Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #37 Pretty Peacock

Pretty Peacock with Arrange a Wreath and Today's Tiles

Hi. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 37th 2020/2021 Colour Creations Showcase by members of the Art with Heart Team.

I am so please you have called by.

This week we are focussing on a a deep teal blue green called Pretty Peacock. Pretty Peacock is one of Stampin' Up! 2019-2021 In Colour collection. It is a beautiful deep rich colour that is a delight to use. Pretty Peacock 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, some Designer Series Papers, including the Forever Greenery and Whale of a Time DSP, Pretty Peacock Scalloped Linen Ribbon, the delightful Pretty Peacock/Old Olive Reversible Ribbon, Woven Threads Sequin Assortment and Butterfly Gems.

I've created two different cards this week, both featuring Pretty Peacock, however, the colour schemes and techniques are different. The first card includes water-coloured die cuts with minimal stamping, while the second card uses layered 2-step stamping and heat embossing.

CARD 1:

The oh so gorgeous Pretty Peacock/Old Olive Reversible Ribbon was the inspiration for this first card. The ribbon features Pretty Peacock with an Old Olive tinge on one side and the reverse on the other side, both with a metallic sheen. Also, I recently saw a video creating different styles of easel cards and was intrigued to try an upright wreath easel card. This is my version using quality Stampin' Up! products.

The Pretty Peacock cardstock card base was scored in half, folded and burnished - as normal.  Approximately 5cm was trimmed off the front flap of the card base. A card front was prepared in Basic White card-stock and cut in two at the same point as the front of the base. Both pieces of the card front were dry embossed using the Tin Tile 3D embossing folder. The bigger piece was directly adhered to the top section of the card and the other piece adhered to the card base, ensuring that when the card is closed flat embossed white card-stock is fully seen. 

Two strips of Soft Sea Foam card-stock were cut to sit across the card at the edges of the embossed card-stock. A sentiment was stamped in the centre of one strip using Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin' ink. I chose "Happy Easter" from the Arrange a Wreath stamp set as I was creating an Easter Wreath. (I'm getting in early with preparations for Easter.) This is such a versatile set as it can be used for a range of celebrations. The two light green strips were adhered to abutting edges of the embossed white card, ensuring the sentiment would be seen on the base. A thin strip of Brass Foil was adhered to the bottom edge of the Soft Sea Foam strip on the top section of the card. Another thin strip of Brass Foil was adhered to the top section of the Soft Sea Foam strip on the base of the card. Two more strips of foil were layered on top of this strip, thereby forming a lip that will hold the wreath as an easel. 

Using the two different wreath dies from the Wreath Builder dies, one of each was cut from Shimmery White card-stock and a third from Brass Foil using the leafy wreath die. The leaf Shimmery White wreath was water-coloured with Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin' ink refill adding touched of Old Olive ink and the spriggy wreath was water-coloured with Old Olive with touches of Pretty Peacock. Extra wreaths were cut from Basic White card-stock and they were adhered directly to the underneath of the water-coloured wreaths to add extra strength. The wreaths were layered and adhered together.

A strip of Shimmery White card-stock was water-coloured with Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' ink, ensuring some variation of depth of colour. Once dry, Easter eggs from the Arrange a Wreath stamp set were stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed using Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. The eggs and some little flowers were die cut from the water-coloured strip using the coordinating Wreath Builder dies. Little flowers were also die cut from  Brass Foil. Each water-coloured flower was layered with a brass flower. Also cut from the Cherry Cobbler water-coloured strip (that had been mounted on a piece of Foam Adhesive Sheet) was a heart with letters spelling "LOVE" cut out.

The eggs and flowers were arranged around the wreath, with a bow of the Reversible Ribbon being adhered at the top with a couple of Glue Dots. Small white Elegant Faceted Gems were added to the centre of each flower. A Soft Sea Spray die cut circle (cut using the Layering Circle Dies) was adhered to the back of the wreath. A smaller circle, die cut from Pretty Peacock card-stock was folded in half and with one half adhered to the underneath side of the card front. The other half of the circle was adhered to the upper centre of the back of the wreath - thus forming the hinge for the wreath. The cut out water-coloured lettering was adhered to the centre of the wreath.

An extra piece of Basic White card-stock was adhered above the embossed section on the inner section of the card. This is for writing a message to the recipient. A white heart was die cut (using the same set of dies) and adhered directly to the card inner together with a left over water-coloured flower with an Elegant Faceted Gem adhered at the centre.

