White circle are cut using the Layering Circle Framelit Dies. The images from the Wild About Flowers stamp set were stamped on the Whisper White circle using Sahara Sand and Flirty Flamingo ink. The circles were attached together with Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue and adhered over the 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon and the Foil Frenzy Specialty Designer Paper banner with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals. Behind the circles, you can also see the Silver Metallic Thread in swooshy loops (such a pretty addition to almost any card).

The Happy Retirement sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and was stamped on the Sahara Sand banner with Tuxedo Black Momento Ink. The ends of both paper banners were perfectly cut using the Triple Banner Punch (Thank you, Stampin’ Up!). Whisper White Baker’s Twine was just the right touch to wrap and tie on the Sahara Sand banner before attaching it to the circle with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The sweet little Silver Foil bee was die cut with the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlit Dies and also attached with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The inside of this Uber Card, is created with an accordion fold binding technique. This is done by scoring the cardstock of choice at half inch intervals, then gluing them together with your pages caught between every second fold. I keep meaning to do a tutorial video of this technique! If you bug me with comments on this, I just might get around to it more quickly (just sayin’, lol!)

For a secure binding, I left a section of the accordion folded cardstock free of scoring so it could be used as a full back page. The little bee from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set was stamped in Sahara Sand ink with the You’ll be Missed sentiment from the Wild about Flowers over it with black ink.

I really struggled with mucking up my paper with ink repeatedly! So frustrating!! The pretty little Detailed Floral die above the bee is covering up one of those smudges. I also added extra stamped bees on my inside pages to cover up annoying smudges. Even the front of the card ended up with a blasted smudge of Sahara Sand ink on the Whisper White cardstock!!! All I could do there was dab it with my White Chalk Marker, letting it dry, then repeating until the smudge was mostly hidden unless the light caught it just so. I have had to use that Chalk Marker technique a few times for small smudge repairs. It’s definitely better than redoing the entire card and most people won’t notice the tiny flaw that remains. If they do, they chalk it up (pun intended, lol!) as a unique flaw in a hand made product.

If you’re interested in a video tutorial on how to make an accordion fold binding like I used in this card, write it in the comments on this blog post.

Also, if you have any tips on hiding ink smudges (or avoiding them), please add it to the comments on this post as well. I would love to hear any wisdom that you have to share!

August 25, 2017

Coloured Embossing Paste

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2017, As You See It, birthday, card, challenge, embossing paste, Stampin' Up, technique 1 Comment

I’ve been spending some time online keeping a close eye on the forest fire that is burning just about a 15 minute drive from my home. I video-recorded the belongings in my home for insurance records. I also put aside important documents like birth certificates and passports. People (some of them are my friends) and their livestock have been evacuated.

The wind changed yesterday and our neighbourhood is filled with hazy smoke. In BC, we’ve had more than 1000 forest fires since April 2017 (that’s more than one million hectares of land!) and more than half of them are caused by human carelessness. Often it is cigarettes tossed out the window of a moving vehicle, sometimes is a spark of a hot vehicle on dry grass, sometimes it’s from a poorly attended campfire. If you travel to Canada in the summer (it’s beautiful here in the Okanagan when the air is clear of smoke), be aware of your smoking habits. It’s often the cigarettes out the window that threaten neighbourhoods. That is likely the cause of the fire that could threaten my own home today, if the wind blows unfavourably. So, please be in the habit of butting your cigarettes in your vehicle, don’t smoke in our forests or grasslands AT ALL, and don’t flick your butt, EVER! You may not have the same risks in the area where you live, but good habits could protect you and the people you love, wherever you are.

I also ask that everyone be on watch for people who are not being responsible and say something to them. Report them, if need be. It’s not worth risking our lives, our homes, our pets, our beautiful forests or the creatures who live in them. It breaks my heart to think of all of those who have been affected by fires over the last few years.

My card design today is not intentionally related to this topic, although, I read the sentiment and realize that it is! LOL! I did not plan this at all!

Here is the As You See It Challenge sketch from which my design was inspired:

Here is my fire-safety card, lol! The sentiment is from the Birthday Banners stamp set.

