CASEing the Catty #498 - CASE A Project Featuring Animals

CASE A Project Using Animals meets In the Grove & Reindeer Fun

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #498 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Rebecca Scurr, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived a different way; 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 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 projects featuring Animals in either the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue or the 2024 September-December Mini Catalogue.

There were so many possibilities, but in the end I chose to CASE a card pictured on page 70 of the Annual Catalogue. This page showcases the In The Grove bundle. For this week’s challenge I chose to use this card:

As soon as I saw this card in the Catalogue, I felt a pang of guilt that I was yet to use this bundle, even though I loved it and had really enjoyed using the carry over Grassy Grove/Grove bundle. I also wanted to create another Christmas Card to add to my cards to send for Christmas.

Rather than a DSP  background, a panel of Basic White card-stock was stamped in Lost Lagoon Stampin’ Classic ink with the mountains from the In the Grove stamp set. Grasses from the Grassy Grove stamp set were stamped in Pretty Peacock ink. Trees from the In the Grove stamp set were also stamped in Pretty Peacock ink. Some Pool Party ink was lightly blended in the sky and a Pretty Peacock Stampin’ Write Marker added some splatters. I thought I would go for a monochromatic background.

Rather then use the die cut tree die from the Grove dies beneath the tree trunk die from the In the Grove dies, 2 of the same In the Grove cut out trees die were layered one over the other and a little askew to the right with the top layer positioned with Dimensionals.

Rather than use the little deer from the Grassy Grove dies the reindeer and baby deer from the Reindeer Fun stamp set was stamped on Basic White card-stock in Early Expresso and coloured with Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blends combo with touches of Light Petal Pink and the Colour Lifter. The mother reindeer was partially tucked behind the top layer of trees and the baby deer was positioned centrally on the top layer.

A sentiment from the Reindeer Fun stamps was heat embossed with the lovely White Wow Emboss Powder from the Basics Emboss Powder pack onto Pool Party card-stock. It was positioned with Mini Dimensionals and a double Linen Twine bow was tucked underneath. The final touch was a scattering of gorgeous Iridescent Faceted Gems. I love them.

The Basic White card inner was stamped with a different sentiment from the Reindeer Fun stamp set and some of the grasses from the Grassy Grove stamps - both in Lost Lagoon ink.

The C6 Basic White envelope was stamped in Pretty Peacock ink with the trees from the In the Grove stamps.

Thank you so much for calling in on your way around this week’s Blog Hop for the launch of the CASEing the Catty Challenge #498. I appreciate you dropping by.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this wonderful Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the lovely Julia Quinn. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be something special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project you have created for this Challenge that has been inspired by the either the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue or the September-December Mini 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.

#ctc498 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #reindeerfun  #inthegrove  #grassygrove #caseingthecatty

AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop #22 Early Expresso

Early Expresso with Joy of Noel and One Horse Open Sleigh Fun Fold

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 featuring on a deep brown called Early Expresso. Early Expresso is one of the Neutrals Colour Family and is a warm rich brown. The colour would be a lovely neutral when used for trees, wood, earth and is great colour to dig up for fellas.

Early Expresso is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Marker; Watercolor Pencils; Neutrals Designer Series Paper as well as One Horse Open Sleigh, Traditions of St Nick and Fresh As A Daisy DSPs; All About Autumn SDSP; plus Cosy & Bright and Sentimental Rose card kits.

Early Expresso ink, Stampin’ Write Marker and One Horse Open Sleigh DSP have been used in the creation of these projects plus a range of non-Early Expresso bits and pieces.

I am trying to build my Christmas card stash and so wondered how I would go featuring Early Expresso as it is a colour I use in-frequently, usually for trees/wood and the like. In checking out the DSPs that incorporate Early Expresso I decided to use the One Horse Open Sleigh DSP and remembered a fun fold that Rachel Tessman, a lovely US Demonstrator, had demonstrated recently. Also, I saw a quilting fabric that combined an Early Expresso type colour with Pool Party and Balmy Blue within a roses design so wanted to try a floral style card too. Here it is:

CARD 1

The One Horse Open Sleigh DSP (it’s an online exclusive) has an Early Expresso woodgrain design and it was torn and used with some Dry Brushed Metallic Speciality DSP for the card background. The Very Vanilla card base was stamped with the textural stamp from the Joy of Noel stamp set in White Craft ink. While it could be seen when the ink was wet the effect disappeared when the ink dried. Partial stamping was added to the woodgrain DSP.

