CASEing The Catty #485 CASE A WATERCOLOUR TECHNIQUE

CASE A WATERCOLOUR TECHNIQUE meets Citrus Blooms

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #485 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from the lovely Rachel Palmieri, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps you have arrived here another way; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Peta Stephen so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from the Stampin' Up! Catalogues as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing a watercolour technique in some form from the 2024 - 2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.

There are numerous water-colour techniques and the Annual Catalogue talks of four different ways. Check out pages 118-119 of the Annual Catalogue to see them. For this weeks challenge I chose to use the first technique referenced on page 119 and it is shown in the graphic above. It could be said that this is a more traditional water-colouring technique of using ink, water and a painting brush. For Stampin' Up! that includes their range of water-based Classic Stampin' inks and Water Painters.

In the back of my mind, I have been thinking of creating a Christmas card using the Citrus Blooms bundle and adding something reminiscent of Cinnamon sticks and Star Anise used to make mulled wine - a traditional Christmas drink. I had remembered a previous Christmas kit by Stampin' Up! that featured cards with orange slices, cinnamon and star anise images.

The Citrus Blooms bundle has coordinating dies that include a gorgeous leafy frame, which I just had to use. I partially water-coloured a background panel with a touch of Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' ink using Fluid 100 paper and the wide Water Painter. The Water Painters come in a set of 3, a wide brush, medium brush and fine tipped brush.

The larger orange image from the Citrus Blooms stamp set was gold heat embossed on Fluid 100 Paper. The image was water-coloured with Calypso Coral and a touch of Cajun Craze inks for the oranges; Lost Lagoon and Pretty Peacock inks for the leaves; and Lemon Lolly ink for the flowers. Seperate pieces of paper were fully coloured with either Crumb Cake or Early Expresso inks and then left to dry to be turned into either Cinnamon sticks or Star Anise. Here is a close up of the water-coloured image.

As I started to put the card together I realised that it could easily be top heavy and so not stand for display but topple over. The format of the card was changed to an easel fun fold, however, that meant that I needed other background panels. Time was speeding away and I remembered the gorgeous Thoughtful Journey Designer Series Paper that was created from water-coloured panels. it's a favourite of mine. The Stampin' Up! Concept Artists are so talented and often create the designs for the DSP by drawing/painting etc the original pieces that are photographed and recreated into DSP. As I had run out of time to water-colour my own backgrounds I used the Lost Lagoon watercolored designs. I also realised that I had forgotten to stamp pine fronds using the Golden Greenery stamp set so I used pine fronds that I had already fussy cut from the super gorgeous Graceful Greenery Vellum (its an Online Exclusive). Stampin' Up! have so many products to help you create - you don't have to start everything from scratch. 

Thank you so much for spending time with me. I so appreciate it. I hope you are inspired to try some watercoloring in some way. I so enjoy watercoloring, even though I feel I have so much more to learn. But if you are feeling a little intimidated, you could create a similar card, just CASE what I have done and use the gorgeous Mediterranean Blooms DSP. The most important thing is to enjoy your creativity. x

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this wonderful Crew. The next blog in the hop is the lovely Peta Stephen. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I am sure her project will be a special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project you have created that has been inspired by the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, its easy to request to join and then all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would love to see your creation.

#ctc485 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #citrusblooms   #peacefulseason  

 

CASEing the Catty #480 CASE Embossing Project

An Embossing Project meets Mediterranean Blooms

Hello, welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #480 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from the amazing Rochelle Laird-Smith, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps you have come straight here. Either way, I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Rochelle Blok so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use samples shown in the Stampin' Up! Catalogues as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing projects shown on page 73 that display the Seaside Wishes Bundle from the 2024 - 2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.

The Seaside Wishes Bundle incorporates a Hybrid Embossing Folder, that enables you to emboss and die cut sections in one pass through the Cut ‘n Emboss machine. It is a brilliant development by Stampin’ Up! I have taken inspiration from 2 projects above, that is, the all over background embossing and neutral background colour of the hanging on the left; as well as the middle card shown above has the decorative panel flowing across the card with borders top and bottom - this concept led me to a smaller panel going across the card with bigger top and bottom sections to show the background embossing.

