March 27, 2020

Heirlooms and Blooms

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge 2020, card, challenge, leaf punch, pressed petals, Sale-a-bration, small bloom punch, sprig punch, Stampin' Up, woven heirlooms 0 Comments

During this Covid-19 crisis and the challenge of social distancing (aka physical distancing), we need our creativity more than ever! I am a better person because of it. I am a calmer person doing it. I can bring smiles to others through it.

Schedule some creative time for yourself, put on some music if you want, and use the time to get busy with your hands and de-stress. Creating is therapeutic for the mind and the soul.

If you need something to get you started, try today’s As You See It Challenge. You can create a card, a scrapbook page, a 3D item, a decor item or anything else you can imagine. The challenge is to use all of the elements listed.

I was inspired to use the Flowering Foils Designer Series Paper that’s available for FREE from Stampin’ Up! with any $60 order. Actually, my card design also uses two other Sale-a-bration items: the Small Bloom Punch (free with a $120 order) and the coordinating Thoughtful Blooms photopolymer stamp set (also available in french).

I stamped three flower images each on Blushing Bride, Rococo Rose, and Merry Merlot cardstock in their coordinating colours of ink. The center of each flower was stamped with one shade darker of those same colours (center of the Merry Merlot flower was stamped in Tuxedo Black Momento Ink). I used the Small Bloom Punch to punch out each flower and adhere them over the Flowering Foils Designer Series Paper and Pressed Petals Specialty Designer Series paper. A couple of the flowers are raised up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

You can see the shiny copper foiling on the patterned paper in the above photo. It’s so pretty!

The Leaf Punch and the Sprig Punch from Stampin’ Up! create the Mossy Meadow and Basic Black leaf elements on the card. I didn’t use the entire Sprig Punch shape, but actually separated the two parts of the sprig to attach them to the card.

The strip of Gray Granite cardstock was stamped with the large textured image from the Woven Heirlooms Stamp set. I used Gray Granite ink, but stamped off first for a softer colour. I think it ended up looking a bit like woodgrain, which suits me quite nicely! I rubbed my Embossing Buddy over this stamped strip of cardstock to make sure my next steps would give me a nice clean look.

I stamped the sentiment from the Woven Heirlooms Stamp Set (also available in french) with Versamark Ink, covered it with White Embossing Powder, and tapped off the excess. This is when I realised that I overestimated the power of the Embossing Buddy and underestimated the drying time of my ink, because my embossing powder decided to stick where it didn’t belong. I was in a “that’s good enough” mood, though, so I simply brushed off some to the excess with a dry paint brush and heated the rest with my Heat Tool. I attached the completed strip of Gray Granite to my card with Stampin’ Dimensionals and tied a Linen Thread bow around the leaf stems.

I used to be satisfied with just a Whisper White or Very Vanilla insert as a writing surface in my cards, but lately I’ve been more into some simple additions to the inside of my cards. I chose to use some more Rococo Rose flowers and some leaves for the inside of the card. I also added a matte of Soft Suede cardstock behind the Whisper White writing surface. That same matte of Soft Suede cardstock is also on the front of the card, framing the patterned paper, and adhered to the Grey Granite card base.

As always, if you like any of the Stampin’ Up! products used on my blog, you can purchase them from me on my ONLINE STORE. During Sale-a-bration is a great time to stock up on supplies because you can choose a free item with every $60 or $120 of purchased product. Sale-a-bration ends March 31st, so act fast to avoid disappointment. Some of the items have already sold out!

Stampin’ Up! just added a third release of Sale-a-bration products for you to choose from. You can see all the Sale-a-bration items by clicking HERE.

Thanks for taking some time out of your busy day.

Wash your hands and stay healthy!

August 30, 2019

Rooted Heirloom

Amy Jasper As You See It Challenge, Techniques 2019, chalk marker, colour challenge, rooted in nature, sponge brayers, technique, woven heirlooms 3 Comments

My card today features the Rooted in Nature stamp set and the Woven Heirlooms stamp set by Stampin’ Up! Check out the gorgeous texture created by sponging and stamping!

Here’s the inspirational colour challenge from the As You See It Challenge Blog.

I love this image of warm light and the out of focus background of contrasting colour that creates a bokeh effect. It makes me want to know what else is in the room and who is enjoying that atmosphere. Is it an outdoor wedding? or is it on the front porch of a rustic cabin that overlooks the lake? or maybe it’s in a Greek taverna, and we are looking out at the lamp-lit, stone-paved streets through the large open doorways. I can hear the bouzouki music, the subtle clinking of dishes, and the murmur of intimate table conversations. Wherever it is. I think I’d like to be there. How about you?

My first instinct with this colour scheme was to play with sponging and blending. This had me pulling out my Sponge Brayers from Stampin’ Up!. Here’s my take on this colour challenge.

I tried to find a sentiment to add once all of my sponging and rolling and stamping was done, but nothing seemed to fit without taking away the balance of the overall card design. This one will have to say it all on the inside with my personal note instead.

My first step was to take a piece of Whisper White cardstock and roll Mango Melody ink across the bottom half with my Sponge Brayer. Then I placed a circle piece of Post-It Note that I had punched out using the 2-1/4″ Circle Punch from Stampin’ Up! where I wanted the sun to be. Then more rolling. I added more Mango Melody, then switched to a clean brayer sponge and rolled on some Coastal Cabana, then some Pretty Peacock ink. I removed the Post-It Note and added a bit more Coastal Cabana and Mango Melody until my sun didn’t feel so harsh.

Next, I stamped the tree image from the Rooted in Nature stamp set from Stampin’ Up! using Coastal Cabana ink (it’s in there, I promise). To stamp the image, I used my Stamparatus because I wanted to reposition the paper after stamping and stamp it again with Pretty Peacock ink so that the top of the tree would have a sort of highlight as though the sun was brightening the other side of the tree. It worked, but I added something else at the end. Keep reading!

Once my tree image was in place, I was mostly happy with my artwork, but it was missing something. It was so smooth and … a bit too perfect. I decided to add some texture using the largest stamp image in the Woven Heirlooms stamp set. This I added over the entire paper, being sure to use Mango Melody over the Mango Melody, Coastal Cabana over the Coastal Cabana, and the … well, you get the idea. I stamped like this multiple times until the texture you see came to existence. You can see that I also used this technique on the Pretty Peacock layer of cardstock in the bactkground. Such great texture and suddenly the image was interesting and alive. It makes me think there’s quiet air movement and a lot of heat where that tree lives!

The tree begged for more light, so I used my White Stampin’ Chalk Marker to add highlights between the Coastal Cabana tree and the Pretty Peacock tree images.

Once my art piece was complete, I knew that I wanted to add some embellishments. That’s where the Pretty Peacock Scalloped Linen Ribbon and the Whisper White Solid Baker’s Twine come in. First, I added a very narrow Whisper White matte layer to delicately frame my art, then I wrapped the linen ribbon around the card front, securing it on the back with Mini Glue Dots. The baker’s twine was wrapped around three times before finishing it with a bow.

Stampin’ Dimensionals hold those layers in place on the stamped Pretty Peacock layer. The card base is Coastal Cabana cardstock.

What would you do with these colours? What does the image inspire in your creative mind? Why not create something and share it with us at the As You See It Challenge Blog.

As always, if you are in Canada, you can order any of these products from me at my online store by clicking on the shop button on this page or the menu at the top of the page.