Social Stamping - #13 Thinking of You

Thinking of You with Forever Greenery Suite +

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Social Stamping Blog Hop for another week. This is our 13th week of blog hopping together with huge Thanks to Kelly Kent - our amazing coordinator. Our theme this week is "Thinking of You".

I hope you have been enjoying all the projects that have been inspired by the "Thinking of You" theme.  Even though we are gradually moving out of intense COVID-19 restrictions, there are still many limitations, including crossing State borders (that is in a number of states) requiring quarantining. We are still limited in visiting family and friends who live over state borders or overseas. Sending a "Thinking of you" message across the miles/kilometres is so important so special folk know that you care. Here's my card that will be travelling across borders, as its not easy for me to cross Australia:

This was one of those cards that didn't fall into place easily. Initially, I had a different type of leaf spray in mind but when it didn't balance well, I changed plans, removed some elements and added flowers. Even though I love the Forever Greenery colour palette, I thought I would use a different colour scheme. I am very partial to the combination of Very Vanilla, Petal Pink and Gold and have also added a hint of Crumb Cake.

The card base was cut from Thick Very Vanilla card-stock. The card front was created with a central panel of Very Vanilla card-stock that was mounted on Petal Pink card-stock and thin strips were cut from Gold Foil card-stock. The central piece of Very Vanilla was embossed using one of the Greenery embossing folders. Both embossing folders are gorgeous; and this one has leaf sprays from both the top and bottom.

One of the card's design feature is the gorgeous fine Gold Hoop embellishment. Just love it. It appears to be hung in place with the soft ribbon and gold thread from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack. Another beautiful element is a gold spray of leaves from the Forever Gold Laser-cut Speciality Paper. The tiny gold leaves pop out from behind the flowers. Other sprays of leaves were cut in Vellum card-stock using the lovely Forever Flourishing dies. The camera hasn't picked up the vellum leaves very well to show their subtle effect. I had stamped and cut a range of different leaves from the delightful Forever Fern stamp set (a distinktive designed set). While these leaves will be used on another project, the splatter stamp from the set was used to add some light Petal Pink & Crumb Cake splatters. The sentiment came from the new Lovely You stamp set and was stamped in Flirty Flamingo ink to enable the sentiment to stand out more than if I had used Petal Pink. The colour is similar, just a little brighter. I quite often like to use a strong colour that compliments the card's colour scheme as a change from the sentiment being in black.

The flowers were die cut from Petal Pink card-stock using the Ornate Borders dies. To add extra interest and softness, the flower edges were sponged using a Sponge Dauber with Petal Pink ink and some White Craft Pigment ink was sponged lightly on the centre of the flowers. Each flower was squished into firm foam to give shape before being adhered to the card front. Basic Pearls were added to the centre of each flower and 3 small pearls were also scattered nearby.

The card inner was created with a centralised panel of Very Vanilla card-stock with 2 thin strips of Petal Pink card-stock adhered on either side. This lessened the bulk of another layer of card-stock. The Forever Fern splatters were stamped in Petal Pink ink with small Crumb Cake and vellum leaf sprays that were tied with the Gold Trim. A 'Thinking of You' sentiment from the Beautiful Moments stamp set was stamped in Flirty Flamingo ink and fussy cut in 2 pieces. 

Thank you for visiting the Valley Inspirations blog. I do appreciate you spending time with me. Please contact me if you would like any further information about the card; or if you live in Australia and would like a new Annual Catalogue posted to you; or if I can help in any other way.

I hope you are enjoying this week's Social Stamping Blog Hop that has focused on the theme - Thinking of You. If you started at the beginning with our amazing Social Stamping Host, Kelly Kent, then you have hopped through to the last blog for this week. If you started 'hopping' part way through, or have jumped around, then either click here to be transferred to Kelly Kent at My Papercraft Journey to see her gorgeous creation or click on the 'Next' graphic below; or if you would prefer to go to the full list of participants click on this link to be taken to Kelly Kent's Host blog post where you will find individual links that can take you to each person's blog.

Do look after yourself and your loved ones in these strange times.

Hope to see you again next week when the Social Stamping Blog Hop theme is "Out of the Box".