I selected the So Swirly Embossing Folder for the background, and tried a different colouring technique using Basic Beige ink pad and a Stampin’ Mister. Ink was lightly dabbed onto the non-logo side of the folder then water was misted over. A panel of water-colour paper was carefully laid over the misted ink and the paper & folder were passed through the Cut ‘n Emboss Machine. The damp paper was removed and put aside to dry. I loved the effect, however, when I finished creating the card the following day, I inadvertently used the less coloured side for the background. It wasn’t till I was photographing the card for this blog that I realised my error. Ugh. The ink has seeped through the paper in some areas and gives a much more subtle effect.

I had planned a seaside theme for my card, but as I was part of a Mediterranean Blooms class this weekend, fussy cut oranges and lemons from the Mediterranean Blooms Designer Series Paper made their way onto the card. This DSP is gorgeous. The fussy cut pieces were arranged over a Basic White panel spanning the centre of the card. It was mounted on to a larger panel of Old Olive card-stock with the top and bottom sections torn.

A piece of Linen Twine was tied around the card-front ending in a bow. This mounted panel was popped up on Dimensionals onto the embossed panel, which in turn was mounted on to a Basic Beige card-base. A sentiment from the coordinating Citrus Blooms stamp set was stamped in Old Olive ink, trimmed down with the Stampin’ Trimmer and finely mounted onto Old Olive card-stock. The penultimate touch was a sprinkle of gorgeous Brushed Brass Butterflies. A little splattering was added with an Old Olive Stampin’ Write Marker.

The card inner was simply stamped with the smaller orange branch image within the Citrus Blooms stamp set in Old Olive ink. A thin strip of Old Olive card-stock was layered on the left inner edge. I had planned to fussy cut one of the partial edge images on the DSP to adhere on an edge but my brain is in hiatus at present.

Similarly, a C6 Basic White envelope was stamped on the front.

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

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this talented Crew. The next blog in the hop is the wonderful Rochelle Blok. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I am sure her project will be a stunner.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project you have created that has been inspired by the new 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. To share, all you need to do for to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group. If you aren't a member, its easy to request to join and then all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would love to see your creation.

Don't miss any of the Design Team projects. Here is a list with links of participating members of the Crew:

Julia Quinn

Rebecca Scurr

Rochelle Laird-Smith

Andrea Sargent  {You are here}

Rochelle Blok  

Peta Stephen

Courtenay Heuston

Judy May

#ctc469 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #mediterraneanblooms   #citrusblooms  

CASEing the Catty #479 CASE Mediterranean Blooms

Mediterranean Blooms meets A Different Take

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #479 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from the amazing Rochelle Blok, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps you have come straight here. Either way, I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Julia Quinn so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use samples shown in the Stampin' Up! Catalogues as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing projects shown in pages 34-35 that display the Mediterranean Blooms Suite from the 2024 - 2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.

As I looked at these cards I was taken with the oval-ish frame shown in 3 of the cards. Focussing on the frame, I decided to create a card in this shape. I also loved the leaf detail but wondered about featuring it a different way than being part of the frame. The other inspiration taken from these cards was the blue backgrounds.  Here is the result of my CASEing the Mediterranean Blooms Suite:

After die cutting a folded piece of Thick Basic White card-stock with the open die for the frame, a second single layer of Basic White card-stock was cut to be used as the card front. This piece was blended with Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel and Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin’ inks. The colours were applied with Blending Brushes, starting with Balmy Blue in the centre, then Blueberry Bushel and Misty Moonlight nearer the edges to create an ombre feel. I love the organic effect of splattering water over blended backgrounds so added some spatters.

While I was blending I coloured some scrap pieces of Basic White card-stock with a mix of Pretty in Pink and Calypso Coral inks ensuring there were sections of light and dark. These pieces were also splattered with water.  When dry many different sized tiny flowers were die cut. 

As you can see, I have still used parts of the Mediterranean Blooms Suite, but not the stamped images and no fruit. I cut 2 of the centre leaf detail die from Basic White card-stock and laid the pieces next to each other at an angle. A couple of other little leaf die cuts were added to finish off the background. Smaller stems of leaves were also die cut. Colour was applied with Blending Brushes and Soft Sea Foam and Lost Lagoon inks.

