Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #35 Pool Party

Pool Party with Friends are Like Sea Shells and A Touch of Ink

Hi. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 35th 2020/2021 Colour Creations Showcase by members of the Art with Heart Team.

So glad you have called by.

  

This week we are focussing on a lovely soft aqua called Pool Party. Pool Party can be found in the Stampin' Up! Subtle's collection. This is another gorgeous versatile colour.  As the name suggests it is great for watery themes and is amazing as a background to flowers, scenes, etc. It is one of my favourite Stampin' Up! colours. Pool Party 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, a range of Designer Series Papers, the Looking Up Card Kit, the Sweet Little Valentine cards and a number of embellishments, including the Pool Party Sheer Ribbon, Whale of a Time sequins and the Ice Cream Corner Sprinkles..

I've created two different cards again this week. Apart from both featuring Pool Party, I have also used Petal Pink, Sahara Sand, Gold Heat Embossing and water-colouring techniques to keep some consistency between the two cards.

Card 1:  This first card was inspired by Emma Goddard, an amazing lady and Independent UK Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. At Emma's launch of the January-June Mini Catalogue earlier this year, she created a couple of cards where she water-coloured a hand drawn circle for her background. Knowing any attempt to draw a circle (or an oval) would end up as a big mess, I die cut an oval using the Layering Circle dies from a scrap piece of Basic White card-stock. I positioned the oval hole over a piece of Fluid 100 Water-colour paper.

Using the mid size Water Painter, I spread water over the watercolour paper though the hole. After lifting the template off, I increased the oval of water a little so it looked a little more natural (that is - contrived free-hand).  I then dropped both Pool Party and Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' ink onto the water oval, ensuring a little blending of the colours. Playing a little, I added more Pool Party ink. It certainly became darker than planned, but I was intrigued that Pool Party would become this dark and build up to look like Bermuda Bay (see the comparison with the fine Bermuda Bay card-stock mount). I am so fascinated with colour creation and its interactions.

As a fair bit of liquid had been used to create this water-colour background, the water-colour paper was a little warped so I ran it through the Cut & Emboss machine, embossing it with the Subtle 3D embossing folder; which flattened the paper and added some subtle texture.

A selection of shells from the Friends are Like Seashells stamp set were stamped in Versamark ink on Fluid 100 Water-colour paper and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss powder. I so love the Sand and Sea suite. The coordination between the stamps, dies and embossing folder is amazing. The stamped shells are gorgeous and while the stamp set has stamps for two step stamping, I decided to watercolour the embossed shells using Petal Pink, Calypso Coral with touches of Pool Party and Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' inks. These shells were then laid in the Seashells 3D embossing folder and passed through the Cut & Emboss machine.

Some Frost White Shimmer Paint was flicked over the card front. White twine from the Snail Mail Twine Combo pack was twice wrapped around the mounded card front and tied in a bow to the RHS. The shells were arranged and adhered in place with a mix of Multipurpose Liquid Glue and Dimensionals. A sentiment from the same stamp set was also heat embossed in  gold. The sentiment was fussy cut and divided in two with the first half of the sentiment placed over the shells and the second half added to the card inner.

A piece of Basic White card-stock was mounted onto some Bermuda Bay card-stock and then adhered into the Pool Party card base. A little gold embossed sea plant was added near the sentiment.

A couple of sea shells were stamped in Pool Party ink onto a C6 Basic White envelope. 

A few delightful Opal Rounds were added to finish the card. 

CARD 2:  For my second card I wanted to again try a watercolour background but make it much a much softer Pool Party. As mentioned, Pool Party is a fantastic colour for a background, whether water-coloured, as I have done; or creating a soft background with blending brushes or sponge rollers; or by running a Pool Party Stampin' Blend around the edge of the stamped image. Just adding a little Pool Party around a stamped image softens the effect superbly.

This water-colour background was more free flowing than the first card. Water was added to Fluid 100 Water-colour paper using a Water Brush. Drops of Pool Party Classic Stampin' ink refill were added and gently moved around the wet area. Excess moisture and ink were mopped up with a paper towel and the water-coloured paper was put aside to dry naturally. To help in flattening after it had dried, this background was dry embossed with the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder. As I looked at it I realised I had created my own version of one of the designs in the Fine Art Floral DSP - similar but different, as they say.