A wreath (from the same stamp set) was partially stamped on a Basic White C6 envelope to provide an inkling of what may be inside.

I loved creating a different version of an easel card. I learnt along the way, so will make changes to my next card, including moving the layered section further down so the easel wreath sits at an angle rather than at right angles to the card base. This has spiked my creativity and I am looking forward to further exploration of ideas.

CARD 2:

As I pondered the other project to create showing Pretty Peacock, my mind went to an uninked stamp set, Today's Tiles. I decided to combine Pretty Peacock with Pool Party and silver embossing.

Using my trusty Stamparatus, I set it up with a stamp from the Today's Tiles stamp set that would stamp 2 rows of 4 tiles in one go. Wanting alternate tiles of Pretty Peacock and Pool Party, I had planned to use Stampin' Spots to ink the tiles. In preparing, I wondered if there would be more control using the Marker to Stamp technique ... I tried this option. 

I stamped the full stamp in Pool Party Classic Stampin' ink knowing that Pretty Peacock was a strong colour and could cover the lighter Pool Party. As this was my first use of the stamp set, I needed to stamp, re-ink and stamp again to attain good ink coverage. I then coloured each alternate tile using a Pretty Peacock Stampin' Write Marker - stamping one tile at a time. The stamping plate was moved 2 notches to stamp another set of 8 tiles adjacent to the first. You have to love Stampin' Up's attention to detail that ensured the tile width matched the Stamparatus width of 2 notches. 

As the stamp had significant area that touched the paper, the Basic White card-stock moved each time I lifted the stamp, even though it was held with 3 bar magnets. I tried to re-align it back into the same spot, but as you can see in the close-ups, it wasn't exact all the time and led to a little shadowing on some of the Pretty Peacock tiles. I wasn't happy with my first attempt so started afresh, adding an extra bar magnet. It still wasn't perfect, but I needed to progress the card - forgetting that there would be close-up photos. Ah well, in sharing the imperfections it is showing areas to watch out for, if you give this a go. I'm certainly looking forward to playing again with this set and working out how to ensure the card-stock doesn't move.

I set up the second stamp designed to highlight certain aspects of the tile design. I stamped it in Versamark ink and then heat embossed the tiles using Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder. I then moved the stamp plate 2 steps along and added Versamark ink to the adjoining set of 8 tiles. Wow, I was so excited with the effect (I know, it doesn't take much for me to get excited.)

The stamped square of 4 by 4 tiles was trimmed close to the tiles. I mounted it directly on a slightly larger square of Basic White card-stock and then mounted it on larger square of Pool Party card-stock using Dimensionals. It was then adhered directly to the Pretty Peacock card-stock base. A sentiment from the same Today's Tiles stamp set was stamped in Versamark on Pool Party card-stock and heat embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder. It was trimmed to a strip that spanned the tile design and mounted onto a wider piece of Basic White card-stock. Some white twine from the Snail Mail Combo Pack was tied around the sentiment strip ending in a bow. This was popped up with Dimensionals over a strip of 4 tiles. The final touch was the addition of 3 clear Elegant Faceted Gems.

A piece of Basic White card-stock, mounted on Pool Party card-stock was adhered to the inside of the card. Three tiles from the discarded stamped tiles was added to carry the focal design through to the inside. As the card was not a standard size at about 12.5 x 12.5cm I custom-made an envelope using a piece of the Forever Greenery Designer Series Paper. A Basic White die cut oval was adhered to the front of the envelope for writing name & address.

I am looking forward to playing with this stamp set again and working to eliminate the imperfections. The coordinating dies are gorgeous and I have numerous ideas to include them on a project. So stay tuned ...

Thank you so much for spending time with me. 😘

Catherine Proctor is the fantastic 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 Pretty Peacock creations. Checking out everyone's creations and their interpretation of the amazing Stampin' Up! colours is always inspiring. 

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team share projects that hero Pumpkin Pie, a strong orange. 

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

Andrea 💕🐾

#colourcreationsshowcase

Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #17 Garden Green

Garden Green with Arrange a Wreath and Peaceful Boughs

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the seventeenth Colour Creations Showcase with members of the Art with Heart Team.

We are gradually working through the alphabet of Stampin' Up!s colours and this week we are starting on he colours with "G" and will be focussing on Garden Green, a rich green that sits within Stampin' Up!s Regals family of colours. 

Garden Green can be found in Stampin' Up!s card-stock; Classic inks (both ink pads and re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Watercolour Pencils; a range of Designer Series Papers; Wonder of the Season Memories and More card pack; the Boho Indigo Product Medley; and a couple of Project/Card kits. 

