Challenge #250 - Blossom Where You're Planted

What a lovely challenge Design Team member Jane has come up with for our next Fill In the Blank Challenge. Who doesn't like spring flowers? They are universally recognized as a sign of hope and I think there is a new sense of hope in the world right now! That, and they're just really pretty, am I right? Which ones are your favourites?

This week's challenge is a fill in the blank challenge. You complete the sentence by filling in the blank, then you make your project based on the words you used to fill in the blank. How would you fill in this blank? Now, take on the challenge of making something amazing with it!

 And make sure to tell us, in your blog post, how you Filled in the Blank!

        

Can you guess which first flowers of spring are the Design Teams favourites ?

Amy Jasper
Amy loves the magnolias that are among the first blooms of spring. 

Heather Cooper

Coming from the Okanagan Valley, Heather says fruit tree blossoms are her favourites!

Jan Clothier

Jan loves tulips in vivid colours in the spring.

Jane Knudsen

Jane really enjoys the bright yellow daffodils.

Joanne James

Joanne's favourite pansies are bursting with personality!

LeAnne Pugliese
This beautiful lily-of-the-valley is LeAnne's favourite first spring flower!

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Fill in the blanks with the words that are right for you and then create your project with those words in mind. Tell us, in your blog or on your site, what words you used.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can send you lots of feedback. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSI250 when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Winners for Challenge #249 - Sweet Tooth and Our Next Guest Designer

We're excited to announce the winners of Challenge #249 because the Featured Artist will be our Guest Designer for the next Recipe Challenge in two weeks! We're very keen to work with the winner! It was a such a yummy colour palette, and we got some beautiful creations from so many of you. Thank you for entering! It was fun, looking over all your tasty creations to pick our sweet winners. And here they are:

Our Top Pick is: Jolanda Johnstone

Jolanda has used texture to maximum effect to create an adorable baby card with these colours! That baby bear as her focal image is a real charmer and the vertical cardstock stripes behind the main panel have a fine texture that is just right for a welcome baby greeting. We loved the random stitched border which just finished off the card perfectly!

Our Featured Artist is: Maria Helena

Maria Helena made such great use of the Challenge colours in her entry. The multi-flavoured ice cream looks good enough to eat, as the focal point, but then she added a strip of varying striped panels in between the two white backgrounds, using different combinations of the Challenge colours. She also added spritzes of the colours on the top white panel and sequins in similar colours as well! And the other details, like the silver spoon and dish, the twine bow, the droplets on the ice cream and the dry embossed bottom panel all add up to incredible attention to detail and someone we would love to have as our guest artist for our next Recipe Challenge. 

Congratulations, Maria, and we will be in touch with you with the details.

                                                      

And we think you may want to check out the following Honorable Mentions on their sites:

1. Elizabeth Gross

3. Jules

10. Deborah Wheeler

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who played along! Come and check out our new Fill in the Blank Challenge tomorrow morning on our blog! Our winners today can pick up their badges on this page and display them with pride on their blogs or sites.   

You Still Have a Few Hours Left to Play Challenge #249 - Sweet Tooth

 You still have a few hours left to play with our Colour Challenge #249 at As You See It Challenges and have a chance to be chosen as a Guest Judge! Why don't you give it a try, here?

The Challenge will close on Wednesday, May. 12th, at 11:55 pm Pacific time.

You Still Have Time to Play Challenge #249 - Sweet Tooth

You still have time to play with our Colour Challenge #249 at As You See It Challenges and have a chance to be chosen as a Guest Judge! Why don't you give it a try, here?

The Challenge will close on Wednesday, May. 12th, at 11:55 pm Pacific time.

Challenge #249 - Sweet Tooth

 It's time for another Colour Challenge and our Design Team member Amy came up with this yummy combination! It makes me think of cotton candy or Easter eggs or those Valentine conversation hearts! Try not to get too hungry and over-indulge your sweet tooth as you do this! 

If you remember, we announced back in January that each time we have a colour challenge, the Featured Artist would have a chance to become a Guest Designer for our next Recipe Challenge 4 weeks from now. So enter with that in mind! We're so excited to work with you!!

Remember, if you don't have the Stampin' Up! colours, use the colours you have that are the closest. Your project should use only these colours and 1 neutral.