The embossed water-coloured background was adhered to a Pool Party card-stock mount. The card base was made from Thick Basic White.

Leaves and flowers from the Sale-a-bration free stamp set, A Touch of Ink, were stamped in Versamark ink onto the Fluid 100 water-colour paper and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss powder. The leaves were water-coloured using Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' ink and the flowers with Petal Pink and delicate touches of Rococo Rose ink. The sentiment was accidentally stamped on Basic White card-stock rather than a scrap of the water-colour paper. It doesn't show in real life but the camera has captured the differences in the white of the card-stocks. It is annoying me, but no time to correct it now. I will re-stamp it later!

The leaves and flowers were all fussy cut and arranged in place. That sounds simple ... but ... I fiddled and faffed so much to get the arrangement 'right'. I tried different positions, added a water-coloured humming bird then took it off; added the butterfly and took it off, even tried adding different dragonflies from the Dandy Laser-cut paper, but no - they all detracted from the overall simplicity and space of the design. This hadn't been the only indecision with this card. I had tried different combinations of mounts and also various ribbon or twines. I lost track of the time taken - but ... that is the creative process. Sometimes inspiration just flows and other times there is a lot of fiddling and trying various options. 

Some white twine from the Snail Mail Twine Combo Pack was wrapped around the card front twice on the left hand side and tied in a bow near the top. A few Opal Rounds were added to add a little touch of glimmer. These embellishments are so gorgeous.

The card inner was created by mounting Basic White card-stock onto Pool Party card-stock. A thin strip of Bermuda Bay card-stock was adhered to the bottom of the white card together with a piece of white twine - both were laying on my table from the previous card. A C6 Basic White envelope was stamped with leaves using Sahara Sand ink.

I really enjoyed creating these cards (even with the faffing around), and furthering my water-colour exploration. Its all a learning process.

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 to the participating blogs so you can find everyone's Pool Party creations. Checking out everyone's creations and their interpretation of the amazing Stampin' Up! colours is always a highlight of my week. 

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team share projects that hero Poppy Parade, a bright red that has a touch of orange. 

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others as these strange times continue - and yes, they are continuing ... 

Andrea 💕🐾

#colourcreationsshowcase

Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #34 Petal Pink

 Petal Pink with Hydrangea Haven, Wild Rose and Watercolour

Hi. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 34th Colour Creations Showcase for 2020/2021 by members of the Art with Heart Team.

This week we are focussing on a lovely soft muted orange-pink called Petal Pink. Petal Pink can be found in the Stampin' Up! Subtle's collection. This is such a gorgeous colour and is  beautiful for flowers, baby cards, ... the list could go on. It is one of my favourite colours. Petal Pink 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, 7 different Designer Series Papers, the Looking Up Card Kit, the Sweet Little Valentine cards and embellishments, such as the Petal Pink Organdy Striped Ribbon and the beautiful Elegant Faceted Gems.

While pondering how I would showcase Petal Pink, I decided I would use three stamp sets from my new stash that were yet to see ink. I also decided to play with water-colouring.

Card 1: I love Petal Pink with Very Vanilla and so my first card uses Very Vanilla as the background card-stock. The hydrangeas and their leaves from the Hydrangea Haven stamp set were each stamped three times in Versamark ink on Fluid 100 Watercolour paper and heat embossed with White Emboss Powder. The stem of 3 seed pods from the Enjoy the Moment stamp set was similarly heat embossed on Fluid 100 watercolour paper.

The hydrangeas were watercoloured with Petal Pink Classic Stampin' ink. One hydrangea was only coloured with Petal Pink, while the other 2 also used differing amounts of Rococo Rose ink. The leaves were water-coloured with Mint Macaroon Classic Stampin' ink, as was the seedpod twig, although a little Sahara Sand ink was added near the tip of the seedpods. They were all left to dry.

A piece of Very Vanilla card-stock to add to the centre of the background was embossed with the 3D Painted Texture embossing folder. This was popped in place with Dimensionals. 