I have created two cards this week - both wreaths, but the styles are different. I do love wreaths, so it has been fun to play with different expressions. I have used two of my favourite colouring techniques and tried a new one that I had seen Emma Goddard demonstrate.

Card 1: I used the Arrange a Wreath bundle to create this card. It is a set that can be overlooked in Stampin' Up!s Annual Catalogue 2020-21 but it can create wreaths for a range of occasions and is just gorgeous. Using the Wreath Builder dies, one die was used to cut a wreath out of the Rainbow Glimmer paper. While this multicolour paper doesn't include Garden Green the colour combination coordinates very well with it. My exploration of the range of Stampin" Up!s colours through the Colour Creations Showcase has not only helped me better understand each colour, but also to learn more about colour coordination.

The leafy wreath die was used to cut two wreaths out of Shimmery White card-stock. These single wreaths were coloured with Garden Green, Granny Apple Green and Coastal Cabana Classic inks. Each of the ink pads were squished onto a block, which was then misted with water. Following Emma Goddard's instructions, I cut a finger off a thin glove and put this on my forefinger. The gloved finger dabbed into one of the inks and then onto parts of the die cut wreaths. The same process was used for each of the colours. I loved finger painting as a child, so the child within had a lot of fun, while the adult was happy that my finger remained "relatively" clean. The wet wreaths were left to dry. Colouring the wreaths in this manner allowed the wet ink to settle in the embossed leaf veins, which added to the colour effect.

Using the same die set the small poinsettia die cut a number of flowers from Whisper White card-stock; the twig die cut numerous twigs from Garden Green card-stock and Garden Green was also used to cut out the gorgeous heart with "Love" spelt within. Did you know that Stampin' Up! has Foam Adhesive Sheets? I also used one to cut out the heart die so I could add dimension to the "LOVE" letters. Check out the effect - isn't it great!

One of my favourite colouring techniques is to sponge die cut pieces to add shading or interest in some way. The tips of the poinsettia petals were sponged with Frost White Shimmer paint, while all the other die cuts were sponged with both Garden Green Classic ink and White Craft ink. With all the pieces ready the wreath was arranged onto a dry embossed Whisper White card front. The Brick & Morter 3D embossing folder was used for the embossing. 

The card front was adhered to a Garden Green card-stock base. To finish off the card design Wink of Stella was painted over the sentiment "Love" and then flicked over the card. A shimmery bow was tied with Metallic Mesh Ribbon and Iridescent Pearls were popped at the centre of the poinsettias.

The Garden Green die cut heart was adhered to a Whisper White card inner and as time was running out, I wrote in my own scrawl following the "love" within the heart, "came down at Christmas". If I had had more time I would has stamped the words using the Make a Difference stamp set. I will be writing in the card to give it away at Christmas, so at least the writing will match and not look as out of place as it does now. Little hearts were stamped along the base of the C6 Whisper White envelope in Garden Green Classic ink.

CARD 2: The next card has a bit of a rustic feel, although I couldn't resist some metallic shine and rhinestone sparkle. The background of the card was Whisper White card-stock stamped in Sahara Sand Classic ink with the Birch stamp. Even though I stamped off first, it was still darker than I wanted, so a piece of dry embossed Vellum card-stock was placed over the background piece. To reinforce the rustic look the card-stock edges were ruffed up and a corner was rubbed, divided and curled.

The largest circle stamp from the Swirly Frames set was stamped in Versamark ink on Whisper White card-stock and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss powder. The swirly circle was die cut with the largest two circle dies from the Stitched Shapes die set. Another three card-stock rings were also die cut and layered one on top of the other to give the gold embossed swirly circle a little stability and dimension.

Two of the pine sprigs from the Peaceful Boughs stamp set were coloured with Stampin' Write Markers and stamped on Whisper White card-stock. Colouring the stamps with markers is another of my colouring favs. I like to use my Stamparatus and build up the image in stages with a number of colours. I used Garden Green, Mossy Meadow and Crushed Curry on the pine spikes and Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Markers for the twigs. Two sets of two sprigs were coloured and then fussy cut as the coordinating dies didn't cut these out. Three small pine cones were stamped similarly. I already had a few pre-die cut brass metallic twigs on my desk that I decided to use.

The pieces were arranged near the top of the "wreath" and held in place with Multipurpose Liquid glue and Mini Dimensionals. Garden Green is one of the greens that works so well for Christmas and looks great with red, so a bow of the Real Red Braided Linen Trim was added with the ends unravelled.