A Very Vanilla card front was cut using a mid-sized Deckled Rectangle die. The label was stamped with the larger floral spray in Early Expresso Classic Stampin’ ink. A little Early Expresso splattering was added to the label with a Stampin’ Write Marker. The spray was stamped again on a separate piece of Very Vanilla card-stock, but this time in Versamark ink and heat embossed with Gold Emboss Powder, the Embossing Accessory Kit and a Heat Tool. This second spray was coloured with Lost Lagoon, Pool Party, Balmy Blue and Blueberry Bushel Stampin’ Blends combos together with the Colour Lifter. Some leaves and berries were fussy cut.

Some of the leaves and berries were laid over the same shaped leaves/berries that had been stamped in Early Expresso. They were adhered in place with Mini Dimensionals and touches of Multipurpose Liquid Glue. NOEL (from the Joy of Noel stamp set) was gold heat embossed and die cut with the coordinating die from the Joy of Noel dies. Some Foam Adhesive Sheet was added behind the sentiment prior to die cutting to give the letters added dimension. I had a water-coloured flower left over from a previous project and added it to the card to give extra interest and dimension. It had been created using the Paper Florist dies and coordinated with these berries. Some Iridescent Basic Pearl Jewels were coloured with the 500 Stampin’ Blend to give them a vanilla tinge. They were scattered around. A triple Linen Twine bow was tucked under the flower with a couple of Glue Dots.

A Very Vanilla card-stock panel was partially stamped with the Christmas arrangement in Early Expresso ink. A left over strip of woodgrain DSP was adhered partially over the stamping and down one side. A Very Vanilla C6 envelope was also stamped with the same stamp in Early Expresso ink.

Earlier today, before writing this post, I checked out a Stampin’ Up! Facebook post where they used some similar products to this card but kept the colour combo to neutrals. I love their neutral toned design - it’s worth checking out if you have time. It’s interesting how similar projects are created independent of each other but with similarities. It has happened to me before. One could say, “great minds think alike” or even “There is nothing new under the sun”. 

CARDS 2, 3 & 4

As mentioned, the One Horse Open Sleigh DSP is gorgeous. Each 6”x6” sheet has a winter scene on one side and a more subtle design on the B side. While we don’t have wintry snow scenes - especially for Christmas I thought this DSP would be brilliant for my overseas friends. I wanted a way to show the beauty of the scenes and so ended up with what Rachel Tessman called an Autumn Hidden Scenery Z- fold. I converted Rachel’s measurements to suit our A4 sized card-stock.

A card-base was chosen to suit the DSP design and it was cut, scored and burnished. The Scenic DSP was trimmed into 3 panels and a 4th piece was cut to the same size from another piece of DSP that coordinated with the scene. The pattern chosen for the card pictured above was a bit dominant so I embossed some Vellum card-stock with the Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder to tone the DSP down.

Another piece of the card-stock used as the card base was cut and folded in half before being trimmed with a mid-sized square from the Stylish Shapes dies. The die was positioned so it wouldn’t cut the fold off but would add the stitching all around. One size smaller square die cut 2 Basic White squares for each card. The front square was stamped with Early Expresso ink to coordinate with the scene. The card above was stamped with trees from the Grassy Grove stamp set, where as the two other cards were stamped with a twig wreath from the Cottage Wreath stamp set.

A coordinating die cut wreath from the Country Wreath dies cut Basic White card-stock. Both the card shown above and the one below were coloured with Old Olive ink and a Blending Brush. Wreaths were chosen as both cards had snow covered houses as part of the scenes and so I thought of wreaths for their front doors.

Sentiments were stamped with coordinating colours and fussy cut. They were added with Mini Dimensionals. Gold pearls from the Festive Pearls were added to each card for that bit of shimmer. A piece of Red & Gold Dotted ribbon was deconstructed and then some of the strands were tied into a bow for card pictured above. The other 2 cards had Linen Twine bows added with Glue Dots.

The second Basic White Stylish Shape square was stamped with a sentiment and image to coordinate with the overall card design. Early Expresso ink was used for the Petal Pink card pictured above. There is room for a brief personal message, but if you are long winded (like I tend to be) a message could also be written on the back of the card or a separate sheet added within the envelope. A Basic White C6 envelope was also stamped to coordinate with the card it will hold.

Here are each of the cards opened to show the gorgeous wintry Christmas snow scenes.

Thank you for dropping in to check out my Early Expresso cards. I hope you liked them and found something of interest. I do so appreciate you. 

