As You See It Challenges Turns 200!

Today is a super special celebration over at As You See It Challenges! Today we celebrate our 200th Challenge! As we explain on the challenge site, there were a few times we didn't think we'd get there. The worst was around Challenge #140 when our website was badly hacked and all our data was corrupted. We thought we'd be back up and running in a couple of weeks and 6 months later, we had to start afresh with a new platform and new data, and just a bit of our old artwork, which was all we had left that was uncorrupted. We started as a weekly challenge, but came back as a biweekly one, which has worked out well for all of us.

And now, for our 200th Challenge, we have a new hurdle. Our creator and designer, Amanda Turner is stepping down, and we are stepping up to design our own challenges now. But we seem to love a challenge. We are, after all, a challenge design team!

Our 200th Challenge is a theme challenge based on Two, as in Two Hundredth Challenge! Plus a little bit of celebration thrown in there!

For my card, I pulled out all the stops for a black and gold Glimmer Paper celebration card, complete with a 200 and 2 special balloons!!

• Black and gold just scream celebration to me, especially when that includes foil and glimmer paper! Although there is no stamping involved in this card, I made good use of the **Broadway Bound Specialty Designer Series Paper, which will be retiring in only 3 weeks or while supplies last! This is great paper for all your super celebrations, with it's Gold Foil inlays and some complete gold foil.
• On the Basic Black card base I glued a panel of Gold Glimmer Paper. I always use my hoarded ***Fast Fuse (which is no longer available) on Glimmer Paper front and back, as it seems to be the only adhesive that really sticks properly.
• On top of that is a panel of some of the **Broadway Bound paper. This is one of the plain designs without the gold foil, but those white bubbles on the Gray Granite are so party like!
• I added another layer of Basic Black to help the gold elements really pop. The numbers are fussy cut from one of the **Broadway Bound designs. 

• The balloons are punched with the Balloon Bouquet punch, using the bigger balloon shape, one from Gold Glimmer paper and one from the gold foil piece from the **Broadway Bound DSP. The balloon strings are from some ***gold cord I've been using sparingly for a couple of years, not wanting to see the end of!)
• I am super sad to see the **Celebrate You Dies retire and I'm pretty sure I don't want to sell them as I love the three words in that set. I added some **Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet (also retiring) (gasp - I stocked up!!) to the back of some gold foil before die-cutting this celebrate word, so that it will be easy to apply, like a sticker!

**These products will be retiring and no longer available in the 2019 - 2020 Annual Catalogue starting June 4, 2019.
***These products are no longer available from Stampin' Up!

Today is the LAST DAY to subscribe so that you can receive Shelli's Paper Pumpkin Kit, which is going to be awesome! Paper Pumpkin have been really hitting it out of the park lately! Shelli Gardner, founder of Stampin' Up! is so creative and anything she has a hand in is going to be gorgeous! Make sure you're subscribed by 9 pm at the latest tonight. 

To Subscribe to get the Shelli Kit and more, click HERE!

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

**Broadway Bound Speciality Designer Series Paper [146277] $19.00	Gold Glimmer Paper [146958] $6.75	Gold Foil Sheets [132622] $5.50	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045] $11.50	**Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets [144106] $13.50
Paper Snips Scissors [103579] $13.50	**Celebrate You Thinlit Dies [146840] $31.00	**Big Shot [143263] $150.00	***Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026] $13.50	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.50
Glue Dots [103683] $7.25	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.50	***Gold Cording Trim [139618] $6.25

**These products will be retiring and no longer available in the 2019 - 2020 Annual Catalogue starting June 4, 2019.
***These products are no longer available from Stampin' Up!

Card Design Fixed with Amazing You!

So in my last post, I was struggling with and overthinking a design I was working on for my Craft retreat on the weekend. You can see that card here. One of the solutions for overthinking is to pinpoint the design element that is just not working for you, no matter what you do, and change that! In my case, it was Designer Series Paper that was very richly coloured and a busy floral. It took the focus off of everything else in my design. So I decided to keep the Joy Fold card format, but to change both the DSP and the focal image.

I have been seeing awesome images on Pinterest using the flower from the Sale-A-Bration stamp set, Amazing You, embossed in white and then watercoloured, including samples from Laurin Alarid, Kylie Page, and Charlet Mallet, whose design I didn't realize until posting, is one of the GDP Design Team's samples. The results are really like true water colour paintings. And the detail in that particular flower adds a lot of highlights to the watercoloured image. As soon as I decided to change the Designer Series Paper, I also decided that I would use that same technique for my central image. By doing that, I made myself eligible for the Global Design Project's latest theme challenge:  Sale-A-Bration!

Here's a close up view of my card:

•  The Designer Series Paper I used is from the Myths & Magic Specialty Series. It has rich colour but small patterns so it's not so overpowering.
• The focal image is heat embossed on Glossy White cardstock using White Stampin' Emboss Powder and then an Aqua Painter to add layers of different blue ink to wet areas of the image. It's a "wet-to-wet" watercolour technique and results in those glassy tones and layers of colour. To get the layers, allow one colour to dry, then add more water and a darker colour and dry that layer.
• You'll notice that the flowers overlap. To do that you need to mask the middle flower after it has been stamped and embossed. I stamped the same image on Post It Note paper (the kind that has adhesive all over it) and fussy cut it out, minus the foliage, just on the inside of the outer lines. Then I stuck it to the middle flower, adjusting it to fit exactly and stamped the right and left flower in Versamark Ink. I added the White Stampin' Emboss Powder to each of them and heat set it. It makes it look as though they are in behind the middle flower. I made sure the foliage was always to the outside when stamped.
• Then I brought in the Celebrate You Thinlits, which are Level 2 Sale-A-Bration rewards this year and die cut the sentiments. The "amazing" is just adhered to the center, while the "YOU" helps to form the 'button' that holds the Joy Fold card together. 
• Here's how it looks on the inside:

I'm going to make this short and sweet today, as I am still in preparation for the weekend and also for a class tomorrow night! Enjoy!

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 You Wood-Mount Stamp Set [147212] $0.00	Amazing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set [147215] $0.00	8-1/2" X 11" Glossy White Cardstock [144240] $9.25	Myths & Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper [145600] $17.00	Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100867] $10.00
Bermuda Bay 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131197] $10.00	Island Indigo 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [122923] $10.00	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $11.25	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad [126982] $8.50	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad [144086] $8.50
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad [131171] $8.50	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad [126986] $8.50	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad [141394] $8.50	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970] $8.50	Versamark Pad [102283] $11.25
White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132] $6.75	Embossing Buddy [103083] $8.00	Heat Tool [129053] $40.00	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies [146840] $0.00	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies [141706] $46.00
Big Shot [143263] $136.00	Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets [144106] $13.50	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.25	Fast Fuse Adhesive Refill [129027] $10.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.25