Andrea 😘

  

List of Products used to create these cards:

Stamps, Dies & Punches

• Forever Fern stamp set - #152559
• Lovely You stamp set - #152525
• Beautiful Moments stamp set - #151677
• Forever Flourishing dies - #152714
• Ornate Borders - #152724

Inks & Applicators

• Petal Pink ink pad - #150080
• Crumb Cake ink pad - #102283
• Flirty Flamingo ink pad - #147118
• White Craft Stampin ink pad - #147277
• Sponge Daubers - #133773

Paper

• Very Vanilla card-stock - #106550
• Very Vanilla Thick card-stock - #144238
• Petal Pink card-stock - #147009
• Forever Gold Laser-cut Speciality Paper - #152493
• Vellum Card-stock - #106584
• Gold Foil - #132622
• C6 Very Vanilla envelopes - #106589

Embellishments

• Pearl Basic Jewels - #144219
• Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack - #152479
• Gold Hoops Embellishments - #152474

Adhesives

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

Tools

• Greenery Embossing Folders - #152716
• Take Your Pick Tool - #144107
• Bone Folder - #102300
• Paper Snips - #103579
• Paper Trimmer - #152392
• Stamparatus - #148187
• Block D - #118485
• Block E - #118484
• Block H - #118490
• Grid Paper - #130148
• Silicone Craft Mat - #127857
• Simple Shammy - #147042
• Heat Tool - #129056
• Stampin Cut & Emboss Machine - #149653
• Magnetic Cutting Plate - #149656

Social Stamping - #9 Animals

Animals - No! She's My Fur Family.

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and to the 9th Social Stamping Blog Hop. I hope you have been enjoying seeing all the projects that have been inspired by this week's theme - 'Animals'.

  

When I first saw this weeks theme, my heart smiled. My thoughts immediately turned to my fur family, Gemma. I knew I would create something reminiscent of my dog. Yes, I am a dog tragic! 

The dog depicted in my card doesn't look like my Lhasa Also x, but it is from a current Stampin' Up! stamp set, Happy Tails - though this set is retiring in a couple of days (that is 2nd June 2020). One of Gemma's favourite activities is our regular walks. Most mornings we can be found walking along the Sturt River, Coromandel Valley. It is a lovely walk, whatever the season. Imagine twittering birds, babbling water running over rocks, a range of trees including some that change colours in Autumn plus places to sit, relax and contemplate. So beautiful. I hope my card communicates a sense of Gemma and my love of our walks along the river.

Using Peaceful Place (another retiring stamp set), the scene was coloured using Stampin Write Markers direct to the stamp. To gain a Watercolour effect, both the Shimmery White card-stock and the coloured stamp were lightly spritzed with water then, using a Stamparatus, the stamp was laid on the card-stock. The card-stock was left to dry in place in the positioning tool. Once dry, the stamp was coloured again in stages and re-stamped in the same position on the card-stock. This gives a clear image over the watercolour background. A lovely effect. The same process was used to colour the dog's image; the grass stamp came from Beautiful Moments (a gorgeous continuing stamp set).

To be able to super-impose the dog over the river scene I decided to create a Triple Panel Spanner fancy fold card, with the dog attached to the spanner panel. The scene is in the centre of the second panel and the area for writing the greeting is on the third panel.  Sentiments from both Silhouette Scenes and Beautiful Moments stamp sets were gold embossed on Old Olive Vellum. To finish the card a little Wink of Stella was added to the river to add a little shimmer and 3 tiny gold butterflies (die cut using the Butterfly Beauty dies) were added to the grassy field surrounding the dog.  

I am delighted that you called by. Please contact me if you want any further information about the card or I can help you in some way.

The next paper crafter is the lovely and talented Sandra Collett at Sanzstamps.  To go to her blog you can either click on her name or the "Next" graphic below.  Or if you would prefer to go to the full list of participants click here to be taken to Kelly Kent's blog where you will find individual links that take you to each person's blog.

With COVID-19 cases significantly declining in Australia, we still need to restrict our activities to ensure we and others stay safe and healthy. I do hope you are coping in these strange times. It is great to hear of restrictions being lessoned via a staged approach and to know that life will be expanding, at least within our country. Take care and look after yourself and your loved ones.

I look forward to blog hopping with you again next week.