July 3, 2020

Hello Adventure

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2020, paper pumpkin, theme challenge, watercolor, watercolour, woodland folder 0 Comments

The concept of a vacation is different for everyone. Some people think of vacations as travelling over-seas. Those are definitely very special and memorable vacations. My family vacations usually have camping and adventure involved. Vacations don’t have to be anything fancy, though. I recently enjoyed a mini vacation on my front porch; just me and an entire bucket of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. My family had no idea where I was and didn’t come looking for me for at least an hour. It was glorious!!

Why am I talking about vacations, you ask? Well, that is the theme for the challenge from the As You See It Challenge Blog today.

My card design represents vacationing with my family on our camping adventures. I was so excited to try die-cutting my sentiment using the new Foam Adhesive Sheets from Stampin’ Up! I love how the foam pops up this die-cut word from the Sweet Silhouette dies.

I also used the new Water Painters to paint the colour wash background with Mango Melody, Magenta Madness, Misty Moonlight, and Tuxedo Black Momento ink.

Some elements on this card are from the June 2020 Box of Sunshine Paper Pumpkin kit. Can you spot them? If you already are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, then you’ll recognize them right away. If you aren’t a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, why aren’t you!? Go and subscribe right now so you don’t miss anymore kits! I get so excited when my box arrives at my door each month. It’s a little creative boost and a mini escape.

Hmm… kind of like a mini … vacation!

(See what I did there? I very cleverly pulled Paper Pumpkin into the vacation theme. Yes, I am clever sometimes. Yes, I know I’m being a bit sassy right now, just groan and roll your eyes and move on. I love making people groan at my bad jokes. It makes me feel whole, LOL!)

Where was I?

Oh yes … Here’s another photo.

You can see the very cool Foam Adhesive under the die-cut word in this photo. Seriously, having this stuff for die-cutting makes me really happy! I just peel off the backing of one side of the sheet and apply my paper of choice to that sticky surface (in this case, I used one of the wood patterns from the In Good Taste designer series paper) and run it through my die cutting machine just like I normally would.

What are you most excited about in the 2020-2021 Annual Stampin’ Up! catalogue? I want to know what’s on your wish list!

If you don’t have a copy of the Canadian catalogue, you can view a digital copy by accessing the menu at the top of this blog.

I’d also love to see your take on this theme challenge. Give it a try and share it with us at the As You See It Challenge Blog! We are inspired by your creativity!

January 3, 2020

Do the Impossible

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2020, alter it, card, challenge, do the impossible, markers, masking, woodland folder 2 Comments

My niece is a competitive cross-country skier and has qualified to compete in the Biathlon World Youth Championships in Switzerland this month! Her entire family (my brother, his wife, and the two daughters) all compete in biathlon. I think they’re a little crazy, but I am crazy proud of all of them and their determination and discipline to compete.

The card I made for today’s blog post is for my niece for her birthday (shhh, it isn’t until February). I am so pleased with how I was able to use an image of a jogger and make it look like a skier with a little extra simple drawing skills.

I had this As You See It Challenge to get me started:

For my card, I used the “Do the Impossible” stamp set from Stampin’ Up! One of the images is of two people jogging together. I inked up only the one with the long hair and stamped on Smoky Slate cardstock with Tuxedo Black Momento ink. Then I used a Basic Gray Stampin’ Write Marker to carefully draw in the lines for ski poles and skis. The skis were a bit difficult to get the angle right, but I think it came together. This sketch-style image makes it very forgiving to add to the image like this.

I coloured her ski suit with the Poppy Parade Stampin’ Write marker, trying to make it look like her Canadian racing suit. I even wrote “Canada” on the lower leg, just like the suit has (I thought that was pretty clever, LOL!).

I gave her a headband to keep her ears warm by using that Basic Grey Stampin’ Write Marker again. I used it for her gloves, boots, and some detail on her skis as well. I coloured her hair with a So Saffron Stampin’ Write Marker, but I coloured her face and neck with the Ivory Blends Marker, adding a touch of colour with the Light Petal Pink Blends Marker.

