AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop #25 Fresh Freesia

Fresh Freesia with Frozen Edges

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Art with Heart Colour Creations Blog Hop. We are working though the Stampin' Up! colours in alphabetical order, focussing on one colour each week.

This week’s Blog Hop is focussing on a beautiful pale purple called Fresh Freesia.  Fresh Freesia is part of the Subtles Colour Family and is a soft mauve that can coordinate with a range of colours, including other subtles, such as Bubble Bath, Balmy Blue & Pool Party, other purples including Highland Heather and it works beautifully for flowers, snowflakes and so much more.

Fresh Freesia is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Marker; Stampin’ Blends Combo; Watercolor Pencils (Assortment 1), Subtles Designer Series Paper as well as a number of other products. 

These projects have incorporated Fresh Freesia as Classic Stampin' ink, card-stock and a Stampin' Write Marker.

CARD 1:

I recognise that many folk in the South Pacific won’t go for snowflakes as Christmas comes during our summer, however, I love snowflakes and have many friends in the Northern Hemisphere who may appreciate a snowflake Christmas Card.

Fresh Freesia is great for snowflake cards, especially when mixed with Balmy Blue and Pool Party / Coastal Cabana. I was going to use this colour combo for a project but ran out of time for a third card. In fact, I ran out of time to add a card inner and to decorate a coordinating envelope to share with you. I’ll have to do that later.

A Basic White card-stock background panel was silver heat embossed with a sentiment from the One Of A Kind stamp set. Then some ink blending was added with Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin’ ink and a Blending Brush. Some white splattering was added using White Craft ink.

The edge die from the Frozen Edges dies cut 2 edges from Basic White card-stock. I love the way it partially cuts some snowflakes to give the snowflake definition while holding the edge panel together. Single snowflakes were also cut from Basic White card-stock and from Silver Foil. Snowflake edges were added to the top and bottom edges of the blended panel and the other snowflakes were scattered around.

The decorated panel was layered onto a slightly larger piece of Fresh Freesia cardstock before being adhered to a Thick Basic White card base. The final touch - Silver Drusy Adhesive-backed Embellishments were added to a number of snowflakes.

CARD 2:

The 2nd card started with an ombre blended background using Fresh Freesia ink and a touch of Highland Heather ink near the top. A splattering of water droplets was added and left to dry before both white splatters and some Fresh Freesia splatters using a Stampin’ Write Marker were added. The panel was embossed with the Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder.

The snowflake edge die cut a Basic White card-stock edge which was later added with Mini Dimensionals. Single snowflakes were die cut from White Glimmer Paper from the Berry Burst, Old Olive and White Glimmer Speciality Paper pack. I had also white heat embossed a snowflake onto some Petunia Pop In Colour Glimmer paper. It’s a wonderful technique that Sara Douglass demonstrated on her Facebook page yesterday. In this instance, the embossed snowflake dominated the card, but I will be using the snowflake in the future.

A sentiment from the One Of A Kind stamp set was white heat embossed onto Fresh Freesia card-stock and then fussy cut apart. Both the sentiment and single snowflakes were popped up on Mini Dimensionals.

The final touch, a scattering of White Loose Snowflakes that were adhered in place with Multipurpose Liquid Glue. There certainly is a flurry of snowflakes.

Thank you for dropping in on your way around the blog hop.

To continue with the Fresh Freesia blog hop just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a lovely lady, Ros Davidson. I am looking forward to checking out Ros’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

I do hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Garden Green as we continue the weekly 2024-2025 Colour Creations Blog Hop series. 

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Catherine Proctor’s blog @ What Cathy Made. Cathy is our special Art With Heart Team Colour Creations Coordinator.  She is a wonderful lady. Check out her delightful creation while you are there.

Living in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  

Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up! 

#colourcreationsbloghop  #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards  #stampinupdemonstrator  #papercrafting #frozenedges  #oneofakind 

AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #11

Christmas with Golden Greenery

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 11th Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. This series commenced early August and we will be hopping every week until the end of November. I hope you can check us out each week as there will be an array of projects to help your Christmas preparations.

I love creating projects for Christmas and hope that sharing my passion will help to inspire you in some way.  This week I have used the beautiful Golden Greenery and Greetings of the Season bundles. (They an Online Exclusives, which means they are not in a catalogue but can be found in the Stampin’ Up! Online store. You can still order them through your demonstrator.)