As the red bow was the only red on the card, a number of Red Rhinestone Jewel Basics were added around the decorated part of the wreath. As a colleague of mine acknowledged last week, it is so easy to spend time on the placement of embellishments and in this case ... 3 didn't seem enough; would 5 be better; hmm, perhaps another 2; oh ... to many I think - remove 2; then to rearrange these touches of glimmer. And it looks so simple!

The sentiment came from the Arrange a Wreath stamp set and was stamped in Garden Green Classic ink on Whisper White card-stock. Not wanting to block the background from showing through the wreath, the sentiment was fussy cut. The card front was adhered directly to the Garden Green card-stock base.

A beautiful sentiment from the Peaceful Boughs stamp set was stamped in Garden Green Classic ink on the Whisper White card inner. A pine sprig was stamped near the bottom of the card inner and on the C6 Whisper White envelope. They were coloured in the same way of the pine sprigs on the front of the card.

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

Catherine Proctor is our 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 other Showcase participants. I'm certainly looking forward to checking out everyone's Garden Green creations. It is always inspiring to see the amazing projects created by others and their interpretations of showcasing the specified colour.

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team will share projects that hero Gorgeous Grape. 

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

Andrea 💕🐾

#colourcreationsshowcase

Heart of Christmas 2020 - August

Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas 2020 with Poinsettia Wreaths

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the second Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase.

We are now half way through August and Christmas still seems quite a way off, however, the next few months will disappear quickly, so I really appreciate the Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase to help me focus on creating in readiness for the festive season. Stampin' Up! have released their August - December 2020 Mini Catalogue with gorgeous products to help us make lovely projects. Leave me a message if you would like a copy of the new Mini Catalogue, if you are in Australia. I'd be delighted to help you.

I've created two projects this month. The two cards feature wreaths with poinsettias. Some aspects of the cards are the same or similar but the cards are different. I hope you like them. 

CARD 1: Long thin cards appear to be "in" at present so I thought I would give one a go. The size aligns with a standard DL envelope. I plan to make an envelope for this card but haven't created it as yet.

The card base is cut out of Thick Whisper White card-stock and the card front is made with a light wooden-like sheet from the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper (DSP) mounted with a thin boarder of a Brass Foil sheet. I so love this colour of foil - it is rich and delectable.

The card front was embossed at the top and bottom with one of the Meadow Moments embossing folders. The wreath was based on a luscious Gold Hoop embellishment. These hoops are soooo gorgeous. The hoop appears to be hanging on the Forever Greenery Trim Open Weave ribbon that is tied with the Gold trim from the same Combo Pack. The ribbon is tucked to the back of the card front before the card front was adhered directly to the base.

The poinsettias, a few leaves and some berries were fussy cut from one of the sheets of the Flowers for Every Season DSP. Holly leaves were fussy cut from one of the sheets of the Poinsettia Place DSP. This is great for those who aren't into colouring. Larger berries were die cut from Brass Foil using the Poinsettia dies. These elements were arranged with the  poinsettias raised on Mini Dimensionals. 

A sentiment from In The Pines stamp set was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed using Gold Emboss powder on a small piece of the same DSP as was used for the card front. A little Wink of Stella was added to the poinsettias to give a little extra shimmer. This isn't picked up by the camera, but is great in real life.

To coordinate with the card front the card inner had thin strips of the Brass foil added at the top and bottom with extra fussy cut holly leaves.

CARD 2: As mentioned, my second card features a wreath (but a different type of wreath) with poinsettias (but different poinsettias). The size of this card is standard rather the long thin style. The card base was the same Thick Whisper White card-stock and the card front was made from the same wood-like DSP from the In Good Taste DSP, that had been embossed with the Pinewood 3D embossing folder and was mounted on Brass Foil with a thin boarder showing. The card front was popped up on Dimensionals to give some dimension and to adhere the front to the card base.

The wreath was created using the Wreath Builder dies. In the set there are two wreath dies, one with little twigs and buds the other with leaves. The first was cut out of a Brass Foil sheet while the leaf die cut a Garden Green and an Old Olive card-stock layer.  The Garden Green and Old Olive leaves were sponged with Whisper White Craft ink using Sponge Dauber. Each single wreath was layered one on the other ensuring part of the lower wreaths showed. 

