Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #31 Old Olive

Old Olive with Boho Indigo and Berry Blessings

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 31st 2020/2021 Colour Creations Showcase by members of the Art with Heart Team - our second blog hop this year.

This week we are focussing on an amazing muted green called Old Olive. As its name suggests it is a muted olive green colour that can be found in the Stampin' Up! Regal's collection. This is such a great colour for leaves. As an Aussie, I look at various gum trees and think 'Old Olive' is the colour of the leaves. It is a colour that goes well with numerous other colours. Old Olive can be found in Stampin' Up!s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin' Blends; Water-colour pencils Assortment 1, numerous Designer Series Papers, including Ornate Garden, Hydrangea Hill, Ice Cream Corner & Fine Art Floral; in a couple of ribbons and in the Hello Dear Friend Card kit. 

I decided to play with watercolour for this blog hop and was delighted with the way Old Olive Classic Stampin' ink reacted. Apart from being lighter (being diluted) it was also brighter. The photos don't pick up the true colour on the cards. I had trouble with my photography today as it took me longer to find some satisfaction in the arrangements and addition of various elements so the outside lighting and shadows were problematic. I'll try to rephotograph and re-upload tomorrow.

I purposely kept some elements the same on both cards to bring some compatibility between the cards, however, numerous differences ensure each card is individual. As you can guess, both cards use Old Olive and as mentioned, both cards include water-colouring techniques. Both cards also have an Old Olive card base and use the same Stitched Whimsy die. I love this new set of dies from the January-June 2021 Mini Catalogue.

CARD 1: My first card started with the creation a water-colour background on Shimmery White card-stock using Seaside Spray Classic Stampin' ink with a medium Water Painter. Once almost dry, this background panel was dry embossed with a Subtle 3D embossing folder. Dry embossing over a panel that has been water-coloured helps flatten out the panel. The second largest Stitched Whimsy die was used to add stitching imprints.

Two extra pieces of Shimmery White card-stock were also water-coloured; one just using Old Olive Classic Stampin' ink and the other using Old Olive, Garden Green and Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' ink for a different leaf.  Three leaves from the Boho Indigo dies were used to cut two of each of the larger leaves from the extra pieces of water-coloured card-stock and one-and-a-half twigs of tiny leaves were cut from Old Olive card-stock.

The larger vase from the Boho Indigo stamp set was stamped in Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin' ink and die cut with the coordinating die. Some Linen Thread was wrapped around the neck of the vase and tied in a bow. Following experimentation with the arrangement, the vase was popped up on Dimensionals. The leaves were arranged and adhered with a mix of Multipurpose Liquid Glue and Dimensionals.

One of the sentiments from the Boho Indigo stamp set was stamped on White card-stock (I still have Whisper White card-stock but Stampin' Up are in the process of changing to Basic White card-stock). The sentiment was fussy cut, trimming off the top line of the greeting as I wanted a narrower sentiment. It was positioned with Dimensionals. The card front was adhered directly to an Old Olive card base.

A piece of Whisper White card-stock was added inside the card. Two of die cut leaves were added, adhering flat to the card inner. The same vase used on the card front was stamped on the front of a C6 Whisper White envelope.

The card was finished with paper flowers from the Boho Indigo Product Medley pack. I accidentally knocked a bead off one of the flower centres so decided to remove the beads and add small Basic Pearl Jewels that were coloured with a Light Pretty Peacock blend.

CARD 2: The second card also started with the creation of a water-colour background on a panel of Shimmery White card-stock. Only Old Olive Classic Stampin' ink was used with a Medium Water Painter from the Water Painter set. To add a little more interest to the background the long thin leaf spray from the Berry Blessings Sale-a-bration stamp set was stamped partially on the water-coloured area with Old Olive Classic Stamping' ink.

Once the water-colour background had dried, it was dry embossed with a 3D Subtle embossing folder and further imprinted with the second largest Stitched with Whimsy die. Apart from flattening the water-colour panel, I so love the subtle texture and the effect of the stitching lines. Some Old Olive ink was mixed with Frost White Shimmer Paint and lightly splattered over the background, before being adhered directly to an Old Olive card base.

Using the Sale-a-bration Berry Blessings stamp set the outlines of both leaf stamps were stamped on Whisper White card-stock in Old Olive ink. The berries were stamped in Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' ink. (I also stamped the blueberries in Pacific Point ink but decided when arranging the pieces to only use the blackberries.) Initially, I had hoped to watercolour the leaves and berries but "life happened" and I needed to undertake the colouring away from my workstation, so I reverted to colouring with Stampin' Blends - a much more portable option. I used the Old Olive and Blackberry Bliss Combos with the Color Lifter. 

The leaves and berries were fussy cut, shaped and then arranged on the water-colour background. The pieces were adhered with a mix of Multipurpose Liquid Glue and Dimensionals. The design needed something to lift it, so little flowers were punched out of white card-stock with the Confetti Flowers Border punch. Various sizes of the little flowers were scattered over the card. The smallest Basic Pearl Jewels were added to the centre of each flower.

A Whisper White card-stock panel was added to the centre of the Old Olive card base. A sentiment from the Berry Blessings stamp set was stamped in Old Olive ink and a fussy cut leaf spray and berry were added to the card inner. A C6 Whisper White Envelope was also decorated with fussy cut leaves and punched flowers. A dot of Old Olive ink (using a Stampin' Write Marker) was added to the centre of the flowers.

I tried to add either natural Linen Thread or Braided Linen Trim but they really didn't add anything - so no trim on this card.

Thank you so much for spending time with me. 😘

Catherine Proctor is the amazing host of the Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase. If you haven't finished visiting all of the team's colour creations, you can visit/revisit Catherine's page at What Cathy Made, where she hosts all the links so you can check out everyones Old Olive creations. It is always a highlight to my week. 

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team will share projects that hero Pacific Point, a bright blue.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others as these strange times continue. 

Andrea 💕🐾

#colourcreationsshowcase