The colour combo is a bit non-traditional for Christmas. Lost Lagoon, Pretty Peacock and gold Vellum are fine but Bubble Bath and Berry Burst are a bit left field. I’m wondering if I might create a second similar card using Cherry Cobbler instead of Bubble Bath/Berry Burst. What do you think?

A Basic White card-stock background panel was embossed with the Forever Plaid 3D Embossing Folder. A Greetings of the Season die was used to cut a label from a piece of Pretty Peacock Regal Distressed Pattern Speciality Paper. This was cut off-centre in 2 and positioned with points facing to give a sense of a Belly Band.

The rounder stem of leaves from the Golden Greenery Stamp set was stamped in Pretty Peacock ink (full strength and 2nd generation) and the spruce in Lost Lagoon ink (full strength and 2nd generation) while the berries were stamped in Berry Burst and Bubble Bath inks.

Flowers were die cut from Bubble Bath ink using dies from the Country Birdhouse die set and some Berry Burst ink was blended partially over. Using the Golden Greenery dies, the heart shaped leaves were die cut from Gold Mercury Vellum and spruce was die cut from Basic White card-stock together with a sprig of roundish leaves. The latter had a little Pretty Peacock ink blended over it.

The leaves, flowers and berries were arranged, then adhered in place with either Multipurpose Liquid Glue or Glue Dots. A bow was tied using the gorgeous Iridescent Striped Trim. A sentiment from the Reindeer Fun stamps was white heat embossed on Pretty Peacock card-stock. Some beautiful Regal Foil Adhesive-backed Dots were added to the flower centres and near the sentiment. A little splattering was added with a Pretty Peacock Stampin’ Write Marker and some Wink of Stella.

A Basic White card inner was stamped in Pretty Peacock ink with a sentiment from the Greetings of the Season stamp set. An extra Lost Lagoon sprig was added together with some berries. A Basic White C6 Envelope had some extra spruce and leaves adhered in a corner.

Thank you so much for dropping ink to check out this week’s Christmas card. We may be a smaller group this week, but don’t miss out on the amazing projects everyone in the Blog Hop are sharing.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with the blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a lovely lady, Kate Morgan. I always look forward to checking out Kate’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyones' projects - there is so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Blog Hop that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would love you to also check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  She is a special lady. Check out her delightful creation while you are there.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December 2024 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact re any queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2024 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #goldengreenery  #greetingsoftheseason  #reindeerfun

CASEing The Catty #490 - CASE a Sketch

CASE A Sketch meets Reindeer Fun

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #490 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Rebecca Scurr, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Monique Fielder so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from the Stampin' Up! Catalogues as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing the sketches found on page 16 of the 2024 Stampin' Up! September-December Mini Catalogue.

There are numerous sketches or layouts provided on page 16, some have been used in the Catalogue plus there are many more. They can be a wonderful starting point when creating your project. For this week’s challenge I chose to use this sketch:

I have been playing with the Reindeer Fun bundle recently but hadn’t used the set of builder dies that create a cute reindeer head shot. I thought 3 reindeer could reflect the 3 rectangles. When creating the deer it became apparent that they would not fit across a portrait card so it was changed to landscape. Also to reflect the 3 rectangles, the background was water-coloured in 3 sections. A piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper was wet on wet water-coloured using Summer Splash, Pool Party and Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin’ inks with the flat tipped Water Painter.  

When dry, the water-coloured panel was splattered with a dark Summer Splash Stampin’ Blend. The larger die from the Reindeer Fun dies that cuts a hole with leafy spruce around half of the circle was cut 3 times and then trimmed apart to create a leafy base behind which the reindeer emerge. This panel was mounted on some of the Coastal Cabana woodgrain design from the Country Woods Designer Series Paper. The edges were torn to provide more texture. After constructing the card the DSP seemed to dominate so thin torn strips of the other side of the DSP - a lighter woodgrain, was laid over the top, while still showing small sections of the Coastal Cabana DSP.

The focal panel was mounted onto a piece of Basic White card-stock that had been embossed with the gorgeous Forever Plaid 3D Embossing folder. Strips of the neutral DSP were adhered behind the embossed panel allowing a thin strip to be seen. In turn, this was mounted onto a Thick Basic White card base.