There is more Early Expresso creativity so continue with the blog hop. Just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a special lady, Rachel Palmieri. I am looking forward to checking out Rachel’s creation. I do love seeing everyones' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

I do hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Flirty Flamingo as we continue the weekly 2023-2024 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 new Stampin' Up 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December 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 these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

#colourcreationsbloghop  #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #valleyinspirations   #onehorseopensleigh  #joyofnoel

AWHT Colour Creations #46 Soft Suede

Soft Suede with Grassy Grove and Happy & Heartfelt

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Art with Heart Colour Creations Blog Hop. This Blog Hop is the last in the 2021-2022 series in working though all the Stampin' Up! colours in alphabetical order. But never fear - next week we start afresh for 2022-2023.

This week’s Blog Hop is focussing on a mid brown called Soft Suede. Soft Suede is part of the Neutrals Colour Family and is a mid brown with some red undertones. As a Neutral, this colour can combine with many colours - think of trees ie brown and greens or ground & rocks combining with a range of plants that is many colours. Nature is amazing.

Soft Suede is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin' Blends and Neutrals Designer Series Papers. The card below has used Soft Suede Classic Stampin' ink, Card-stock and a Stampin' Write Marker, plus a range of other non-PP bits and pieces.

Here is my card showcasing Soft Suede:

Soft Suede is a great neutral colour. In thinking about what I would do for this Blog Hop, I tossed around different ideas as I wasn't sure how to showcase the colour without the project being overly dark. I decided to use the Grassy Grove bundle complimented with New Horizons DSP for a background scene. I also decided to water-colour the die cut panel to show various tones of Soft Suede. As such I started by die cutting the tree scene from Shimmery White card-stock using the Grove dies. The 2 deers were cut at the same time. The 3 pieces were water-coloured using the wet on wet technique with Soft Suede Classic ink alone. The mother deer was made darker using the ink less diluted.

The tree scene die also cut out the scene in a piece of Soft Suede card-stock and a Pale Papaya card base. One of the designs of the delightful New Horizons DSP was stamped with some grasses and trees in Soft Suede. Some Starry Night Blends and the Colour Lifter coloured over some of the white bits. This panel was adhered directly to the inside back panel of the card. The water-coloured tree scene panel was added over the Soft Suede panel with Mini Dimensionals in-between. The 2 deers were carefully adhered at their hooves. A little of remaining DSP was added to the underneath top and bottom of the panel scene before it was adhered directly to the card base over the die cut scene.

The card front was finished with a sentiment from the Happy & Heartfelt stamp set that was White heat embossed on Soft Suede card-stock and fussy cut. The gorgeous Gold Simply Elegant Trim was tied into a bow and tucked beneath the sentiment. The soon to retire Gilded Gems added sparkle, together with some Shimmery Crystal Effects on the deers.

To ensure the card doesn't slide open when standing up on show, an extra piece of Pale Papaya card-stock was cut to 5cm x the width of the card and then scored at 1cm, 2.5cm and 4cm measuring along the 5cm edges. This piece was folded and burnished into a "W" and then the 1cm sections were adhered to the inside edges of the card. This holds the card open at the base to give the scene perspective without the card sliding flat over time.

As the card stands on its own with the die cut scene showing through to the layer behind, a panel for writing a personal message was mounted to the back of the card. A piece of Basic White card-stock was stamped across the bottom with the grassy stamp using Soft Suede ink, prior to it being mounted onto a slightly larger piece of Soft Suede card-stock. A Basic White C6 Envelope was stamped with trees in Soft Suede ink.

Thank you so much for dropping by. I do value that you spent time with me. I will be using this card to say a big "Thank You" to someone who organised a team to help with my brother's garden. They did an amazing job. I am planning to create more thank you cards from the New Horizons DSP for the others who helped. I so love this DSP and it is especially good to create for fellas.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the new Stampin' Up 2022-2023 Annual Catalogue and or the January - June 2022 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 Soft Suede creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the very talented, Tina Gillepsie. I always look forward to checking out Tina's creation (I wonder what she has in store this week). I do love seeing everyones' projects - there are always so many ideas and such great inspiration.

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

Andrea 💕🐾

  

If you find a broken link you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog. Cathy is our wonderful Art With Heart Team Colour Creations Coordinator.  I so appreciate all Cathy does in coordinating this blog hop each week. She is such a special lady. Check out her wonderful creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2022  #stampinup #stampinupdemo  #stampinupdemonstrator #artwithheartteam  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #papercrafting #grassygrove #happy&heartfelt