A friend has recently lost the love of her life and I wanted a sentiment to let her know I was thinking of her and sending much love so I chose a sentiment from the Unbounded Love bundle. The sentiment was stamped in Misty Moonlight ink on Balmy Blue card-stock. One of the coordinating frame dies from the Unbounded Love dies was selected, but it was a little long so it was die cut twice to create a shorter label.

As you can see, White Bakers Twine from the Essentials Bakers Twine Pack was wrapped around the card-front before the sentiment label was added with Dimensionals and flowers and coloured leaves were arranged. A little splattering of Blueberry Bushel was added with a Stampin’ Write Marker.

Pearlised Enamel Effects Basics was added as flower centres and a few Transparent Adhesive-backed Dots were scattered near the sentiment. 

Another piece was die cut with the open frame die in Basic White card-stock and a thin slice was taken off the left side so that the card inner piece wouldn’t inhibit the card closing. A couple of remaining coloured stems of leaves and flowers were adhered to provide a little decoration to coordinate with the card front. 

As the card would be hand-delivered, a C6 Basic White envelope was decorated simply with the same pieces as the inside of the card.

Thank you so much for spending time here with me. I so appreciate it. Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this talented Crew. The next blog in the hop is the lovely Julia Quinn. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I am sure her project will be wonderful.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project you have created that has been inspired by the new 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. To share, all you need to do for to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group. If you aren't a member, its easy to request to join and then all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would love to see your creation.

#ctc469 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #unboundedlove   #citrusblooms  #mediterraneanblooms  

 

AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop #10 Berry Burst

Berry Burst with Encircled in Nature plus

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 focussing on a rich pinky mauve called Berry Burst. Berry Burst had been an In Color a number of years ago and during the recent colour refresh it returned as part of the Brights Colour Family. It is a beautiful colour that is wonderful for flowers, berries and so much more.  It coordinates with greens (including Granny Apple Green, Lost Lagoon, etc) and with Bubble Bath, Fresh Freesia and Blackberry Bliss to name but a few. 

Berry Burst is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Marker; Stampin’ Blends Combo; Brights Designer Series Paper as well as Full of Life, Unbounded Beauty, Flowering Zinnias, Perennial Lavender, Bright & Beautiful  DSPs; Tinsel Gems Four Pack, Adhesive-backed Sequins Trio, Purple Fine Shimmer Gems; Unbounded Beauty Memories & More Cards; Hooray for Honeycomb kit, Garden of Thanks kit, Your Day To Shine kit; and more. 

This card has incorporated Berry Burst as ink, card-stock, Stampin’ Write Marker and gems from the Tinsel Gems FourPack. Berry Burst has been coordinated with Bubble Bath, Lost Lagoon and Basic White. As Berry Burst is a dominant colour it has only needed touches of the colour to make its presence felt.

Dies from the Encircled in Nature die set were used to cut a wreath with berries and multiple pine fronds from Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. The twigs and pine fronds were water-coloured with Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin’ Ink and the Water-painters, while the little berries on the wreath were water-coloured with Bubble Bath ink. Tiny flowers were cut using a couple of dies from the Citrus Blooms dies and they were water-coloured with Berry Burst ink.

While the water-coloured pieces were drying the Basic White card-stock background was embossed with the gorgeous Dashing Designs 3D Embossing Folder and then mounted onto a slightly larger piece of Berry Burst card-stock. A light splattering was added with a Berry Burst Stampin’ Write Marker.

The “friend” die from the Friends for Life dies was used to die cut the word “friend” from Basic White card-stock that had been layered onto Adhesive Foam Sheet. The word was coloured with Blending Brushes with Bubble Bath and Berry Burst inks.

The second part of the sentiment was taken from the Unbounded Love stamp set. It was white heat embossed on Berry Burst card-stock, White WOW Emboss powder, the Embossing Accessory Kit and a Heat Tool. The Embossing Tool Kit is soooo helpful. Love it. A piece of the Iridescent Striped Trim was cut lengthwise, tied into a bow and added near the “f” with Glue Dots. Final touches were added with Pearlised Enamel Effects Basics to the centre of the tiny flowers together with a scattering of Berry Burst Tinsel Gems from the Four Pack.

