AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop #9 Basic Gray

Basic Gray with Sketched Butterflies

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 showcasing a deep grey called Basic Gray. Basic Gray is part of the Neutrals Colour Family and like other neutrals, it coordinates with so many colours. For me, this colour is not one I would use as a focal colour as it can be quite so be, however, it is great to use instead of black if you want to stamp in a slightly softer colour, its also wonderful for shadows, to add to other colours to give greater depth of shading. I think it is a wonderful colour to support other colours. I love grey as a combo with either pink, blue or yellow. 

Basic Gray is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, Spots & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Marker; Watercolor Pencils - Assortment One; Neutrals Designer Series Paper as well as Country Woods DSP, Calming Creek Mix & Match Cards & Envelopes; Basic Gray & Smoky Slate Pearls and the TimelessGreetings Kits. 

The card below has used Basic Gray ink, card-stock, Stampin’ Write Marker, Country Woods DSP and some of the Basic Gray (& Smoky Slate) Pearls.

As I first mused about creating a card showcasing Basic Gray, I wanted to add a strong colour. The current weather is really cloudy, overcast, raining and “grey”. I wanted to move out of the “grey” feeling so chose Melon Mambo as the main accompanying colour. I also thought of butterflies as something that could be stamped in Basic Gray and then coloured - hence my selection of the wonderful Sketched Butterflies bundle.

I also thought of Stampin’ Up!s Challenge for this month - “do you prefer ‘this’ or ‘that’ “ layout. #CreativeChallengeSU  This card was inspired by the “this” layout, with some more lateral interpretation of the smaller circles.  The side panels were created with strips of one of the Country Woods DSP designs including Basic Gray. The strips were mounted onto slightly larger Basic Gray panels.

The process started with water-colouring the central panel of the design, intensifying the ink at the top and allowing the colour dilute and drip down the panel of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. Before adding Melon Mambo Classic Stampin’ ink a light wash of Bubble Bath ink covered the panel to dispel the cream colour of the paper. The water-coloured panel was left to almost dry before being embossed with the Cute Crochet 3D Embossing Folder. My first use of this gorgeous folder. When fully dry, some Basic Gray splattering was added with a Stampin’ Write Marker and it was mounted onto a slightly larger piece of Basic Gray card-stock.

All the butterflies from the Sketched Butterflies stamp set were stamped in Basic Gray Classic Stampin’ ink onto Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. The butterflies were then over stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Clear Emboss Powder and a Heat Tool. They were water-coloured with Bubble Bath & Melon Mambo inks and the fine Water-Painter. When dry they were die cut with coordinating dies. A round label was die cut with one of the smaller circular dies from the Spotlight on Nature set. 

The birthday sentiment was stamped in Basic Gray ink and fussy cut. Arranging all the bits and pieces still left me feeling that something else was needed and I spied a detailed die cut on my work area - it had been die cut using the Thoughtful Wishes dies and was already trimmed into 2. It was tucked under the Spotlight On Nature label, and … it worked. Thank you for extra left over bits and pieces from previous projects. Also a left over piece of Iridescent Striped Trim was cut lengthwise into 3 before bring tied into a bow. A few delightful Basic Gray Pearls were added near the sentiment.

The “this” Stampin’ Up! layout, reminded me of a simple fun fold, where just the centre panel of the card flipped up to reveal the area for writing one’s personal message. In this instance, the Basic White panel was stamped in Basic Gray ink with a different sentiment from the same stamp set. A left over thin strip of the water-coloured panel was added to one side and remaining coloured butterflies were added with two tiny butterflies also partially showing when the card is closed.

A Basic White C6 envelope was stamped with the tiny butterflies in Basic Gray ink.

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around the Basic Gray Colour Creations Blog Hop. I hope you like my card. I doappreciate your time spent here at Valley Inspirations with me.

To continue with the Basic Gray blog hop just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a lovely lady, Di Furniss. I am looking forward to checking out Di’s creation(s) - I wonder if she has created one of her amazing fun folds?. 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 Berry Burst 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 amazing Art With Heart Team Colour Creations Coordinator.  She is a wonderful 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 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send it to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

#colourcreationsbloghop  #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #CreativeChallengeSU   #sketchedbutterflies #thoughtfulwishes #spotlightonnature