AWHT Colour Creations #19 Gorgeous Grape

Gorgeous Grape with Soft Pastels Assortment and Angels of Peace & So Many Snowflakes   

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 an intense purple called Gorgeous Grape. Gorgeous Grape is part of the Stampin' Up! Brights Colour Family and is a great colour, even if its one I haven't used regularly. I would have said that I'm not a purple person, however, of late I have enjoyed creating with purple in it's various SU shades. This week's projects started with a decision to use the Soft Pastels Assortment as hadn't used them since they arrived. Focussing on Gorgeous Grape was a great opportunity to experiment with techniques using the pastels.

Gorgeous Grape is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, re-inkers & ink spots); Stampin' Write Markers; Watercolor Pencils; Soft Pastels Assortment; the Brights Designer Series Papers; Ombre Speciality Paper; Sheer Ribbon; Pastel Pearls and Sheer Ribbon. The cards have used Gorgeous Grape card-stock, Classic ink, Soft Pastels Assortment and Gorgeous Grape Sheer Ribbon plus a range of other bits and pieces.

Background Techniques with Soft Pastels: 

I started by experimenting with 2 background techniques. I remembered seeing one technique, I think by one of the Artisans; the second - I hadn't seen anyone try. 

Starting with a container of water, I sprinkled fine scrapings from the Gorgeous Grape pastel stick on top of the water. I also sprinkled some Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana scrapings on top of the water and gave a little swirl. Then a piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor paper was laid on top of the water. When I lifted the paper, some pastel ink had transferred to the paper. I did notice that the powdered ink didn't lay on top of the water for very long but dropped to the bottom of the container, as such the colouring is fairly light. Next time it may be worth testing out transferring one colour at a time to the paper - layering one colour on top of another.

With another piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper, I wet the paper with water from a Stampin' Up! Mister and then sprinkled scrapings from Gorgeous Grape, Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana pastels onto the damp paper. The powdered pastel dissolved a little, but generally didn't do that much, so I misted more water over the powdered pastels on the paper. This spread the colour, with some colour blending. As you can see the colour is more intense but there are some lumps of congealed powder. It will be interesting to experiment further at another time.

CARD 1:

Once the background panel had dried following being coloured using the first technique described above, it was embossed with the Merry Melody 3D embossing folder.

The larger angel from the Angels of Peace stamp set was stamped in Versamark ink onto Shimmery White card-stock and heat embossed with White Emboss Powder and a Heat Gun. Using the finest Water Painter the angel was coloured using the Soft Pastels Assortment. With remaining scrapings from the Gorgeous Grape pastel stick, plus some scrapings from the Real Red and Daffodil Delight pastels, the wet tip of the fine Water Painter was dipped into the pastel powder, dissolving some of the powder and then colouring the angel. This was similar to water-colouring using our re-inkers. As there isn't a brown pastel stick, I mixed a little Real Red and Coastal Cabana dampened pastel powder to create a brown for colouring her hair. I'm so glad for the colour theory I studied many many years ago.

The angel was fussy cut and layered over a couple of Wonderful Snowflakes on top of the embossed coloured background. The angel needed something else to ground her so I cut a side piece of Fresh Freesia card-stock using the pointed stitched die from the Basic Borders die set. Some gorgeous White Glittery Organdy ribbon also was added with the snowflakes and angel layered on top. The whole card front was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gorgeous Grape card-stock. This was popped up on Dimensionals onto a Fresh Freesia card base.

The White Glittered Organdy ribbon and the Gorgeous Grape Sheer ribbon were both cut in half length-wise and a piece of each were tied into bows and tucked under the top snowflake,  adhering them with Glue Dots. A sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with White Emboss Powder. The top line of the sentiment was fussy cut and adhered in place with Mini Dimensionals. A number of Subtle Shimmer Sequins were added to add some extra shimmer.

The card inner was decorated with the angle and a different sentiment stamped with Gorgeous Grape on Basic White card-stock. This panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gorgeous Grape card-stock. A Basic White C6 envelope was also stamped with the angel in Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin ink.

CARD 2:

The second pastel coloured panel was used as a background for a Snowflake Shaker card. A centre hexagon shaped hole was cut in a piece of Snowy White Velvet Sheet. It doesn't show in the photo, but it feels so soft and velvety. This die cut piece was embossed with the snowflake embossing folder from the Wintery Embossing Folder set. It creates a delightful embossed image.

A shaker window was created with a piece of Window Sheet, Foam Adhesive Strips, the delightful Subtle Shimmer Sequins with the background piece layered behind. The whole shaker window was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gorgeous Grape card-stock and in turn adhered to a Fresh Freesia card base. The shimmer of the white and silver sequins is delightful over the pastel coloured base.

