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Wednesday, 27 October 2021

AWHT Colour Creations #22 Highland Heather

Highland Heather with Merry Snowflakes

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 22nd Art with Heart 2021-2022 Colour Creations Blog Hop.


This week’s Blog Hop is focussing on a purple called Highland Heather. Highland Heather is on the lighter side although I wouldn't call it a pale colour. It is part of the Subtles Colour Family and is great when you need a lighter purple for flowers, sunsets with that tinge of purple or where-ever you choose to use it. It is a lovely colour, and I think it is great with Pool Party and Balmy Blue for snowflake themes. 


Highland Heather is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin' Blends; the Subtles & Hand-penned, Cute Halloween Designer Series Papers; Hand-Penned Memories & More Card pack; Hydrangea Hill Mercury Glass Designer Acetate, Pastel Pearls, Cute Stars Adhesive-backed sequins and Grosgrain Ribbon. The card below has used Highland Heather card-stock and Classic ink, plus a range of other bits and pieces.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I recently received my Merry Snowflakes bundle and knowing my love of Highland Heather in colour combos for snowflakes it was my first choice for this
 week's project. I was inspired by the Merry Snowflakes card on page 65 of the July-December Mini Catalogue. As with much CASEing, many aspects of the original card have been changed but there are certain similarities.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I began by water-colouring 2 panels using Fluid 100 Watercolor paper, the medium Water Painter and Highland Heather, Balmy Blue and Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' inks. Yes, I used Coastal Cabana rather than Pool Party to have a slightly greater difference with Balmy Blue - although, in reality, the two colours still blended in with each other. The second panel was much more subtle than the first and this was the panel I chose for the card's background.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The brighter panel was then stamped in Versamark ink with the 3 different snowflake stamps x 2. The snowflakes were heat embossed with a Heat Gun and Silver Emboss Powder from the Metallic Emboss Powder pack. The snowflakes are stunning. They were die cut with coordinating dies from the Stitched Snowflake dies. Then I die cut snowflakes from Silver Foil (from the Silver Foil Speciality Pack) - oh my goodness - they are so so beautiful. While die cutting, I cut a Silver Foil frame using the Stitched Rectangle dies. Initially it was this frame that stood out to me in the original card design.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Before assembling all the pieces together, the water-coloured panel for the background was embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder. I often like to emboss the panel where a large amount of water was used for the wet on wet water-colour technique as embossing softens the paper fibres and makes it easier to adhere it flat. In this instance, I didn't want the embossing to compete with the design features, so this subtle embossing was perfect. The silver frame was adhered directly to the background, which in turn was adhered to the Highland Heather card base.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The silver embossed and silver foil snowflakes were arranged, with some adhered flat and others popped up on Dimensionals. I love this layered effect. A sentiment from the Heartfelt Wishes stamp set was heat embossed in White Emboss Powder onto Highland Heather card-stock and then fussy cut. The sentiment was added with Dimensionals over a piece of White Glittered Organdy ribbon that had been tied at the loop end with some Simply Elegant Trim. The finishing touch was the addition of some Rhinestone Basic Jewels. Their glimmer was perfect with the Silver Foil.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Creating a flurry of snowflakes for the card inner, the smallest snowflake from the Merry Snowflakes stamp set was stamped in Highland Heather Classic ink on Basic White card-stock. A Basic White C6 Envelope was similarly stamped.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I so enjoyed creating this Highland Heather card, using a tried and true colour combo and CASEing a card from a Stampin' Up! catalogue. CASEing cards you love and changing various aspects is a great idea - and is especially useful when (work) commitments devour crafting time, leaving you with limited time and energy. Thank you for calling in.

This card brings Christmas wishes for a beautiful season, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.


If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue and or the July - December 2021 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!. 

There is more Highland Heather creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a very talented and a delightful friend, Rachel Palmieri. As always, I am looking forward to checking out Rachel's creation and everyone else's. I do love seeing everyones' projects - so many ideas and such great creations

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring an In Colour Just Jadeand don't forget that the AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop is launched every Monday evening at 8pm AEST until the end of November.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog, our amazing AWHT Colour Creations Coordinator.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2021 #merrysnowflakes

Monday, 25 October 2021

AWH Heart of Christmas #17

Christmas with Whimsy & Wonder

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 17th Art with Heart Team 2021 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop


So glad you are joining us for this Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. I have really enjoyed creating a few cards for this Christmas blog hop. I hope you like them:

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through these specially created cards for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I started by setting up to create a smooshed background or two, however, I ended up creating 6 backgrounds - all with the initial application of ink. I dabbed my Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' ink pad onto my Silicone Mat. As hardly any ink transferred, I pushed the ink pad back on the mat with a heavy hand - this time transferring a heavy layer of ink. I sprayed the mat with water from my Stampin' Mister and started dabbing a cellophane bag from one of my Stampin' Up! products into the ink and then onto a piece of Shimmery White card-stock. Each background is different - some with partial areas of smooshing and others with a more all over coverage. I've used 3 of the smooshed backgrounds for today's cards.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The 3 cards are similar, though different. Apart from the Mint Macaron smooshed background they all have a Mint Macaron card base and use Silver foil from the Silver Foil Speciality Pack for the mounting the card front.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The colour scheme was inspired by the Whimsy & Wonder Speciality Designer Series Paper, ie Blushing Bride, Polished Pink, Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadows and Misty Moonlight, plus - because I was relying on my memory and thought Evening Evergreen was also part of the colour scheme, it too was also used - oops. I only used the delightful speciality DSP by adding the fussy cut presents in the first card, pictured above.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The card inners were created with a piece of Basic White card-stock and a tree from the Whimsical Trees stamp set was stamped in Mint Macaron Classic ink. The tree above also has Polished Pink dots added with a Stampin' Write Marker.  A C6 Basic White envelope was stamped to coordinate with the card inner.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The card above cut one tree from the Silver Foil, all the other trees in their various shapes and sizes were cut from Shimmery White card-stock using the coordinating Christmas Trees dies. I really love this bundle and the whole Suite. It is sooo gorgeous.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Most of the Shimmery White card-stock trees were water-coloured using the ink colours listed above with a medium Water Painter. This card also used a thin strip of Mint Macaron DSP from the Subtles DSP pack. It was layered with a thin strip of Silver Foil.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

This card used the Metallic Mesh Ribbon, tied in a double bow, where as the first card (above) also used the Metallic Mesh Ribbon together with a piece of Silver Simply Elegant Trim. The third card (below) used the bakers twine that is described as Misty Moonlight Silver Batkers Twine, however, I removed the Misty Moonlight threads leaving silver and white strands. This twine is park of the Flowers for Every Season Ribbon Combo.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

This card inner had a thin strip of Mint macaron card-stock added near the bottom.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Each of the cards used the gorgeous 2021-2023 In Colour Jewels (either Polished Pink or Soft Succulent) to add that extra touch of shimmer. These jewels are so beautiful in real life. The colouring of the cards also shows so much better in real life - the camera hasn't quite captured the true colours well.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Each card used the same sentiment from the Whimsical Trees stamp set for each, as I preferred a long single line sentiment format. The sentiments were all heat embossed, either with Silver Emboss powder on Shimmery White card-stock or White Emboss powder on Mint Macaron card-stock. Shimmery White card-stock was used instead of Basic White as the backgrounds used Shimmery White as it copes with light water-colouring. As the Shimmery White is more off-white than Basic White card-stock it was better to keep consistency with the background.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

As you would have picked up, some of the trees were adhered flat on the card background while others were popped up on Mini Dimensionals, as were the sentiments.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I love the relaxed unstructured feel of the smooshed backgrounds and as you may have picked up previously, I really enjoy water-colouring die cut pieces. As mentioned, the Whimsy & Wonder Suite is delightful - the design of stamps and dies and the colour combination. I am loving this non-traditional colour way this year. I had planned to add a Wonderful Snowflake or two, but forgot when I was creating. Hmm, I still have another 3 backgrounds so it's not too late. I wonder how the next 3 cards will evolve? I'm sure there will be more fun.

"May your heart be light" is a lovely blessing that is delivered through this specially created card for Christmas by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Thank you so much for spending time with me on my blog. I'm so glad you did.

If you are in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue and or the July - December Mini Catalogue then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you. Pease don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

To continue with the blog hop, click on the "onto the next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Caroline Manwaring. I always look forward to checking out Caroline's clean & elegant creations together with everyone else's. 

Hope to see you next week for another AWHT Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. There is so much Christmas inspiration to share using Stampin' Up!'s products and Christmas is getting closer. It's time to commence Christmas card writing for friends and family overseas. 

Also, don't forget the weekly Colour Creations Blog Hop by the Art with Heart Team that launches every Wednesday at 8.00pm AEST.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others.

Andrea XXX


As mentioned, it is always a delight to see everyone's creations and the way they each use the amazing Stampin' Up! products. I am sure there will be gorgeous Christmas projects on show so don't miss checking out each blog. 

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up or you started part way through, please head to the blog of this week’s host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, very special Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all Art With Heart Team members who are participating in this blog hop. Check out her beautiful creation while you are there.