Each reindeer was created from 3 die cut pieces. Each deer is a different colour. A combination of Early Expresso, Pecan Pie, Crumb Cake, Basic Beige, Very Vanilla and Basic White card-stocks were used. The die cut pieces had a little ink blending added, whether touches of White Craft ink for highlights or Pecan Pie for shading. Each one was popped up on a Dimensional. Did you notice the red nose on the centre deer? It’s an inlaid Cherry Cobbler die cut nose. White splattering was added over the card.

A sentiment from the Reindeer Fun Stamps was white heat embossed onto the woodgrain DSP. It was trimmed down with a little flag on one side. A Linen Twine bow was tucked under the sentiment strip. The final touch - a scattering of White Loose Snowflakes.

Inside the card, a couple of little trees from the same stamp set was added in Crumb Cake ink onto Basic White card-stock. Another sentiment was also stamped in Crumb Cake ink. In the same way as the card front, 2 woodgrain strips were tucked under the top and bottom edges of the Basic White panel. A C6 Basic White envelope was stamped with 3 of the trees in Crumb Cake. I love some coordination of design elements both inside the card and with the envelope.

Thank you so much for spending time with me. I so appreciate you. 

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this wonderful Crew. The next blog in the hop is the lovely Monique Fielder. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I am sure her project will be special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have created which has been inspired by the new 2024 Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue sketches. To share, all you need to do is to go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and then all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would love to see your creation.

#ctc491 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #reideerfun  #countrywoods #caseingthecatty

 

AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop #24 Flirty Flamingo

Flirty Flamingo with Reindeer Fun

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Art with Heart Colour Creations Blog Hop. We are working though the Stampin' Up! colours in alphabetical order, focussing on one colour each week.

This week’s Blog Hop is focussing on a beautiful pink called Flirty Flamingo.  Flirty Flamingo is part of the Brights Colour Family and is a strong pink that can coordinate with many colours, including greys, greens and many others. It would be wonderful for flowers, berries …  and anything needing a rich mid-pink.

Flirty Flamingo is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, ink spots & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Marker; Stampin’ Blends Combo; Water-color Pencils (Assortment 2), Brights Designer Series Paper as well as a number of other products, including numerous kits and some embellishments. 

This project has incorporated Flirty Flamingo as Classic Stampin' ink, card-stock, Stampin' Write Marker and Stampin Blends.

This card changed completely from the idea I had in mind when I started to create, however, I do love this happy little reindeer with the Flirty Flamingo harness.

I started by creating a water-coloured background using Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin’ ink, a Forever Plaid 3D Embossing Folder and a Stampin’ Mister. You start by dabbing the ink pad lightly onto the embossing folder and then misting water over the embossing folder and rolling it a little to move the colour into the recessed sections. Some Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper is laid inside the folder and the folder is run through a Cut & Emboss Machine. I have been experimenting to get different results and I love it. One tip, keep a paper towel at hand when the folder is run through the machine as diluted ink can shoot out of the machine as the embossing folder pops out of the machine. It’s easily cleaned.

The prancing reindeer from the Reindeer Fun stamp set was stamped onto Basic White card-stock with Early Expresso ink. This delightful image was coloured with Crumb Cake Blends Combo and the Colour Lifter. The image was die cut with the coordinating die from the Reindeer Fun dies. The spruce circular die cut was cut from a square piece of Basic White card-stock. Foliage was die cut from Basic White card-stock using Encircled In Nature sprig dies. The spruce was lightly coloured with Granny Apple Green ink and the flower spray was coloured with Flirty Flamingo - both applied with Blending Brushes.

The oh so gorgeous Iridescent Striped Ribbon was coloured with a Light Flirty Flamingo Blend and cut in half lengthwise and tied into a bow and added to the cut out circle with Glue Dots. A sentiment from the Reindeer Fun stamps was white heat embossed onto Flirty Flamingo card-stock. A number of White Loose Snowflakes were scattered around and adhered in place with a small dot of Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

The card inner was created with Basic White card-stock that was mounted onto a slightly larger piece of Flirty Flamingo card-stock. A second Blends coloured Reindeer was added with a few extra White Snowflakes.

Thank you for dropping in on your way around the blog hop. I hope it may have provided some ideas.