I used a small amount of Embossing Paste from Stampin’ Up! in three separate little containers. Then I added a tiny drop of colour to each of them: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, and Tempting Turquoise. I mixed each one until the colour was fully blended into the paste before spreading each colour over the diamond- shaped mask from the Patterned Party Decorative Masks. I love how each colour blends ever so slightly into the next.

The sentiment and banner were stamped in Stampin’ Up! Archival Black on Watercolor Paper. I was careful to make sure it was fully dry before adding a Bermuda Bay colour wash over the banner area. I also added some little white decorative dots to the words on the bottom banner using my White Chalk Marker (not sure if I like that as much).

The 3/8″ Mini Chevron Ribbon in Bermuda Bay was added behind the banner along with the Black Mini Sequin Trim and the Gold Metallic Thread. The banner and metallic thread was adhered with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals, while the ribbon and sequin was attached on a strip of Tear and Tape.

I added the Metallics Sequin using the Fine-tip Glue Pen, then assembled my layers:

Card base is Basic Black cardstock, then a delicate layer of Whisper White and a slightly wider layer of Melon Mambo cardstock. The completed top layer of Basic Black with the embossing paste and sentiment were attached to the Melon Mambo cardstock with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals.

I used the same layering to complete the inside of the card, finishing with a layer of Whisper White cardstock for writing a personal message to the recipient.

I’m writing this late this morning and a bit hurried as I have to take my kids to swimming lessons and I haven’t finished video-recording my craft room supplies or my ski equipment. I think I will take my dog to swimming lessons today, just in case (we will have to watch the kids through the windows from outside, of course).

Try this As You See It sketch for yourself and show us what you come up with by uploading it to you As You See It challenge website.

And be fire-safe!! Candles, too!!

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May 19, 2017

Watercolour Floral Anniversary

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2017, anniversary, As You See It, card, challenge, photopolymer, Stampin' Up, technique, thinlits, tutorial, watercolour 2 Comments

I admit. There are many times when I find a great card online and I shamelessly copy it. In the stamping world, of course, we call it CASEing: Copy And Share Everything! My design for you today is a CASE of a card I saw and loved; simple and elegant, with a touch of whimsy. If you want to see the inspiration, click here.

And who doesn’t love the look of some watercolouring, anyway!?

The As You See It Challenge Blog has a theme challenge this week.

My card design uses the lovely Flirty Flamingo for the card. I used the Flirty Flamingo cardstock for the base and I used the Flirty Flamingo ink for the sentiment from the Number of Years photopolymer stamp set from Stampin’ Up!

To create the watercolour background, I first used an Aqua Painter to wet the entire surface of the Watercolor Paper from Stampin’ Up! It needs to be wet enough that the water sits on the surface without pooling, but not so wet that your colour just slides to the edges of the paper.

Then I picked up Flirty Flamingo Ink with my Aqua Painter and spread out a few brushstrokes of colour here and there on the Watercolor Paper. I wiped off the Aqua Painter before picking up some Tempting Turquoise ink and added some random swashes of it to the Watercolor Paper. Again I wiped off the colour before moving on to add some Daffodil Delight to the page until the page was full. With each colour that I added, I also took the time to carefully pull a little bit of one colour into the other on the page so they would blend together a little bit rather than having a sharp line between colours. This gave me some soft green, hazy purple and quiet peach tones in my palette.While I waited for my watercolouring to dry, I used my Detailed Floral Thinlit dies, my Big Shot (you definitely want the Precision Plate with these dies!) to cut the floral detail out of the Whisper White cardstock. I stamped the sentiment from the Number of Years stamp set by Stampin’ Up on the card with Flirty Flamingo ink.

When the watercolour was completely dry, I adhered the die cut Whisper White piece of cardstock to the Watercolor Paper with some Multipurpose Liquid Glue (not too much!). The Crushed Curry Baker’s Twine was then tied around these adhered layers before attaching them to the card base using Stampin’ Dimensionals. Basic Pearls were added to a few of the flower centers as a finishing touch.I also used the same technique for the inside of the card, but only used the smallest of the two floral dies from the Detailed Floral Thinlits.

Seriously folks, if you haven’t done any watercolouring by now, you MUST. Go right now and order some Watercolor Paper and some Aqua Pens. You won’t regret having these tools in your supplies!

Be sure to also play along with the As You See It Challenge using this anniversary theme. You never fail to inspire me with your creativity. So bring it!

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