As You See It Challenge is back!

If you used to play along with us at As You See It, you will have noticed that we've been absent for some time now. It's a long story but it's covered by saying we experienced extreme technical difficulties and after a lot of attempts to save the site, we've started afresh. Should anything go wrong this time round, it would pay to check in at our Facebook page for any updates or information. Like us here on Facebook anyway to keep up with the latest in challenges and winners!

So, it's with great pleasure we kick off the renewed As You See It Challenge with a fabulous sketch for you to play with.

I'm so enjoying the new Dragonfly Dreams and Detailed Dragonfly thinlits from Stampin' Up and so here they are again! The stitched square framelit made a lovely edging for the acrylic block stamped panel. The stitching is taking the place of the ornate mount in the sketch.

It's hard to see here but the dragonfly has a glimmer, courtesy of some clear Wink of Stella.

Remember, you have TWO WEEKS to join us in showing us how you see this sketch and we'd love to see what you do.

Ingredients

Card: Island Indigo, Garden Green, Whisper White

Stamps: Dragonfly Dreams, Awesomely Artistic, an acrylic block

Inks: Island Indigo, Garden Green

Other: Detailed Dragonfly thinlits, Hexagon embossing folder (retired but there's the new Hexagon Dynamic Textured embossing folder in the new Occasions catalogue that's even better!), rhinestones, clear Wink of Stella, dimensional.

CAS Colours and Sketches 205

Today's card is inspired by the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches and is something of an experiment. A while ago, I watched a video from Jennifer McGuire about using stencils in different ways. I don't use stencils that much in cards but I did see something I wanted to try out and today, I finally did.

I sponged the stencil starting with Island Indigo and moving through to Bermuda Bay. Then, I moved the stencil over and down a bit and used a fine point black pen to do an outline of the stencil shape. I like that it makes the dots look 3-D from a distance.

The 'wishes' I cut three times and the bottom layer is Island Indigo, which I offset by the merest smidgeon (or about 1mm for the more mathematically inclined crafter) so that it gives a subtle shadow and mirrors the offset in the stencilling.

The dottiness reminds me of both party balloons and falling confetti so quite suitable for a birthday card and it's not too girly to give to a man.

Update: Delighted to a Winner at CAS Colours and Sketches with this card.

Ingredients

Card: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Basic Black

Stamps: W&W Big, Bold and Party

Inks: Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay, Versamark

Other: TCW Half Tone Circles stencil, White embossing powder, W&W Big, Bold and Party dies, sponges, black fine-tip marker, rhinestone.

The Paper Players 326

The Paper Players kicks off this year with a green challenge - not the colour but to use a recycled element.

Librarians are never short on discarded library books. I have two or three that I've rescued from the discard pile because I thought they'd be useful for scrapbooking or cards. Sometimes treasure can be found in them, as it was today. In an old book on the history of fashion, I found a sketch drawing in black and white that has formed a perfect backdrop for the new Beautiful You stamp. It will be a truly unique card - unless I manage to one day discover another copy of this out of print book!

The dress and hat are paper-pieced from the Wildflower Fields DSP from last year's Sale-a-bration - so a kind of recycling. 😀

UPDATE: Delighted to be chosen as As Cut Above at The Paper Players.

Ingredients

Card: Hello Honey, Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Grey, recycle discarded library book.

Stamps: Beautiful You

Inks: Tuxedo Black, Hello Honey, Basic Gray watercolour pencil

Other: Blender pen, Black candy dot

Freshly Made Sketches 269

I wasn't really planning on making another card today but I was in my room tidying up and the next thing I knew, I was playing around with Big on Birthdays. It almost turned itself into a card for the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

The sentiment and floral bouquet are on the same stamp, which is embossed with black powder. I've used watercolour pencils and blender pen to colour in the flowers. I've used Old Olive, Melon Mambo and some Rich Razzleberry and added in a few pearls. Then it was some washi tape and baker's twine and it was all done.