#heartofchristmas #heartofchristmas2021 #awhtheartofchristmas #Stampin'Up! #Whimsy&Wonder

Wednesday, 20 October 2021

AWHT Colour Creations #21 Gray Granite

Gray Granite with Festive Foliage & Merriest Moments

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 21st Art with Heart 2021-2022 Colour Creations Blog Hop.


This week’s Blog Hop is focussing on a grey with a tinge of tan called Gray Granite. Gray Granite is part of the Neutrals Colour Family and is a great colour that can be used in many ways.  


As a neutral it can combine with so many colours. Gray Granite is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin Blends; the Neutrals & Bloom Where You Are Planted, In Good Taste, Simply Elegant, Peaceful Place Designer Series Papers; the Christmas Whimsy card kit; and Shimmer Ribbon. The cards below have used Gray Granite card-stock and Classic ink, plus a range of other bits and pieces.

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.

This week's projects were initially inspired by an international blog hop, "Around the World on Wednesday", with a specific theme of creating 10 in 30, ie creating 10 cards or other projects in 30 minutes. The 30 minutes didn't include certain preparations, such as cutting card bases & matts and die cutting. I was intrigued and wondered about creating a simple card that could be created more quickly once it was designed and various bits and pieces were prepared. The initial idea I had in mind wasn't quite right so I kept fiddling & chose a different stamp set to go with the Festive Foliage background stamp. With the fiddling around I developed a card that would be extremely difficult to create 10 in 30, however, I decided to create the same card but use different colour combinations. As I was called into work I ended up only creating two versions. I will need to finish the other colour combinations later.

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.

The cards are similar with the only differences being the colour of inks and card-stock and coordinating ribbons. They both started by stamping the Festive Foliage stamp in Gray Granite Classic Stampin' ink onto Basic White card-stock. The sentiment from the Merriest Moments stamp set was stamped in Evening Evergreen Classic ink and die cut with one of the smaller Scalloped Contours dies. The stamped backgrounds were mounted on either Polished Pink or Cherry Cobbler card-stock and then on to Gray Granite card bases.

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.

The poinsettias from the Merriest Moments stamp set were stamped in either Cherry Cobbler or Blushing Bride with some Sponge Dauber-ing in Polished Pink Classic inks. The various leaves were stamped, using the same stamp set, in Soft Succulent with dauber-ing in Evening Evergreen (to go with the Cherry Cobbler poinsettias) or Mint Macaron also with dauber-ing in Evening Evergreen to go with the pink poinsettias.

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.

Ribbon, either Cherry Cobbler & Gold or White Glittered Organdy that was coloured with a Light Polished Pink Stampin' Blend, was tied in a bow. All the pieces were arranged and adhered in place with either Multipurpose Liquid Glue or Glue Dots. Brushed Metallic Adhesive-backed Dots were added to the centre of each of the poinsettias. To add that extra bit of shimmer Wink of Stella was splattered across both cards (its such a pity that the camera doesn't capture it).

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.

The card centres were stamped with poinsettias in the coordinating colour as were the C6 Basic White envelopes.

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.

I'm looking forward to playing with other colour schemes that will blend beautifully with Gray Granite. I do so love this neutral. 

Thank you so much for calling in. I hope you found something to spark your interest.

Send joyful Christmas wishes this Christmas with that special touch of a hand crafted card.


If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue and or the July - December 2021 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!. 

There is more Gray Granite creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a very special and talented friend, Rachel Palmieri. As always, I am looking forward to checking out Rachel's creation and everyone else's. I do love seeing everyones' projects - so many ideas and such great creations

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Highland Heatherand don't forget that the AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop is launched every Monday evening at 8pm AEST until mid-December.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog, our amazing AWHT Colour Creations Coordinator.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2021 

Monday, 18 October 2021

AWH Heart of Christmas # 16

Christmas with Poinsettia Petals

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 16th Art with Heart Team 2021 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop


So glad you are joining us for this Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. When we commenced our Blog Hops, Christmas seemed so distant, but now it is certainly getting closer. How are your Christmas preparations going? I have another Christmas card for you - I hope you like it:

Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I had a number of concepts as possibilities to create for last week's Colour Creations Blog Hop where we hero-ed Granny Apple Green. One was inspired by this wild rose photographed while walking along the Sturt River with my dog Gemma. I was disappointed that I ran out of time to follow-up this concept so I decided to run with it for this Heart of Christmas Blog Hop.


I also wanted to try different techniques using the Soft Pastel Assortment. Again, I scraped some pastel dust off both the Granny Apple Green and the Daffodil Delight pastels, then tried applying pastel dust with a stiffer bristle brush, a Water Painter and a Sponge Dauber.

Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I started by embossing a piece of Shimmery White card-stock with the pine fronds embossing folder from the Wintry 3D set of Embossing Folders. It gives a gorgeous effect. A Sponge Dauber was used to lightly apply some Granny Apple Green pastepowder over most of the embossed background. Love the effect. 
The embossed panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Granny Apple Green card-stock.
 
Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The three sizes of poinsettia petals from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set, were stamped in So Saffron Classic ink. Using a stiff bristled brush, powder from the Daffodil Delight soft pastel was applied to the centre of the poinsettia petals. I wanted the colour at the centre to be a stronger yellow so used the mid-sized Water Painter to wet apply extra Daffodil Delight pastel. Similarly, the Holly leaves were stamped in Granny Apple Classic ink and then coloured with the Granny Apple Green soft pastel. To add some interest and sparkle, a little Shimmery Embossing Paste was applied to the edges of the poinsettia petals and tips of Holly leaves.

Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The flower petals were crinkled up and the flower put together with dots of Multi-purpose Liquid Glue. The poinsettia was adhered with a Dimensional and the Holly leaves tucked underneath. The arrangement needed something else so I die cut some Basic White card-stock using one of the pine fronds dies from the Christmas Pine Cones dies and separated the pine fronds. I also cut some berries using a die from the Poinsettia dies from left over surrounds from the Wonderful Snowflakes.

Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Sentiments from the Heartfelt Wishes stamp set were stamped in Evening Evergreen Classic ink and fussy cut. A bow tied with White Crinkled Seam Binding ribbon was attached with Glue Dots and Genial Gems were added to the centre of the flower and near the sentiment.

Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

A Basic White card inner was second generation stamped with So Saffron Classic Stampin' ink and the mid-sized poinsettia from the Poinsettia Petals stamps. The "Merry Christmas" sentiment was stamped in Evening Evergreen Classic ink and a thin strip of Granny Apple Green card-stock adhered to the base of the card inner. A C6 Basic White envelope was also stamped on the front of the envelope with a light So Saffron poinsettia. 

Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

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

Send love to family of friend by creating a Poinsettia Petals Christmas card, by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

If you are in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue and or the July - December Mini Catalogue then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you. Also, please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

To continue with the blog hop, click on the "onto the next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the amazing Claire Daly - the leader of the Art with Heart Team.  I always look forward to checking out Claire's creations together with everyone else's. 

I hope to see you next week for another AWHT Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. Stampin' Up!'s products are amazing, providing brilliant inspiration for creating lovely Christmas projects. Also, don't forget the weekly Colour Creations Blog Hop by the Art with Heart Team that goes live every Wednesday at 8.00pm AEDT.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others.

Andrea XXX


As mentioned, it is always a delight to see everyone's creations and the way they each use the amazing Stampin' Up! products. I am sure there will be gorgeous Christmas projects on show. Don't miss checking out each blog. 

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up or you started part way through, please head to the blog of this week’s lovely host for the Heart of Christmas Blog HopTina Gillespie, and she will have the list of all Art With Heart Team members who are participating in this blog hop. Check out her beautiful creation while you are there.


#heartofchristmas #heartofchristmas2021 #awhtheartofchristmas

Wednesday, 13 October 2021

AWHT Colour Creations #20 Granny Apple Green

Granny Apple Green with Gorgeous Leaves and Christmas Season 

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Art with Heart 2021-2022 Colour Creations Blog Hop.


This week’s Blog Hop is focussing on a bright yellow green called Granny Apple Green. Granny Apple Green is part of the Brights Colour Family and is a wonderful colour for foliage, grasses, granny apples and where a bright yellow green is needed. I see this colour in so many forms as I walk with my dog along the Sturt River.


Granny Apple Green is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, Stampin’ Spots re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin’ Blends; Watercolour Pencils; Soft Pastels; the Brights & Pattern Party Host Designer Series Paper; Rainbow Glimmer Paper and Shaker Shapes. The cards below have used Granny Apple Green Classic ink, plus a range of other bits and pieces.

Share with those you care about by giving a special card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Card 1:

As I was thinking of what I would create using Granny Apple Green (GAG) I was walking along the Sturt River and seeing a range of foliage in different greens and many were differing shades of GAG. I determined that I would create project(s) with leaves in some form. I also recently saw a delightful still life photo showing Granny Apples sitting in a Blushing Bride bucket on a Pool Party painted chair. The painting was ageing and showing wood in patches. These inspired my first card.

