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!

Just a Note of Thanks

Sometimes, some of the most stamping fun I have is making these little 3" x 3" mini cards, which I often do for customer thank yous! They are quick and cute for sure, but you can really exercise some creativity to get a pleasing image on a tiny space without a lot of room for gobs of technique and embellishment. Then there is the pleasure of being able to use up bits and pieces of materials that would otherwise go to waste! I combined some pretty diverse elements to make these little 'notes' of thanks (did you see what I did there?) for my last order to go out before Christmas! I wanted them to be elegant and glitzy but not too much work as I prepare to take a bit of a break for about a week surrounding Christmas. Here's a closer look:

• I made use of bits of leftover Merry Music Specialty Designer Series Paper for the background. I've loved having this sheet music DSP for Christmas cards this year and I hope this is not the only time we'll have some. However, we always have the Sheet Music Background stamp to fall back on, I guess.
• I love the Black, White and Gold colour palette. So elegant, especially when you throw in some Glimmer Paper! I die cut the treble clefs from the Musical Instruments Framelits from Gold Glimmer Paper backed with Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets to turn them into stickers, easy to adhere.
• I'm sure you've noticed the little leaf cut outs behind the treble clefs. Those were punched from Whisper White paper with a Martha Stewart leaf punch that I've treasured for awhile. It creates a texture that you can't get from anything else.
• The sentiment is from the Floral Phrases stamp set, but I've cropped off the ending "to you..." so it would fit on this small space.

I hope you're almost ready for the big day and starting to take some time to enjoy yourselves! What will Santa be bringing you this year? Let me know what you asked him for in the comments below. And don't forget about the year end sale and the Stamparatus Reservation Window still open.  

Merry Christmas!

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

Floral Phrases Wood-Mount Stamp Set [141764] $33.00	Floral Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141767] $24.00	Merry Music Specialty Designer Series Paper [144623] $17.00	Gold Glimmer Paper [133719] $6.75	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [140272] $9.25
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $11.25	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931] $9.25	Musical Instruments Framelits Dies [144677] $38.00	Big Shot [143263] $136.00	Big Shot Die Brush - New Configuration [144262] $16.50
Stampin' Trimmer [126889] $40.00	Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets [144106] $13.50	Glue Dots [103683] $7.00	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.25	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $9.00

60th Birthday with Number of Years

A very special person in my life is turning 60 this weekend. My middle sister hits the big one and I wanted to make a special card for her. Heck, I even made a BIG card - a 5" x 7" one, and the Large Number Framelits don't look out of place on a card that size do they? I learned a new trick to use with the glimmer paper I used and I'll reveal that later in this post!

This is my lovely sister, Sandi, here with her husband, John. They have a beautiful piece of property and a farm house in Clearwater,













And here are the three sisters, with Sandi in the middle!

• Very Vanilla and Gold have a very classic, elegant look perfect for the more formal cards you might make. This card includes Gold Foil Sheets,  Gold Stampin' Embossing Powder, and Gold Glimmer Paper for a varied effect.
• The sentiments are all from the Number of Years stamp set. I love how the 'Look Who's Turning' is curved already. It's helpful to find the center of the curve and make sure that's at the center of the top. I found that the apostrophe was close to the center.
• When die cutting glimmer paper, it sometimes helps to peel off the back layer of the glimmer paper before die cutting to help the blades to cut cleanly through. It's also easier to glue with the back layer off. A Delicate White Doily becomes the background for the sixty.
• I embossed the leaves and flowers below the numbers with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. I started with the leaf image, stamping it with Versa Mark Ink, sprinkling on some embossing powder and heat set it. I then added the flowers, filling in the gaps where I thought there should be blooms. All the images are from Number of Years stamp set.
• The banner is from the Large Number Framelits dies. I die cut one in Gold Glimmer paper to serve as a kind of shadow background. 

Only 1 more day to get in on this great promotion. Click on the link below to sign up to receive the October kit at the regular price and you get the November kit free!  Just as a sample of the cuteness, September's kit was really great:

                                                                                                                            

My Paper Pumpkin

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

Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set [140653]	Number Of Years Photopolymer Bundle [140811]	Gold Foil Sheets [132622]	Gold Glimmer Paper [133719]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101650]
Versamark Pad [102283]	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder [109129]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Heat Tool [129053]	Delicate White Doilies [141701]
Large Numbers Framelits Dies [140622]	Big Shot [143263]	Big Shot Magnetic Platform [130658]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]
Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]