Social Stamping - #23 Neutrals

Neutrals with Playful Pets & In Good Taste

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the April 2021 Social Stamping Blog Host. Currently, we are focussing on each of Stampin' Up!'s Colour families.

This month the nominated colours form the Stampin' Up! Neutrals family. The Neutrals range from light to dark and include greys and browns as well as 3 fantastic colours - Night of Navy, Mossy Meadow and Merry Merlot. The latter colours have an amazing ability to coordinate with many other colours, just like neutrals. Apart from the 3 colours just mentioned, Stampin' Up!s' Neutrals include: Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Expresso (browny tones); and Smokey Slate, Grey Granite and Basic Grey (grey tones). 

In thinking of the Neutrals colour family my mind went to some of Stampin' Up!s Designer Series Papers, particularly the In Good Taste DSP. I so love this DSP and its earthy neutral tones and their use in woodgrains, tiles and textural fabrics. Also, I needed to test out something I had seen and wanted to create for a class - so I decided to combine the two. I have seen some examples of a decorated set of 3 photo frames hanging on a lovely ribbon and needed to work out how to create it so I could demonstrate the process to a craft group of lovely ladies. I don't have good photos to share so I have decorated the frames using the Playful Pets DSP and ... stamp sets.

The frames were built on Thick Basic White card-stock cut in 4 inch squares together with 5 inch woodgrain DSP. The frame backing is Thick Basic White cut at 3 15/16 inches. The 4" Basic White square is centralised on the 5" DSP and the largest square die from the Stitched Shapes dies is used to cut a square hole in the centre. The Basic White and DSP die cut frames are adhered together and after trimming the corners, the excess DSP is folded back onto the back of the frame and adhered in place.

Foam Adhesive Strips are added to 3 sides of the slightly smaller Thick Basic White card-stock squares. The 4th side is for the insertion of photos so no Dimensionals are added on this side. The frame backs are adhered to the frame fronts.

Dogs and a couple of cats were fussy cut from the Playful Pets DSP. (Balloons were stamped in Stazon on Shimmery White card-stock using the Hot Dog stamp set. A dog bowl from the Pampered Pets bundle was stamped in Stazon ink on Shimmery White card-stock and coloured - I had started my blog before finishing the project. As numerous things inhibited me from crafting I haven't been able to get to this stage, but hope to later in the day. When I do I will re-load photos with the finished product. I hope you understand.)

I tried numerous things for the background, finally lightly applying Night of Navy and Mossy Meadow with Blending Brushes onto Shimmery White card-stock. To add some texture some water was flicked over the backgrounds. I was going to emboss the backgrounds or partially emboss them but my morning completely changed so I ended up just slipping them in the frames. The dogs & cats were positioned. They are only adhered to the frames as I feel I need to do something else with the project - but time has disappeared. A couple of bones and a heart trinket from the Playful Pets Trinkets have been added.

A length of the Vanilla Open Weave Ribbon from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack was adhered to the back of the frames using Tear n Tape, ensuring the ribbon was centred and the frames evenly spaced and at the right angle. It's now ready to hang. Of course, instead of decorating the frames it would be lovely to slip precious photos in and have some tastefully added decor - depending on the nature of the photos.

I've loved creating this project using some of the SU's Neutral colours. Neutrals usually support other colours, so it was great to hero this colour family. 

That's it from me this month. I hope you are enjoying the Neutrals' Social Stamping Blog Hop for April. If you started at the beginning with our amazing Social Stamping Host, Kelly Kent, then you have progressed through all the talented crafters and can now return to Kelly Kent at My Papercraft Journey. Either click on Kelly's name or click on the "next" graphic to be taken to her blog.

  

To see the full list of participants, click on this link and be taken to Kelly Kent's Host Blog Post at My Papercraft Journey - its a different post where you will find all the individual links that can take you to each person's blog.

I hope to see you again next month, when we will be focussing on the Neutral colour family. 

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

Andrea 😘

Social Stamping - #22 In Colours

In Colours with Hot Dog and Butterfly Brilliance

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the second Social Stamping Blog Host for 2021. Currently, we are focussing on each of Stampin' Up!'s Colour families.