To create the snowy background behind my skier, I stamped the image again on a sticky note and fussy cut it so I could place it over my image to use as a mask. Then I tore a piece of cardstock and lay it over the upper part of my skier and sponged Craft White ink. Then I added a bit more light sponging of the Craft White to the edges of the Smokey Slate cardstock. I stamped the snowflake image from the “Colorful Seasons” stamp set with Craft White ink. The snowflake sequins are from the October 2019 Paper Pumpkin kit!

The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory. I sponged a bit of Craft White ink on one side of a strip of Real Red cardstock before stamping the sentiment using Tuxedo Black Momento ink. Just to the left of that you can see my subtle peeking of silver paper – this is patterned paper from the Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper pack (not available to purchase again until September). Behind all of this, I have a piece of Smoky Slate cardstock that was dry embossed with the Woodland Embossing Folder from Stampin’ Up! and matted with a thin matte of Basic Grey Cardstock on a Thick Whisper White card base.

And if you have ever seen my cards before, you KNOW I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up some of these layers. Oh yes!!

This card layout could easily be simplified by taking out the extra drawing and the sponging. I think I might make another one with the two joggers from the original image in the Do the Impossible stamp set from Stampin’ Up! I’ll make sure I add a link to this post when I share it!

Now, stop looking at card ideas on the internet and go stamp something!! Why not try the challenge at the As You See It Challenge with us? Don’t forget to share it! We love to see your creations!!

October 11, 2019

Moose Birthday

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2019, birthday, challenge, fall, merry moose, subtles folder, woodland folder 2 Comments

Another challenge card for you today, inspired by the As You See It Challenge Blog.

Here’s the theme challenge:

I decided to take the tree theme and go with the autumn colours, using my beloved Merry Moose stamp set from Stampin’ Up!

I love moose! How many other creatures do you know of that are so majestic and awkward-looking at the same time!

The card base is Mossy Meadow. I deepened the colour by sponging Mossy Meadow ink around the edges of the card base. In fact, I was a happy little sponger and did that with all of the paper pieces on this card (excluding the Very Vanilla matte, which I left clean. Each piece has the edges sponged with the coordinating ink.

The Crushed Curry background layer has multiple trees from the Merry Moose stamp set, stamped with Cajun Craze ink. Some are stamped full strength and some are stamped off to create some depth to the scene. I also added a strip of Crushed Curry cardstock, which was stamped with the Buffalo Check background stamp from Stampin’ Up!. For that I used Crushed Curry ink for a tone on tone effect. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Stampin’ Up! host stamp set, New Wonders, and is stamped with Cajun Craze ink.

You can also see that I used the Woodland Embossing Folder on the Cajun Craze strip of cardstock and the Subtles Embossing Folder on the circle, which was punched from Early Espresso paper with the 2-1/4″ circle punch.

My moose was stamped with Early Espresso ink on Whisper White cardstock. I used my Blender Pen to drag some of the ink from the lines of the image and shade my moose. I also coloured around the outside of my moose after I punched him out (ooh, that sounds so violent!) with the coordinating Moose Punch. I don’t like leaving a white edge around a cut image very often and choose to coordinate it with whatever the colour is behind it. A bit of sponging was added to the edges of my moose in Soft Suede ink to add a little bit more shading.

The Mossy Meadow linen thread was tied around the Cajun Craze piece of cardstock before adhering it and the Early Espresso circle to my card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The moose is also on dimensionals.

As always, you can purchase any of the stamping supplies that I use on my blog. Just click on the SHOP button in the sidebar or in the menu at the top of the page. Not in Canada? No problem. There are Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators all over the world.

Why not give the theme challenge a try? If you do, be sure to upload it to the As You See It Challenge blog and show us your take on the theme!