The hydrangeas and leaves were die cut with the coordinating Hydrangea dies. The hydrangeas were also die cut with the flower die that cuts little flowers within the flower head. The seedpods needed to be fussy cut as there is no coordinating die with the Enjoy the Moment stamps. The flowers, leaves and seedpods were arranged and layered using a mix of Multipurpose Liquid Glue and Dimensionals.

A sentiment from the Hydrangea Haven stamp set was stamped in Rococo Rose ink onto Very Vanilla card-stock. This was fussy cut and positioned with Mini Dimensionals. Some white twine from the Snail Mail Twine Combo pack was coloured with a Dark Petal Pink Stampin' Blend. I purposely did not go over it again to ensure the colour was evenly distributed as a mix of lighter and darker patches of colour suited the watercolour effect. The coloured twine was tied into a bow and positioned under the sentiment with a Glue Dot. Gorgeous Opal Rounds embellishments were added as the finishing touch.

A piece of Very Vanilla card-stock was adhered to the inside of the card. It had been stamped with a different sentiment in Rococo Rose ink from the same stamp set. Little die cut water-coloured hydrangea petals were scattered across the card inner and adhered with tiny dots of Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

A C6 Very Vanilla envelope was stamped with the hydrangea flower using Stampin' markers to colour the flower head in Rococo Rose and the leaves with Mint Macaron. The flower head was infilled with Petal Pink ink using the coordinating infill stamp.

Card 2:  The Wild Roses background stamp is packed with large and small open wild roses. I mounted this large stamp on my Stamparatus and stamped with Versamark ink onto Shimmery White card-stock. To ensure the clear ink fully covered the design, it was double stamped, then heat embossed using White Stampin' Emboss powder.  

Petal Pink and Rococo Rose Classic Stampin' ink was added using wet on wet water-colouring technique. The colour was applied more strongly to the left hand side and lightened as I moved across to the right hand side. The water-coloured shimmery white card-stock was left to dry thoroughly (overnight). 

Once dry, the largest die from the Stitched Rectangle dies was used to cut a rectangle of embossed and water-coloured shimmery card-stock. This was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Petal Pink card-stock. To ensure it adhered flat, it was passed through my Cut and Emboss Machine a couple of times, which worked brilliantly. 

A couple of small notches where punched on either side of the mounted card front and some white twine from the Snail Mail Twine Combo pack was wrapped around twice and tied in a bow. A sentiment from the ... stamp set was stamped in Rococo Rose ink on a scrap of Basic White card-stock (the Petal Pink was too light) and die cut with the smallest long thin Stitched Rectangle die.

The card still needed something, so I looked through my floral stamp sets for a similar style rose. As I did so I saw the lovely Touch of Ink stamp set that is available for free during Sale-a-bration when you purchase $180.00 worth of product. It is a lovely set that also provides a watercolour look. I stamped the butterfly in Versamark ink and similarly heat embossed it. As time was running out, I didn't have time to watercolour the butterfly so decided to colour it with Stampin' Blends using Light and Dark Petal Pink and Rococo Rose Blends combos. The fussy cut butterfly was popped up on Dimensionals and to align with Card 1, Opal Rounds were added as the finishing touch. The opal look in these embellishments have a pinky tinge that coordinates so well with Petal Pink.

A piece of Basic White card-stock was stamped in Petal Pink ink with the same Butterfly stamp. This was mounted onto a slightly larger piece of Petal Pink card-stock and adhered to the right hand side of the inside of the card to coordinate with the card front design.

A C6 Basic White Envelope was also stamped with the butterfly in Petal Pink ink. The card front was popped up on Dimensionals ensuring alignment with the card's right hand side.

I so enjoyed creating these cards, and playing further with water-colouring.

Thank you so much for spending time with me. 😘

Catherine Proctor is the wonderful 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 to the participating blogs so you can check out everyone's Petal Pink creations. Checking out everyone's creations and their interpretation of the amazing Stampin' Up! colours is always a highlight of my week. 

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team will share projects that hero Pool Party, a delightful soft muted blue that has a touch of green - another one of my favourite Stampin' Up! colours.

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

Andrea 💕🐾

#colourcreationsshowcase