Three snowflakes from the So Many Snowflakes dies were cut from Fluid 100 Watercolor paper. These snowflakes (plus another 2 for decorating the card inner) were water-coloured using some remaining Gorgeous Grape, Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana soft pastel powder and the fine Water Painter. Once dry, the snowflakes were adhered with a little Multipurpose Liquid Glue and finished with Blue Adhesive-backed Gems. (The formal name may sound boring but they are anything but boring. Their shimmer and colour is scrumptious.)

A sentiment from the coordinating Snowflake Wishes stamp set was stamped in Smoky Slate Classic ink on Basic White card-stock. The sentiment was stamped again in Gorgeous Grape ink and the words "Merry Christmas" cut out. This piece was layered over the Smoky Slate sentiment with Dimensionals.

A left over piece of the coloured background and a very fine strip of Gorgeous Grape card-stock were added to the RHS of a piece of Basic White card-stock. The two extra water coloured snowflakes were layered on top. A Basic White C6 Envelope was stamped with one of the small snowflake flurry stamps using Fresh Freesia ink with a little Gorgeous Grape ink partially daubered on the stamp (using a Sponge Dauber). The stamping went all around the front edge of the envelope.

Thank you for spending some time with me. I had a lot of fun playing with techniques using the Soft Pastel Assortment. I would like to further explore the techniques used on these cards and refine my use of the techniques. There are many other techniques that I would like to try as well. You never know - they may turn up in more Colour Creations projects.

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 Gorgeous Grape creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a lovely lady, Ros Davidson. As always, I am looking forward to checking out Ros'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 Granny Apple Green; and don't forget that the AWHT Heart of Christmas Blog Hop is launched 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 amazing AWHT Colour Creations Coordinator.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2021 

AWHT Colour Creations #13 Crumb Cake

Crumb Cake with Angels of Peace & For Unto Us

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 neutral light brown called Crumb Cake.  It is similar but still a different brown from Kraft card-stock - slightly lighter and Kraft has a little more of an orange tinge. Crumb Cake is part of the Neutrals Colour Family and coordinates so well with many colours (as neutrals tend to do). One of my favourite colour combinations is Petal Pink with Crumb Cake, so in the end I decided to go with this combo. My initial thought was to use White on Crumb Cake which is always delightful, but my designing process took me in another direction. 

Crumb Cake 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 Designer Series Paper and some Bakers Twine (as part of the Essentials Pack of twine). The Slim-line Christmas cards below have used Crumb Cake card-stock, Classic ink, Stampin' Blends Combo, and Bakers Twine, plus other bits and pieces.

I was planning to make a fancy fold that I had recently seen and started with water-colouring some panels to use as background pieces. However, when layering them as they would look in the fancy fold I wasn't convinced that it worked well so ended up in a completely different direction, creating 2 more simple cards. 

I was delighted with the water-colour effect achieved with the panel used on this first card. In my water-colour experimentation I have been trying to gain more variation of colour but usually my watercolour backgrounds tend to end up as a subtle blending of colours. This panel also uses the emboss resist technique, with a sentiment from the For Unto Us stamp set stamped in Versamark ink onto Fluid 100 Watercolor paper and heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss powder and a Heat Gun. I used Crumb Cake and Petal Pink Classic Re-inkers with the mid-sized Water Painter and some extra water.

When dry, the water-coloured panel was mounted on a larger piece of Petal Pink card-stock. Some Basic White Bakers Twine from the Bakers Twine Essentials Pack was wrapped around twice and tied in a bow; and then the panel was mounted onto the Crumb Cake card-stock base. The base had been cut to create a small slimline card. The card was then finished with a few delightful Elegant Faceted Gems. I am sooo glad these carried over into the current Annual Catalogue for 2021-2022. This is a fairly simple card for me as I usually have layer upon layer and lots of texture, but I am still pleased with it, especially the water-colour effect. 

The card inner is simple too, with the angel from the Angels of Peace stamps partially stamped on a piece of Basic White card-stock in Petal Pink ink and the words that continue from the front sentiment, (ie a Christmas carol "Hark the Herald Angels sing, Glory to the new born King") were stamped in Crumb Cake ink. I made a custom sized envelope to suit the small slimline card using some retired Designer Series Paper. Creating your own envelopes with retired DSP is a great way to use your stash of DSP and the envelopes always look great.

Card 2:  The second card used another water-coloured panel, that was created with the same products as previously mentioned. It too was mounted onto a panel of Petal Pink card-stock and White Crinkled Seam Binding was wrapped around and tied into a bow. Some Crumb Cake Bakers Twine from the Bakers Twine Essentials Pack was tied around the ribbon bow's knot and then tied into a bow. The whole panel was mounted onto the small slimline card Crumb Cake base.