To continue with the Flirty Flamingo blog hop just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a special lady, Rachel Palmieri. I am looking forward to checking out Rachel’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

I do hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Fresh Freesia as we continue the weekly 2024-2025 Colour Creations Blog Hop series. 

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Catherine Proctor’s blog @ What Cathy Made. Cathy is our brilliant Art With Heart Team Colour Creations Coordinator.  She is a wonderful lady. Check out her delightful creation while you are there.

Living in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  

Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up! 

#colourcreationsbloghop  #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards  #stampinupdemonstrator  #papercrafting  #reindeerfun  #encircledinnature  #foreverplaid3d  #valleyinspirations

AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #10

Christmas with Beach Day for an Aussie Christmas

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the tenth Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. We have been blog hopping since early August and will continue every week until the end of November. I hope you find time to check us out each week as I know there will be many, many ideas and projects on display to inspire your Christmas prep.

I love creating for Christmas and hope that you will like my project for this week. It is an Aussie Christmas box card and can double as a luminaire and or a box card that also holds a special present. There are lots of photos this week so you can see different aspects of this box.

Here are the other 2 facades of the box card.

While I changed measurements, I must acknowledge Mikaela Titheridge, a current Stampin’ Up! Artisan and UK Demonstrator, for sharing how she created a gorgeous Christmas box card. I love her mechanism for attaching the roof in such a way to enable the box to fold flat and fit into an envelope.

This box card also has a base so that it could also be used as a box & card that holds a special gift.

Aussies love to spend Christmas at the beach and so I thought I would create an Aussie Christmas card featuring the Beach Day bundle and Country Birdhouse dies. Also used are the Reindeer Fun bundle and Christmas Friends dies.

The box was created with Pool Party card-stock and Basic Beige card-stock was torn to be reminiscent of sand. The roof and under roof were cut from Country Woods DSP. Most stamping was added to Basic White card-stock apart from the sand castle, that was stamped on Basic Beige card-stock.

The Country Birdhouse die was used to cut out 4 birdhouse facades. Each one was scored with straight lines reminiscent of weather-board beach houses. Under roof pieces were die cut from Country Woods woodgrain Designer Series Paper and Basic White card-stock. One of the pieces was coloured with a Dark Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blend.

Stampin’ Blends were used for the colouring of Surf boards, beach ball, sand castle umbrella, beach chair and seagulls, ie Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Summer Splash, Pool Party & Smoky Slate Blends Combos. The die cut wreath (from the Reindeer Days dies) and garlands (from the Christmas Friends dies) were coloured with Granny Apple Green and Soft Sea Foam Blends Combos with a touch of Pool Party. Splattering over the box was added with a Summer Splash Stampin’ Write Marker.

Grasses were stamped in Granny Apple Green Stampin’Classic ink, and the sandcastle with Crumb cake ink. Tiny seashells were stamped directly on the box with Crumb Cake ink. All of the die cut of fussy cut pieces were added with Multipurpose Liquid Glue or Dimensionals.

The wreath and garlands were all decorated with Iridescent Pearl Jewels. They are so gorgeous. The die cut bows were cut from either Gold Foil or Basic White card-stock.

Here is a photo of the card folded flat. To fit into an Basic White C6 envelope the bottom flaps are folded up inside the card.

The Basic White C6 envelope was stamped with a sentiment from the Country Birdhouse stamps and Reindeer Fun stamps. “Merry Christmas” was also white heat embossed on the woodgrain Country Woods DSP as the sentiment on the box card. Some extra pearls were scattered around the sentiment.

You may notice a scored flap on one side of the box, which can lift up for a brief personal message. It is supposed to be reminiscent of a roller door into the beach house.

I did mention that it can also be used as a luminary. Circular holes were cut in each side that were each covered with Vellum from an online exclusive, the Graceful Greenery Vellum Speciality Paper. I was hoping to photo the card at night but was called away yesterday and so didn’t complete this card till this afternoon, so you don’t get the full luminary effect.

Thank you for dropping in. I hope you like my Aussie Christmas Box card.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with the blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a lovely lady, Judy May. I always look forward to checking out Judy’s wonderful creation(s). I do love seeing everyones' projects - there is so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Blog Hop that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would love you to also check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  She is a special lady. Check out her delightful creation while you are there.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December 2024 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2024 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #reindeerdays