The poinsettias were cut using the poinsettia die (from the same die set) with two pieces cut from Calypso Coral card-stock for each flower. As you can see there are three flowers. Six tiny flowers were cut from Whisper White card-stock. The poinsettia pieces also were sponged with Whisper White Craft ink and the tiny flowers were daubed with Petal Pink Classic Stampin' Up! ink and the edges with Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Up! ink. 

The flowers were arranged with the poinsettias adhered with Mini Dimensionals. Two extra brass foil twigs also were added. The sentiment from the Arrange a Wreath stamp set was stamped on a little off-cut of the DSP with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Gold Emboss powder. This was fussy cut and positioned in the centre with Mini Dimensionals. 

The card inner was stamped with part of the wreath from the Arrange a Wreath stamp set in Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Up! ink and a die cut Brass foil bow from the Wreath Builder dies was added. The same wreath was similarly stamped onto a Whisper White envelope.

A bow using the Vanilla Open Weave ribbon and the Gold Twine from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack was adhered in place with Mini Glue Dots. Five tiny Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels were added to the centre of each poinsettia and one to the tiny flowers to finish off the wreath.

I love wreaths and the Arrange a Wreath bundle provides so many creative opportunities.

I had fun creating two similar, but different Poinsettia Wreath cards. I hope you like them too.

Thank you for sharing the Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase. I hope you are enjoying the blog hop and finding inspiration. We are always excited to see each others creations and are always inspired by one another.

Judy May is our talented host this year for the Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase each month as we head up to Christmas. If you haven't finished looking at all of the teams Christmas creations, you can visit/revisit Judy's page at Just Judy Designs, where she hosts all the links to the Showcase participants.

Members of the Art with Heart team are conducting other regular blog hops including: 

• Every Wednesday we are holding the Colour Creations Showcase where we feature a different Stampin' Up! colour each week. This coming Wednesday, members of the Team will share projects that hero a neutral colour - "Crumb Cake".

I am so blessed to share with such talented people and so I am sure there will be wonderful projects to inspire in each blog hop, so do drop by.  I hope to see you again next month for our September Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase. Also, I hope you come back in a couple of days for the Colour Creations Showcase featuring "Crumb Cake".

I do appreciate you dropping by and visiting Valley Inspirations.

As mentioned, please don't hesitate to contact me if you are in Australia and would like a copy of the  Stampin' Up! 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue or the newly released August - December 2020 Mini Catalogue; or if you have any queries that I could help with. If you are interested in buying Stampin' Up! products, I would delighted to help you.

I hope you are coping in these difficult times. Look after yourself and your loved ones. Stay safe, stay healthy and know you are special - even though you may not feel that way.

Andrea 😘

List of Products used to create these projects: 

Stamps, Dies & Punches

• Arrange A Wreath stamp set - #152587
• Wreath Builder dies - #152722
• In the Pines stamp set - #153448

Inks & Applicators

• Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' ink pad - #147101
• Petal Pink Classic Stampin' ink pad - #147108
• Whisper White Craft Stampin' ink - #147277
• Sponge Daubers - #133773
• Versamark ink pad - #102283
• Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder - #109129

Paper

• Whisper White card-stock - #106549
• Thick Whisper White card-stock - #140490
• In Good Taste Designer Series Paper - #152494
• Flowers For Every Season Designer Series Paper - #149612
• Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper - #153487
• Calypso Coral card-stock - #124392
• Garden Green card-stock - #108605
• Old Olive card-stock - #106576
• Brass Foil sheets - #153057
• C6 Whisper White envelopes - #106589

Embellishments

• Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack - #152475
• Gold Hoops Embellishments - #152474
• Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels - #151193

Adhesives

• Multipurpose Liquid Glue - #110755
• Mini Glue Dots - #103683
• Tear & Tape Adhesive - #138995
• Mini Stampin' Dimensionals - #144108
• Stampin' Dimensionals - #104430

Tools (incl Embossing Folders)

• Pinewood 3D Embossing Folder - #152320
• Meadow Moments Embossing Folder - #153126
• Take Your Pick Tool - #144107
• Bone Folder - #102300
• Paper Snips - #103579
• Paper Trimmer - #152392
• Stamparatus - #148187
• Block C - #118486
• Block D - #118485
• Block E - #118484
• Block H - #118490
• Grid Paper - #130148
• Silicone Craft Mat - #127857
• Sponge Daubers - #133773
• Stamping Sponge - #141337
• Simple Shammy - #147042
• Heat Tool - #129056
• Stampin Cut & Emboss Machine - #149653
• Magnetic Cutting Plate - #149656