This month the nominated sets of colours are the In Colours. To ensure Stampin' Up colours are 'on trend' they introduce a new group of 5 colours every year that stays around for 2 years. There are always 2 sets of In Colours complementing the range of colours. At the moment the In Colours include: for 2020-2022 - Magenta Madness, Misty Moonlight, Just Jade, Bumblebee and Cinnamon Cider; and for 2019-2021 - Seaside Spray, Purple Posy, Rococo Rose, Terracotta Tile and Pretty Peacock.  The latter are about to retire.

PROJECT 1:  A Card featuring 2020-2022 In Colours

I am a bit of a dog tragic and so when I saw the cute little sausage dogs in the Jan-Jun Mini Catalogue I knew the Hot Dog stamp set would make its way home. It is a great set. A friend of mine (who loves her little dogs) has retired recently so I thought I would make this card to celebrate her stepping into the next phase of life. Balloons are often a part of a celebration, so 5 balloons were water-coloured in each of the In Colours.

The balloons and one dog were stamped in Versamark on Shimmery White card-stock and heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder. Some bones and hearts were also stamped on a card front size piece of Shimmery White card-stock. As mentioned, each balloon was water-coloured using the fine Water Painter with either Just Jade, Bumblebee, Magenta Madness, Cinnamon Cider or Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' ink. The dog was water-coloured with Crumb Cake ink. The little envelope was stamped in Crumb Cake and the heart coloured in Magenta Madness.

The card front was water-coloured with Seaside Spray ink using the mid-sized Water Painter. The heat embossed bones and hearts resisted the colour to a subtle effect. When almost dry, the card front was embossed with the Tasteful Textures 3D embossing folder. A sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped on a scrap of Shimmery White card-stock and punched out with the Classic Label Punch.

The stamped and coloured balloons were fussy cut, removing the stamped string and pieces of White Twine from the Snail Mail Twine Combo were adhered to the back of each balloon. The balloons, dog (which also had been fussy cut) and sentiment were arranged and then adhered with Dimensionals. The little envelope was added to an edge of the sentiment label. Tail wagging lines were drawn in using a Soft Suede Stampin' Write marker. Little White Resin Hearts were scattered around.

PROJECT 2: A Set of 5 Cards with each card featuring one of the 2019-2021 In Colours. These colours are retiring as of 4th May. They are gorgeous colours and I will miss them, however, I am looking forward to the new In Colours - they are gorgeous too.

The cards are all created with the same process and techniques, just different colours and a few minor changes to give some uniqueness. 

Featuring Pretty Peacock

This card features Pretty Peacock. The background was water-coloured with Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin' ink on Fluid 100 Water-colour paper using the mid-sized Water Painter.  I water-coloured each background at the same time and left them all to dry. The Butterfly Brilliance stamp has all the butterflies joined in one stamp so the Stamparatus is great when stamping. I stamped in Smoky Slate and then coloured the butterflies in different colours using Stampin' Blends. I used the focal In Colour and other coordinating Blends. 

Featuring Rococo Rose

The butterflies were die cut using the coordinating Brilliant Wings dies. The detailed butterfly dies were used to cut the lacy butterflies in Basic White card-stock - they are delightful. A few little butterflies were also die cut.

Featuring Terracotta Tile

The Brilliant Wings dies have some have cute little accent dies, eg little holes, cross hatch lines and brick work. Different dies have been used on each of the cards. The water-coloured background was mounted on the relevant focal colour. Some white twine from the Snail Mail Combo pack was tied around the mounted background. The coordinating stamped and coloured butterflies were matched with the filagree white butterflies and then adhered together with a Glue Dot. 

Featuring Seaside Spray

The backgrounds were splattered with a Stampin' Write marker in the focal colour and some Frost White Shimmer Paint. The sentiments were on hand from previously created Many Messages bundle - such a great bundle. Elegant Faceted Gems were added as a finishing touch to add a little shimmer. 

Featuring Purple Posy

I've loved creating these projects, using both In Colour groupings. It was great to be able to bid a fond farewell to the retiring In Colours for 2019-2021. 

That's it from me this month. I hope you are enjoying this Social Stamping Blog Hop which is focussing on the In Colours. If you started at the beginning with our amazing Social Stamping Host, Kelly Kent, then the next talented crafter is Sharni Haines at Stampin at the Maples. Either click on Sharni's name or click on the "next" graphic to be taken to her blog.

  

To see the full list of participants, click on this link and be taken to Kelly Kent's Host Blog Post at My Papercraft Journey where you will find all the individual links that can take you to each person's blog

I hope to see you again next month, when we will be focussing on the Neutral colour family. 

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

Andrea 😘