The larger angel from the Angels of Peace stamp set was stamped on a seperate piece of Basic White card-stock in stamped off Crumb Cake ink. The angel was coloured with Stampin' Blends, ie Crumb Cake & Petal Pink combos and Ivory & the Colour Lifter. She was fussy cut. A label was die cut from Basic White card-stock using one of the Stitched So Sweetly dies.

The white label was positioned with Dimensionals and the Angel was added with another layer of Dimensionals. I do so love the effect of the added depth provided by Dimensionals and given my restraint in not added them to the background layers, I felt I could go a little wild with the focal elements. A sentiment from the same stamp set was white heat embossed on Crumb Cake card-stock and trimmed to only use the first line of the sentiment. The sentiment was layered on the label with Dimensionals as well. Some beautiful Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels were added as the finishing touch. They added that little shimmer and the colour seemed to match perfectly.

The card inner and envelope was similar to the first card apart from the sentiment. The same sentiment as was used on the front was stamped in Crumb Cake and the piece of the sentiment that wasn't used on the front of the card was layered over the stamped words.

I had fun playing with water-colour and creating these cards to share. I will need to make the fancy fold with something different so I can try it out. If it works, it may even turn up in a week or two featuring another of Stampin' Up!'s beautiful colours.

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 new 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 Crumb Cake creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a very special person and friend, Sharon Davern. I am looking forward to checking out Sharon's creation and everyone else's. I. do love seeing everyones projects - so many ideas and great creations

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Crushed Curry; and don't forget 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.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2021

AWH Heart of Christmas 2021 #4

Heart of Christmas with Angels of Peace

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

Last week when participating in the Art with Heart Team Colour Creations Blog Hop, which focussed on Cajun Craze, I created two backgrounds - one with water-colour and the other with an alcohol blending technique. I chose the latter for the card created for that blog hop. I loved the water-colour background so decided to incorporate it in the project for this blog hop.

The water-coloured background was created using Petal Pink & Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' ink, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper and a flat Water Painter. I love using the wet-on-wet water-colour technique (though am still needing to perfect this technique). Water-colouring tends to reveal some of the hues that go to make up a colour. As you can see, Cajun Craze is built on pinky tones.

The water-coloured background was dry embossed using the 3D Merry Melody embossing folder. Isn't the embossed music delightful?

The larger angel from the Angel's of Peace stamp set was stamped in Versamark Ink onto Shimmery White card-stock and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss powder and a Heat Gun. A sentiment from the same stamp set and the star from the Great Tidings stamp set was similarly heat embossed. The angel was coloured with Light & Dark Petal Pink, Light Calypso Coral and Light Cajun Craze Stampin' Blends for the dress. Her hair was coloured with So Saffron Blends Combo; her wings & most of the bird with Smoky Slate Blends Combo; and her skin with the Ivory Blend. A Colour Lifter Blend was used to add highlights and soften edges. A touch of Light Melon Mambo Stampin' Blend coloured the dove's belly as a foretelling symbol of 33 years later at the first Easter.

The water-coloured background panel was mounted on a piece Petal Pink card-stock together with a thin strip of Gold Metallic Speciality paper. A piece of the oh so gorgeous White Glittered Organdy Ribbon was cut in half (lengthwise) and tied around the front panel ending in a bow. The angel and sentiment were fussy cut, while the star was die cut using the Wise Men Tidings set of dies. These pieces were all added to the card front with Mini Dimensionals.

This front panel was adhered directly to a Thick Basic White card-stock base. Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels were added as the finishing touch.

The card inner was formed on Basic White cardstock, stamping the angel and another sentiment from the Angels of Peace stamp set in Calypso Coral ink. The card inner was then mounted on Calypso Coral card-stock leaving a very fine mount. A C6 Basic White envelope was also stamped with the angel in Calypso Coral ink.

Thank you for visiting Valley Inspirations with Andrea. I really enjoyed creating this card with the soft & feminine Angels of Peace with the water-colour background from last week. I had a number of ideas of what I would do with the background but they all went out the window when I looked this morning at the Angels of Peace stamp set on my table.

 

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 new July - December Mini Catalogue then let me know and I will be delighted to send one to you. Also, please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

There is more Christmas creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "onto the next" graphic to be taken to one of my special friends, Sharon Davern's blog. I am looking forward to checking out Sharon's creation as well as 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 and Christmas in July is a great time to start Christmas card-making.

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

Andrea XXX

  

It is always a delight to see everyone's creations and the way they 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 host for the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, and she will have the list of all Art With Heart Team members who are participating.

#heartofchristmas