Back to Black for As You See It Challenges

As a demonstrator, I'm keenly aware at this time of year of all the Designer Series Paper I haven't used up yet. It's an issue for a demonstrator because almost all the DSP is retiring and there is no point in designing something and blogging about it, if you can't buy it anymore! I could use it for personal use, but I almost always use any cards I give to family and friends as blog entries. There is only so much time in a week! So I welcome opportunities to use up little scraps of DSP that I won't be able to resell at my Rubber Rummage Sale. Thanks to Amanda's sketch for As You See It Challenges #089, I was able to use up a lot of little scraps of Back To Black Designer Series Paper. Here's the great sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

• This card is pretty simple, except for the 3D rose which I made using a five petal template. Here is a video tutorial I did showing you how to create one. I used the now-retired Fancy Flower Punch, which is a perfect size and shape for making these flowers, but you can use any 5 petal flower shape to do it, or even make your own template by punching out 5 one inch circles and overlapping them in a circle, gluing them together, then tracing around them. You'll need a total of three full flowers to get your 5 layers. The leaves are die cut from Basic Black using the Flower Fair Framelits.
• The small squares of paper are punched from various Back To Black designs using the 1" Square punch. I used a punch since I am "square-challenged", but you could cut them on your Stampin' Trimmer without the need of the punch. I find it is just so darned handy, though. Lining them up on the card front evenly required a lightly drawn pencil line (and a good quality eraser!) and having the Whisper White layer centered on my grid paper so that I could measure an even distance between the squares. I always start with the middle square and work toward the sides, trimming off any excess afterwards.
• The sentiment is one of my favourite from And Many More Stamp set and it is such a versatile greeting.
• The layering of Basic Black and Whisper White that I did on the card base, takes the card from "ho-hum" to elegant, especially when you vary the width of the borders. It meant that I had a little less room for my "inchies", but a black and white card needs details like this to keep from being boring.

This is your official countdown for the Retiring Products. 

You have  5 days  left 

to order any retiring product before it is gone for good!

I will be putting in an order this weekend, so make sure you get your orders to me before Sunday afternoon!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the Stampin' Up! products used to make this card today!

Product List

And Many More Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134276]	And Many More Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134273]	Back To Black Designer Series Paper [133700]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Flower Fair Framelits Die [133731]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fuse Fast Adhesive [129026]	Glue Dots [103683]
Stampin' Trimmer [126889]

Black, White and Bling!

I was wondering what I should do for today's blog post, so I started opening cupboards and looking around. That's what usually happens when I'm searching for inspiration. It hit today when I opened my DSP cupboard and spotted the Back to Black DSP prominently displaying itself! "Why not black and white?" I thought to myself. Then I opened my stamp cupboards and saw Summer Silhouettes! That would be perfect in black and white. When I had finished stamping, embossing and punching everything (my, that sounds violent!) it needed one more extra touch and I knew it had to have rhinestones! In a nutshell, Black, White and Bling is what you get today!


Black and white always has an element of Art Deco for me. But to be honest, I wasn't 100% sure exactly what constituted Art Deco so I did a little research. Here are a couple of examples: (think Great Gatsby) It originated in France after World War I and flourished internationally during the 20's, 30's and 40's.










This design style really intrigues me so I'm going to have to explore it further I think.







Anyway, I guess you could say there was an element of it in the Back To Black DSP that I chose for this card:

• I embossed the stems and dandelion like flowers in Black Stampin' Emboss Powder to give them definition, but just stamped the leaves using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, one being stamped off once for the depth. 
• The butterfly is from the new Sale-A-Bration reward set called Nature's Perfection. I embossed it in Black Stampin' Emboss Powder and punched it out using the Elegant Butterfly Punch which coordinates with the image.
• The font of the sentiment, from the stamp set, Gifts of Kindness, has a vague art deco look to it as well so is a perfect fit for this card. The bling is in the form of various sizes of Rhinestone Basic Jewels on the flowers and the butterfly and the sentiment to class it up a bit.

Thanks for dropping by today and I'll be back tomorrow with a new design for As You See It Challenges.

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the Stampin' Up! products used to make this card today!