Here's what the Design Team were concocting this week:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

Joanne James

LeAnne Pugliese

Here are some guidelines for the challenge:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging   project that fits the challenge.
• Stampin' Up! colours are used for reference but any matching colours are welcome. You can use black/neutral for outlines and sentiments but don’t use any other colours.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the   challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can send you lots of feedback. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSI249 when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Winners for Challenge #248 - Simple Layout

What is it that's so inspiring about a Simple Layout? It think it's because it allows you to use your own creativity to fill in the spaces that aren't prescribed! (Either that or it just works really well generically with something that you already have on your mind!) Either way, we were blessed with loads of beautiful designs based on our sketch over the past two weeks and the Design Team had a lot of favourites between them. It was hard work to narrow them down to pick the winners, but we did it! (That's what they pay us the big bucks for! Just a minute, they don't pay us anything! Should we be complaining??) Here are the winners:

Our Top Pick is: Kim S.

Kim combined beautiful colours and dies to create the focal point for this sketch, but the creative way she formed the frame is what caught the eye of the Design Team. She used an embossing folder! Add to that an overall ombre look and the contrast of the sentiment and you have an impressive Top Pick!!

Our Featured Artist is: Akiko Sudano

This week's Featured Artist, Akiko, has lifted all our spirits with this beauty of a creation! The vivid colours and floral backgrounds outlined by the solid primary colours are so effective! They are reminiscent of a beloved quilt! With the wood grain embossed red frame inviting us all to feast our eyes, this card certainly makes a big impact! 

                                                      

And we think you may want to check out the following Honorable Mentions on their sites:

4.   Tara Carpenter

7.  Christy Stanford

12. Jules

20. Jolanda Johnstone

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who played along! Come and check out our new Colour Challenge tomorrow morning on our blog! The Featured Artist from the new Colour Challenge tomorrow will be invited to be a Guest Designer for one up-coming Challenge! Our winners today can pick up their badges on this page and display them with pride on their blogs or sites.   

You Still Have a Few Hours Left to Play Challenge #248 - Simple Layout

 You still have a few hours left to play with our Sketch Challenge #248 at As You See It Challenges! Why don't you give it a try, here?

The Challenge will close on Wednesday, Apr. 28th, at 11:55 pm Pacific time.

You Still Have Time to Play Challenge #248 - Simple Layout

You still have time to play with our Sketch Challenge #248 at As You See It Challenges! Why don't you give it a try, here?

The Challenge will close on Wednesday, Apr. 28th, at 11:55 pm Pacific time.

Challenge #248 - Simple Layout

I don't know about you, but I love using a sketch to help me with the creative process of designing a card. There's something about a new layout that gets my mojo going again. and if it's a simple sketch with lots of room for creativity and embellishment, so much the better! That's what our Design Team member Jan has for you today, a simple but effective sketch with lots for room for your creative ideas!

Feel free to rotate or flip the sketch, just keep the integrity of it, so we can recognize it. 

How creative did the Design Team get with the sketch? Let's see:

Amy Jasper

Heather Cooper

Jan Clothier

Jane Knudsen

Joanne James

LeAnne Pugliese

Here are some guidelines for the challenge:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging project that fits the challenge.
• Feel free to flip or rotate the sketch and to substitute one shape for another but we must still be able to see the sketch in your finished submission.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we can send you lots of feedback. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYSI248 when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines tab.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Winners for Challenge #247 - Blazing Blossoms

There was so much adrenaline flowing around the As You See It Speed Challenge site for the last two weeks that the words were literally bouncing off the screen!! And I thought blossoms would be too difficult a theme for a speed challenge! You really proved me wrong!! You're awesome!  We had so many beautiful entries to choose from when we had to pick the winners. Here they are:

Our Top Pick is: Christy Stanford

What blossoms say spring more than tulips and Christy did a beautiful job creating hers in under eight minutes!! She chose a beautiful palette of colours and adding sponging in a speed challenge was a brave choice that really paid off, adding to the ethereal look of the tulips! Congratulations, Christy! 

Our Featured Artist is: Julie Gibbs

The Design Team were amazed at what Julie accomplished in just under nine minutes with a die cut background, a beautiful two part stamped image AND clear embossing! Just gorgeous! and take a look at the cute font for her sentiment! That coral colour for her blossoms paired with the taupe background is so eye-catching! So glad you played along!