A Basic White card-stock panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Berry Burst card-stock and adhered inside the card. A sentiment from the Encircled in Nature set was stamped in Berry Burst ink. Some extra pine fronds and flowers were added to give a sense of the card front design. A Basic White C6 envelope was stamped in Berry Burst and Bubble Bath inks using another image from the Encircled in Nature set.

Thank you so much for calling in on your way around the Berry Burst Colour Creations Blog Hop. I really enjoyed creating this card. I hope you like it.

To continue with the Berry Burst blog hop, just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a special lady, Sharon Davern. I am looking forward to checking out Sharon’s creation(s). I wonder if it will be a fun fold - they are one of her specialities. 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 Blackberry Bliss as we continue the weekly 2024-2025 Colour Creations Blog Hop series. 

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

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 brilliant 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   #encircledinnature #citrusblooms #friendsforlife  #unboundedlove 

CASEing the Catty #474 CASE a Technique

A Technique meets Citrus Blooms

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #474 Challenge with CASEing the Catty. You may have just come from Julia Quinn's Blog or perhaps another way. At the end of this post just click on the next graphic to be taken to Peta Stephen’s blog.

The Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue includes much information useful for paper-crafting, such as various techniques. This week the Challenge is to CASE a Technique. 

I have CASEd a couple of the water-colouring techniques shown on the Catalogue’s pages 118-119, specifically the “Spritz Bliss” and “Paint with Water” techniques. Combining these techniques can result in a technique known as “Loose Water-colouring”.

I coloured the larger rubber stamp from the Citrus Blooms stamp set with Stampin’ Write Markers and stamped on Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper. To do this I used a positioning tool (my retired Stamparatus) so I could ink a section of the stamp and stamp it on the paper before the ink dried on the stamp. It is possible to colour a stamp with different coloured markers and then “huff” on it to breathe moisture onto the stamp so the ink is dampened. Since COVI|D, I have hesitated to “huff” on the stamp, finding stamping with a positioning tool extremely effective.

As mentioned, the red rubber stamp from the Citrus Blooms set was markered with Stampin’ Up!’s Stampin’ Write Markers, ie Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Lost Lagoon and touches of Early Expresso. A Mister that was filled with tap water and water was spritzed over the inked image then left to allow the ink to bleed (see above). As the stamped image is only an outline image, it was coloured in using the “Paint with Water” technique. While water-colouring the image, I wanted to maintain the softness of the spritzed ink and so encouraged the colours to ooze over the image’s outlines. This can be known as “Loose Water-colouring”.

Water and more ink was applied with the fine tip Water Painter. The image was coloured with Stampin’ Up!s water-based Classic inks, ie Peach Pie & Pumpkin Pie for the oranges, Lemon Lolly and Daffodil Delight for the blossoms, Lost Lagoon and Garden Green for the leaves,  touches of Early Expresso for the twigs and Balmy Blue ink for the background. Once dry the outline image was stamped again, but this time with Versamark ink and then heat embossed with Gold Emboss Powder and a Heat Tool to give definition to the image. 

The image was die cut with the large outline die from the Citrus Blooms dies. A second piece was cut out with the same die from Balmy Blue card-stock to layer behind the water-coloured panel.

A background piece of Basic White card-stock was dry embossed with the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing Folder.

Some gorgeous Iridescent Striped Trim was tied around the front panel and into a bow. A sentiment from the Unbounded Love stamp set was white heat embossed onto Balmy Blue card-stock and fussy cut. I had wanted to use one of the coordinating label dies from the Unbounded Love dies, but in this instance it wasn’t right. Having said that, the numerous labels in the set of dies are so gorgeous and well worth checking out. The final touch - a few of the delightful 2024-2026 In Color Shimmer Gems.

I love to simply decorate the inside of the card with something to coordinate with the card front so a different stamp from the same set was inked in Balmy Blue. A second sentiment - also from the Unbounded Love stamp set was stamped in Balmy Blue. As with the background, a little Balmy Blue ink was blended over the stamped image with a Blending Brush.  Similarly, a C6 Basic White envelope was stamped with the same image and a little Balmy Blue ink was lightly  blended over.

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

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from all the participating Crew. The next blog Crew Member in the hop is the lovely Peta Stephen. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I am sure her project will be wonderful.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project you have created that has been inspired by the new 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and then all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would love to see your creation.

#ctc469 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #citrusblooms   #unboundedlove