Social Stamping - #23 Neutrals

Neutrals with Playful Pets & In Good Taste

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the April 2021 Social Stamping Blog Host. Currently, we are focussing on each of Stampin' Up!'s Colour families.

This month the nominated colours form the Stampin' Up! Neutrals family. The Neutrals range from light to dark and include greys and browns as well as 3 fantastic colours - Night of Navy, Mossy Meadow and Merry Merlot. The latter colours have an amazing ability to coordinate with many other colours, just like neutrals. Apart from the 3 colours just mentioned, Stampin' Up!s' Neutrals include: Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Expresso (browny tones); and Smokey Slate, Grey Granite and Basic Grey (grey tones). 

In thinking of the Neutrals colour family my mind went to some of Stampin' Up!s Designer Series Papers, particularly the In Good Taste DSP. I so love this DSP and its earthy neutral tones and their use in woodgrains, tiles and textural fabrics. Also, I needed to test out something I had seen and wanted to create for a class - so I decided to combine the two. I have seen some examples of a decorated set of 3 photo frames hanging on a lovely ribbon and needed to work out how to create it so I could demonstrate the process to a craft group of lovely ladies. I don't have good photos to share so I have decorated the frames using the Playful Pets DSP and ... stamp sets.

The frames were built on Thick Basic White card-stock cut in 4 inch squares together with 5 inch woodgrain DSP. The frame backing is Thick Basic White cut at 3 15/16 inches. The 4" Basic White square is centralised on the 5" DSP and the largest square die from the Stitched Shapes dies is used to cut a square hole in the centre. The Basic White and DSP die cut frames are adhered together and after trimming the corners, the excess DSP is folded back onto the back of the frame and adhered in place.

Foam Adhesive Strips are added to 3 sides of the slightly smaller Thick Basic White card-stock squares. The 4th side is for the insertion of photos so no Dimensionals are added on this side. The frame backs are adhered to the frame fronts.

Dogs and a couple of cats were fussy cut from the Playful Pets DSP. (Balloons were stamped in Stazon on Shimmery White card-stock using the Hot Dog stamp set. A dog bowl from the Pampered Pets bundle was stamped in Stazon ink on Shimmery White card-stock and coloured - I had started my blog before finishing the project. As numerous things inhibited me from crafting I haven't been able to get to this stage, but hope to later in the day. When I do I will re-load photos with the finished product. I hope you understand.)

I tried numerous things for the background, finally lightly applying Night of Navy and Mossy Meadow with Blending Brushes onto Shimmery White card-stock. To add some texture some water was flicked over the backgrounds. I was going to emboss the backgrounds or partially emboss them but my morning completely changed so I ended up just slipping them in the frames. The dogs & cats were positioned. They are only adhered to the frames as I feel I need to do something else with the project - but time has disappeared. A couple of bones and a heart trinket from the Playful Pets Trinkets have been added.

A length of the Vanilla Open Weave Ribbon from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack was adhered to the back of the frames using Tear n Tape, ensuring the ribbon was centred and the frames evenly spaced and at the right angle. It's now ready to hang. Of course, instead of decorating the frames it would be lovely to slip precious photos in and have some tastefully added decor - depending on the nature of the photos.

I've loved creating this project using some of the SU's Neutral colours. Neutrals usually support other colours, so it was great to hero this colour family. 

That's it from me this month. I hope you are enjoying the Neutrals' Social Stamping Blog Hop for April. If you started at the beginning with our amazing Social Stamping Host, Kelly Kent, then you have progressed through all the talented crafters and can now return to Kelly Kent at My Papercraft Journey. Either click on Kelly's name or click on the "next" graphic to be taken to her blog.

  

To see the full list of participants, click on this link and be taken to Kelly Kent's Host Blog Post at My Papercraft Journey - its a different post where you will find all the individual links that can take you to each person's blog.

I hope to see you again next month, when we will be focussing on the Neutral colour family. 

Do look after yourself and your loved ones. Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others in these strange times.

Andrea 😘