Share with those you care about by giving a special card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The Very Vanilla card front was stamped in Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' ink with the lighter of the splatter stamps from the Gorgeous Leaves stamp set. (This is such a gorgeous stamp set.) The panel was then dry embossed with the Timber 3D embossing folder, giving a delightful look of timber grain across the card-stock. The embossed panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gold Foil from the Brushed Metallic card-stock pack.

Share with those you care about by giving a special card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The larger detailed leaf die in the maple leaf shape from the coordinating Intricate Leaves dies was cut multiple times from Fluid 100 Watercolor paper. The leaves were wet on wet water-coloured using Granny Apple Green, Blushing Bride and Pool Party Classic inks with the mid-sized Water Painter from the set of 3 Water Painters. I do love water-colouring die cut pieces and it is so easy when watercolor paper has been used.

Share with those you care about by giving a special card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The maple leaf was also stamped in Crumb Cake ink 3 times on Very Vanilla card-stock and then die cut. The detailed leaves were partially adhered to the stamped leaves. This enabled me to pop the leaves up on Dimensionals.

Share with those you care about by giving a special card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Before adhering the leaves in place, some Linen Thread and Gold trim from the Simply Elegant Trim pack was tied around the card front and finished in a bow. A sentiment from the Through It Together stamp set was stamped twice in Crumb Cake ink on Very Vanilla card-stock. The sentiment was fussy cut so most of it could be used in one long strip rather than 2 rows. You may notice 2 words with some dimension. Initially, I had highlighted these words in a different colour but then decided I didn't like it so added another set of the 2 words on top. Given the layers, the words are still highlighted but it is more subtle. Some Genial Gems were added for a little glimmer. I do love a touch of bling.

Share with those you care about by giving a special card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The Very Vanilla card inner and C6 envelope were both stamped with a row of maple leaves using Crumb Cake ink. The card inner also had a thin strip of Gold foil adhered at the bottom.

Share with those you care about by giving a special card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

A lovely friend is trudging through a difficult time at 
present. I know she loves cards with leaves so this card will be heading her way, hopefully to brighten her day and so she knows she is thought of and loved.

Card 2:

Share a joyful season with those you care about by gifting a special Christmas card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I first starting to create this card for last week's CASEing the Catty Challenge but things happened and I didn't complete it in time. The challenge was based on this sketch:


I made sure some of the foliage was stamped in Granny Apple Green so I could share it here. As you will notice, I'm currently trying to create at least one Christmas card for the Colour Creations Blog Hop to help build my card stash. Christmas is coming more quickly now.

Share a joyful season with those you care about by gifting a special Christmas card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I die cut a layer of Vellum and of Basic White 
card-stocks using the two pine fronds dies in the Christmas Pinecones die set. These were layered on a Thick Basic White card-stock base. Two smaller circles from the Layering Circles die set were used to cut Cherry Cobbler card-stock. Leaves, holly, berries and pinecones were stamped on Basic White card-stock using Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake. Apart from the berries the leaves and pinecones had 2 stamps to give shading. The first stamp was stamped off first and the second was stamped in full strength ink. The stamped pieces were fussy cut - although I'm not sure why as there were coordinating dies - but it made sense at the time??

Share a joyful season with those you care about by gifting a special Christmas card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

Some of the Cherry Cobbler & Gold ribbon was sliced down the middle and swished in place. A sentiment was White heat embossed on the smaller circle before the 2 Cherry Cobbler circles being added with Dimensionals; and the leaves, berries and pinecones arranged around the labels and over the ribbon. A gold foil spray of berries (from a previous project) was laying on the workstation so I cut it into 3 and tucked them in to add some extra gold to the arrangement. Genial Gems were added as the finishing touch.

Share a joyful season with those you care about by gifting a special Christmas card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

The Basic White card inner and C6 Basic White Envelope were both stamped with leaves at an edge. Two pinecones were also adhered directly to the card inner.

Share a joyful season with those you care about by gifting a special Christmas card, designed by Andrea Sargent, Australia.

I had fun creating with Granny Apple Green. I hope my projects have given you some food for thought. Another design using GAG is bubbling in my brain - so stay tuned, as it may turn up in a coming Heart of Christmas Blog Hop.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue and or the July - December 2021 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!. 

There is more Granny Apple Green creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a very special and talented friend, Rachel Palmieri. As always, I am looking forward to checking out Rachel's creation and everyone else's. I do love seeing everyones' projects - so many ideas and such great creations

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Gray Graniteand don't forget that the AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop goes live every Monday evening at 8pm AEDT until mid-December.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others.

Andrea 💕🐾


If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog, our wonderful AWHT Colour Creations Coordinator.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2021 

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