                                                      

And we think you may want to check out the following Honorable Mentions on their sites:

3. Anita Trippi

14. Heather Heroldt

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who played along! Come and check out our new Sketch Challenge tomorrow morning on our blog! Our winners today can pick up their badges on this page and display them with pride on their blogs or sites.  

You Still Have a Few Hours Left to Play Challenge #247 - Blazing Blossoms

You still have a few hours left to play with our Speed Challenge #247 at As You See It Challenges! Why don't you give it a try, here?

The Challenge will close on Wednesday, Apr. 14th, at 11:55 pm Pacific time.

You Still Have Time to Play Challenge #247 - Blazing Blossoms

  You still have time to play with our Speed Challenge #247 at As You See It Challenges! Why don't you give it a try, here?

The Challenge will close on Wednesday, Apr. 14th, at 11:55 pm Pacific time.

Challenge #247 - Blazing Blossoms

 For some reason a member of the Design Team (ahem) decided that blossoms would be a great theme for a speed challenge! I don't know what I -er- she was thinking! Blossoms are not that easy to pull off in 10 minutes, but do your best! Find the most undetailed blossoms you can - blazing blossoms!!

When we do a speed challenge we are not expecting a detailed masterpiece from you. We want you to have fun and see what you can create in under 10 minutes! You can design it in your head or sketch it out first. You can gather all your supplies ahead of time. But once you start the cutting/stamping/die cutting/embossing /etc. process, you must start the timer! 

You have 10 minutes! Let us know, with your entry, how long it took you to complete your card or project! The key is to KISS!! Keep It Simple, Stamper!

Let's see how our Design Team members blossomed in 10 min.:

Amy Jasper  9m44s

Heather Cooper 9m56s 

Jan Clothier 8m35s

Jane Knudsen 10m0s

LeAnne Pugliese 9m45s

Joanne James   10m0s

Here are some guidelines for the challenge:

• Create any card, scrapbooking page, 3D project or packaging   project that fits the challenge.
• You can come up with your design and gather materials before you start the clock, but once you start work, you have to complete your design in 10 min. State in your blog or description, how long it took you to make it.
• Use the given theme in your project.
• Please include the challenge graphic and link back to the   challenge in your blog post. Turn off word verification so we   can send you lots of feedback. Make sure you link the post not the whole blog to the Linky. Use #AYS247 when uploading to a public gallery.
• If you’re unsure about ‘the rules’, check the details under the Challenge Guidelines

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Winners for Challenge #246 - Easter Thoughts

 Easter is a pretty popular theme right now! We had so many beautiful entries! Thanks for taking part in our Theme Challenge! We didn't have to go on any Easter Egg Hunts to find our winners, although there were so many beauties it was hard to come to a consensus! But we did and here they are:

Our Top Pick is: Jolanda Johnston

Thinking outside the box is something that Jolanda makes a beautiful habit of as she has created an Easter egg with woven, brightly coloured strips of cardstock. They make such a colourful, joyful background for her adorable Easter Bunny, all in the flavour of the season! 

We had a tie for Featured Artist this week:

Our  first Featured Artist is: Heather Heroldt

The Design Team were so impressed by Heather's beautiful spiritually-themed Easter card. Her striking ombre yellow background is so hopeful! Check out the backing behind the cross when you click on the card to enlarge it. It almost has a golden fleck to it!  And the flowering vine softens the whole effect! The whole card is very eye-catching! Congratulations, Heather.

Our  second Featured Artist is: Deborah Wheeler

A great deal of detail went into this beautiful, unique Easter card. Stencilling, masking and careful colouring were involved to get this misty vignette with the stained glass focal point! You really need to read about her process on her blog! Well done, Deborah!

                                                      

And we think you may want to check out the following Honorable Mentions on their sites:

 2.   Stephanie L.

10. Carol L.                                                                                                                              11. Karen Ksenzakovic                                                                                                                14. Claire                                                                                                                                    15. dj

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who played along! Come and check out our new Speed Challenge tomorrow morning on our blog! Our winners today can pick up their badges on this page and display them with pride on their blogs or sites.