Art With Heart Creative Showcase - December 2020

December's Creative Showcase with Dragonfly Garden & Seaside View

Hi. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the December Art with Heart Creative Showcase - our last monthly blog hop for 2020.

The theme this month is "Summer", which is a theme with so much potential. For me, summer makes me think of happy & bright colours, of flowers and flying insects like butterflies and dragonflies. My first card was inspired by these elements. Summer also makes me think of relaxing and enjoying a meal or a cuppa outside with friends in view of beautiful scenery. My second card shows a seaside view, where I would love to be sitting, sipping a drink and looking out at the little sailing boat in the distance.

I created the first card with yesterday's Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase in mind, where we were focussing on a gorgeous In Colour, Misty Moonlight. However, I then realised that with unexpected demands on my time, I didn't think I would be able to create another card for this Monthly Creative Showcase, so I saved the dragonfly card for this Blog Hop. Then ... I woke up this morning with a card design buzzing around in my head. I had to give it a go ... and the second card was created. As you can see the colour schemes are similar and the layouts similar, but different.

CARD 1: A piece of one of the Misty Moonlight designs from the Dandy Garden 6"x6" Designer Series Paper was adhered to the lower half of the Whisper White card-stock card front, prior to the card front being dry embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder. I love the effect of this subtle texture on both the card-stock and DSP. A piece of Misty Moonlight 2020 - 2022 In Colour ribbon was attached at the centre, covering the edge of the DSP. This card front was then adhered directly to the Misty Moonlight card-stock card base.

The floral stamp from the Dragonfly Garden stamp set was repeatedly stamped across a piece of Whisper White card-stock gradually increasing the height of the top flower. Using one of the new Blending Brushes, Seaside Spray Classic Stampin' ink was lightly applied at the base  over the flowers, softening out to no colour near the top. The Blending Brush was a delight to use. This stamped piece was mounted onto a piece of Misty Moonlight card-stock leaving a thin boarder. A piece of White twine from the Snail Mail Combo pack was wrapped twice around the panel and tied in a bow. This panel was centred on the card front and attached with  Dimensionals. 

A dragonfly from the stamp set was stamped in Misty Moonlight ink on a scrap piece of Whisper White card-stock. The dragonfly wings were coloured with Light & Dark Melon Mambo Blends and the Colour Lifter used to soften the colour out on the wing tips. The dragonfly was cut out using the Dragonflies punch and another 2 dragonflies were punched out of Vellum. The coloured and vellum dragonflies were layered on top of each other, and adhered just at the upper body to enable fluttering dimension to the wings.

A sentiment from the Dragonfly Garden stamp set was stamped in Versamark onto Misty Moonlight card-stock and heat embossed using White Stampin' Emboss powder. The sentiment strip was given a flag end using the Banners Pick a Punch. I love this punch as I find it hard to get an even flag end without it. A strip of Melon Mambo card-stock was added under the lower edge of the sentiment strip. This strip was popped up on Dimensionals over the twine. The dragonfly was adhered in place and a few clear Elegant Faceted Gems were added as a finishing touch.

The floral spray from the Dragonfly Garden stamp set also was stamped in Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' ink on the Whisper White card inner to bring an aspect of the card front to the centre. The same flowers were stamped on the C6 Whisper White envelope.

CARD 2: As mentioned, I woke this morning with a card design buzzing around in my head. I had to give it a go, although the card did evolve along the creative process. I love Misty Moonlight with a pop of Melon Mambo as a colour scheme and so kept a similar colour combination, though added some neutrals as required by the stamped scene. I had thought of inking the stamp with Stampin' Write Markers but found my eyes were missing details so decided to colour the image with Stampin' Blends instead.

The larger scene from the Seaside View stamp set was stamped in Gray Granite Classic Stampin' ink on Shimmery White card-stock. The scene was coloured using Light & Dark Stampin' Blends, specifically Misty Moonlight, Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Seaside Spray, Daffodil Delight, Just Jade, Old Olive, Gray Granite and of course the Colour Lifter. The scene was trimmed down using one of the Stitched Rectangle dies. The panel was mounted on Seaside Spray card-stock, leaving a tiny boarder.

A piece of Whisper White card-stock was dry embossed with the delightful Seabed 3D embossing folder and adhered directly to the Seaside Spray card-stock card base. A strip of Misty Moonlight card-stock was stamped with palm trees in Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' ink. Misty Moonlight twine from the Flowers for Every Season Combo pack was tied around this strip of stamped card-stock finishing with a bow. It was adhered with Dimensionals to the card front.

The coloured panel was centralised and popped up on Dimensionals. A sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped in Versamark on Seaside Spray card-stock and heat embossed with White Emboss powder. A strip of Melon Mambo card-stock was added underneath the sentiment strip with a thin strip of Melon Mambo showing underneath the sentiment. The sentiment strip was popped up with Dimensionals. As with card 1, a few clear Elegant Faceted Gems were added as a finishing touch. These gems are soooo gorgeous.

Palm trees and a sentiment from the Seaside View stamp set were stamped in Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' ink on the Whisper White card inner. A thin strip of Misty Moonlight card-stock was adhered near the bottom of the card inner. Palm trees were also stamped on the C6 Whisper White envelope.

Thank you for visiting the Valley Inspirations blog. I really appreciate you spending time with me on my blog as part of the Art with Heart "Summer" themed projects blog hop. I hope you have been inspired in some way. I have really enjoyed creating these cards to share with you.

I am so blessed to be apart of such a talented team. Knowing each of my colleagues in this Creative Showcase, I am sure that they have amazing "Summer" projects to share with you. Don't miss checking out each of their blogs. Rachel is our brilliant host of the Art with Heart Monthly Creative Showcase, so if you haven't finished visiting all of the team's amazing creations, you can visit/revisit Rachel's page at Handstamped by Rachel, where she hosts all the links to the other Showcase participants. I'm certainly looking forward to checking out everyone's creations and always find inspiration.

I hope you join us again next year when our first Showcase will be featuring new products from the new January - June Mini Catalogue. There are so many gorgeous products in this catalogue. 

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you are in Australia and would like a copy of the  Stampin' Up! 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue or the January - June Mini Catalogue; or if you have any queries that I could help with. Also, if you are interested in buying Stampin' Up! products, I would delighted to serve you.

Take care of yourself and your loved ones. I hope you stay safe, stay heathy and stay sane.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Andrea 😘