Product List

Summer Silhouettes Clear Stamp Set [126447]	Summer Silhouettes Wood Stamp Set [132082]	Nature's Perfection Clear Stamp Set [139100]	Nature's Perfection Wood Stamp Set [139097]	Gifts Of Kindness Wood Stamp Set [130441]
Gifts Of Kindness Clear Stamp Set [130444]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder [109133]	Embossing Buddy [103083]
Heat Tool [129053]	Elegant Butterfly Punch [127526]	Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon [119261]	Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments [119246]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]

Beauty of the Season and New Photopolymer Stamp Sets

Today's post is a closer look at one of the three cards designed for November's Stamp of the Month Club.  For more information on that, take a look here.  This card also uses Beauty of the Season, the November Stamp Set of the Month.

This card also uses a technique called the Spotlight Technique, where a small portion of the black and white image is highlighted by colouring it on a separate piece of paper and lined up with the original image.

• The black and white background Designer Series Paper is from the Back to Black collection.  I thought the feather design was particularly appropriate!
• The cardinal is coloured using the Cherry Cobbler Assortment of Stampin' Blendabilities. For more information on how to blend with Blendabilities, you can join the Stamp of the Month Club for this month (and only this month if you choose the month-to-month option) and get a photo tutorial for this card with step-by-step instructions including how to use these markers.
• I altered the project slightly with an easier bow, but this one was not difficult to create.  I just layered the loops, one side and then the other back and forth and tied the extra ribbon at the end around the middle and trimmed the ends and adjusted the loop sizes.

For more information, sign up for this month's Stamp of the Month Online Club and get the clear mount stamp set, the three completed cards and step-by-step photo tutorials for all three, including measurements and a list of all products used.  Just follow the link above and fill out the form at the bottom of the page and submit it.  You will not be charged until I have contacted you and answered any question you may have.

Each month, on the second Tuesday of the month, Stampin' Up! releases a new photopolymer stamp set.  I'm afraid I forgot to show you last month's Gentle Peace set and now there's a new set for November - so I'm showing you both at once!  I've seen some wonderful stained glass effects with the Gentle Peace set and I've been very tempted to get it. $19.95 is so affordable for each of these sets. 

Now that Banner Blessings has just come out, I love it and I think I will be getting both sets!  How about you?

Here's an abbreviated list of some of the main products I used on this card.  Get the full list by joining the Stamp of the Month On-Line Club.

Product List

Beauty Of The Season Wood-Mount Stamp Set [135776]

Beauty Of The Season Clear-Mount Stamp Set [135779]

Back To Black Designer Series Paper [133700]

Circles Collection Framelits Dies [130911]

Cherry Cobbler 1/2 Inch Seam Binding Ribbon [120992]

A Sketch and Some Colour

Today was driven by a sketch and a colour combo!  I liked the simplicity of the Mojo Monday sketch for this week.

I needed a stamp set to work well with it and a colour palette to set it off.  I did a full stamp inventory and finally settled on Amazing Birthday.  Because of the striking graphics of this stamp set, I needed a bold, dramatic colour combination.  I chose Basic Black, Whisper White and Crushed Curry.  I really love Crushed Curry because it is such a warm yellow.  Yellow can look anemic if it doesn't have some substance to it, and Crushed Curry has lots of it!

• I stamped the main sentiment in StazOn Jet Black on Whisper White cardstock and then coloured in some areas using a Crushed Curry (does anyone else keep typing Cursed Curry?) Stampin' Write Marker.  I added a couple of Crushed Curry Candy Dots to highlight "Amazing".
• The DSP in the background is from the Back to Black collection and is perfectly suited for a horizontal panel with the little scallops.
• The birthday cake comes from the Amazing Birthday set as well.  It is stamped in Crushed Curry ink and the 1-1/4" Circle Punch is a perfect fit.  I punched out a Basic Black circle using the 1-3/8" Circle punch and layered the birthday cake with it.  Then I used the Bracket Label Punch on some Crushed Curry cardstock for the final backing touch.  I mounted them all on the card front with a Stampin' Dimensional.

This is a simple, yet bold design that really makes a statement!  Hope you'll give it a try!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

Amazing Birthday Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134225]	Amazing Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134228]	Back To Black Designer Series Paper [133700]	Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [121045]	Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]
Crushed Curry 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131199]	Jet Black StazOn Pad [101406]	Crushed Curry Stampin' Write Marker [131901]	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [131173]	1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch [119861]
1-3/8 Inch Circle Punch [119860]	Bracket Label Punch [132153]	Regals Candy Dots [130932]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]