Just as well I didn't get too carried away with the colouring because after I finished, I found the piece of shimmery white cardstock that I'd cut to use still on the desk! Seems you can get away with plain white cardstock for small colouring jobs after all.

Ingredients

Card: Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Stamps: Big on Birthdays

Ink: Versamark, Watercolour pencils

Other: Pop of Pink washi tape, Melon Mambo thick solid baker's twine, Black embossing powder, pearls, blender pen.

Case This Sketch 203

My need for a baby card was getting desperate: there was a real chance that the baby for whom gift had already been purchased would have outgrown the gift before even receiving it! Salvation came in the form of a fabulous sketch at Case This Sketch.

The colours were dictated by the gift itself: a navy and yellow striped tee-shirt and a couple of baby bibs in yellow, white and navy with stylised blooms and cute bees.

The yellow flowers were stamped, then masked before the splatter was applied. The centres are another small stamp from Touches of Texture.

It's not so obvious in this photo, but the bee has a coating of Wink of Stella to give him some shine. The die is from Detailed Dragonflies: the bee in this set is easy to overlook although neither the stamp nor the die deserve to be forgotten.

I just hope this baby hasn't grown too fast!

Ingredients

Card: Night of Navy (card base and bee), Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Navy DSP (now retired)

Stamps: Touches of Texture, Sunshine Sayings

Inks: Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight

Other: Detailed Dragonfly thinlits, Daffodil Delight enamel shapes, dimensional, SSS Stitched Hills and Slopes, clear Wink of Stella

Fab Friday 103

As soon as I saw the sketch at Fab Friday, I knew I had to play it. So many ideas came to mind but I went with the one that let me play with a recently neglected set, Seaside Shore.

I seldom make shaker cards. In fact, this is only the second one I've ever made. It seemed the right approach with this set and this sketch. So, here it is...

I took a tip from Jennifer McGuire and glued a few sequins in place inside the shaker, just in case everything fell to the bottom. The Calypso Coral button was leftover from a previous year's Sale-a-bration deal.

On the inside...

In the end, a card that would suit male or female. I like that it retains a clean look, despite the use of patterned paper and a lot of layers.

Ingredients

Card: Dapper Denim, Very Vanilla, DSP from By the Shore, Window sheet

Stamps: Seaside Shore, Big on Birthdays

Inks: Dapper Denim, Soft Sky, Mint Macaron, Calypso Coral

Other: Seaside Textured embossing folder, foam strips, Square framelits, Calypso Coral button, Linen twine, sequins from the sewing cupboard.

Global Design Project 68

This week, the challenge at Global Design Project is to case a card by designer, Jess Williams.

I'm using the layout of her card as a basis for mine: an off-centre panel that is the full height of the card base, a ribbon that goes under the panel, a large bow, the interest in the top right corner with some elements raised and no sentiment. The lovely Beautiful You set was the last out of my Occasions pre-order box so it's actually available from today! It's also been a while since I've had out the new In Colours from the current catalogue.

The large cluster of raised elements in Jess's card has been reduced to a water-coloured image with a single raised up paper-pieced umbrella. The gold dots on the original kraft panel have transformed into embossed dots of rain with the Softly Falling embossing folder.

And inside...

I've enjoyed playing with the new (stamp set) and the 'old' (the In Colours). Thanks for a great challenge inspiration GDP.

Update: So very delighted to be a winner at Global Design Project!

Ingredients

Card: Dapper Denim, Sweet Sugarplum, Whisper White, Watercolour paper, scrap of By The Shore DSP.

Stamps: Beautiful You

Inks: Dapper Denim, Sweet Sugarplum, Smoky Slate and matching Stamp'n'Write markers

Other: Softly Falling embossing folder, dimensionals, Sweet Sugarplum ruched ribbon, linen twine, rhinestone, aquapainter.