AWHT Colour Creations #11 Cinnamon Cider

Cinnamon Cider with Inspiring Thoughts & Inspiring Canopy

Hello. Welcome to  Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Art with Heart 2021-2022 Colour Creations Blog Hop.

This week’s Blog Hop is focussing on another rusty tan called Cinnamon Cider.  It is a somewhat muted though strong colour and is one of the 2020-2022 In Colour Family. Cinnamon Cider is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin’ Blends Combos and a number of Designer Series Papers including Hand Penned, Beauty of the Earth, Blackberry Beauty, Gingerbread & Peppermint, and Sweet Stockings DSP; plus embellishments such as the Black Beauty Ephemera pack & the 2020-2022 In Colour Square Gems.

Cinnamon Cider is a versatile colour, as can be seen by the range of Designer Series Papers that include this neutral colour (some of which are listed above). I used as inspiration for my project's colour scheme, the delightful Hand Penned DSP. My card was designed for a fella for Father's Day. Those who know me know that I am a dog tragic. I have friends whose daughters are overseas, but they have a very precious and much loved fur family, so this card will be signed from their black poodle, Carabella. The fella does so much for his family and so it is a great opportunity for his fur daughter to show appreciation.

This card features the Inspiring Canopy dies and the coordinating Inspiring Thoughts stamp set for the sentiments. I love the fonts used in these sentiments. To compliment this bundle, the Mountain Air stamp set was used to add extra scenery details. There isn't a poodle in SU's current products but there is a very cute dog in the Pampered Pets stamp set, so she was used on the back panel which has been prepared for writing a personal message from Carabella. (I know, just humour me.) 

The deciduous trees were die cut out of Basic White card-stock and another curvy piece was die cut to layer beneath the trees to give some depth to the scene. Most of the card front was trimmed off, leaving a couple of centimetres at the top of the Thick Basic White card-stock base. A piece of Window Sheet was cut to the original card front dimensions.

A piece of Basic White card-stock was cut a little thinner than the card dimensions. This was coloured with Blending Brushes and Mint Macaron, Daffodil Delight, Pale Papaya and Pool Party Classic Stampin' inks. The long tree stamp from the Mountain Air stamp set was stamped in Mint Macaron ink. 

A mask for the rising sun was cut from a piece of Post It Note after the trees were in place and before the sky sunrise colours were added. Once the sky had been colour blended the mask of the sun was removed and a little Daffodil Delight ink was used to soften the edges. Some of the Daffodil Delight ink was also added over part of the trees and ground to give a sense of sun rays streaming over it. Clouds and birds (from the Mountain Air stamp set) were stamped in Smoky Slate ink. A Chalk Marker was used to colour the clouds and add highlights to the horizon line of trees.

This panel of background scenery was mounted onto a piece of Cinnamon Cider card-stock, which in turn was added to the Thick Basic White card base. Cinnamon Cider Classic Stampin' ink was applied to the die cut trees with a Blending Brush. I love the way the Blending Brush was so gentle on the intricately cut branches. 

The ground under the trees was coloured with Garden Green and Mint Macaron ink, plus a little of the Cinnamon Cider. The curvy ground layer was coloured more lightly with Mint Macaron and a little Garden Green. Pool Party was blended over the top section of the front flap. Some clouds and birds were also added with some Smoky Slate ink.

The Window panel was adhered under the top flap and the curvy ground adhered at the bottom of the window panel. The trees and ground were layered over the window panel and top and bottom pieces. A sentiment from the Inspiring Thoughts stamp set was stamped in Cinnamon Cider ink on Basic White card-stock. This was lightly coloured with Mint Macaron ink and trimmed down, cutting the sentiment in half. Thinking of You was layered with Mini Dimensionals plus 2 strands of a length of Crumb Cake twine from the Bakers Twine Essentials Pack that had been coloured with a Light Cinnamon Cider Blend. The second row of the sentiment was adhered on the background scene beneath the first part of the sentiment. Even though this is a card for a fella, I couldn't resist a little bling. I coloured Champagne Rhinestones Basic Jewels with a Dark Cinnamon Cider Blend. I did try the coordinating 2020-2022 In Colour Square Gems, but they were a little big for the effect I wanted. Pity, because I do love the coordination of embellishments.

To have a place to write a personal message, another sentiment from the Inspiring Thoughts stamp set was stamped in Cinnamon Cider ink on Basic White card-stock and the cute dog from the Pampered Pets stamp set was stamped in Momento Black ink to align with Carabella's colouring. A little Cinnamon Cider was added to the collar and some of the nose to link her to the colour scheme. This white panel was mounted to a piece of Cinnamon Cider card-stock. The envelope was also stamped with the dog. Cinnamon Cider colouring was also added (but after the photograph was taken).

I did enjoyed playing with Cinnamon Cider and colour ink blending with Stampin' Up!s delightful Blending Brushes. Loving the colours in the Hand Penned DSP, this paper was brilliant inspiration for my colour combo. Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads out there. I hope you have a special day on the first Sunday in September.

If you are in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue and or the new July - December 2021 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 Cinnamon Cider creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the delightful Kate Morgan's blog. I am looking forward to checking out Kate's creation and everyone else's.

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Coastal Cabana; and don't forget the AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop is launched every Monday evening until mid-December.

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

Andrea 💕🐾

  

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the full list of participants on Catherine Proctor’s blog.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop

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 - #18 Get Better Soon

Get Better Soon with Playful Pets and Healing Hugs

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 18th Social Stamping Blog Host. 

This month's Social Stamping theme is Get Better Soon. When thinking about what I would make I decided to create a card for my dog, Gemma, and I to send to her groomer. Gemma is a Lhasa Apso x Shih Tzu and requires grooming professionally every 3 months or so. Gemma's groomer is brilliant in handling dogs and has amazing skill with the clippers. I have been taking my dogs to her for many, many years. She has been going through a barrage of tests recently and so I thought it would be great for us to send her a card to let her know that we are thinking of her and appreciate her.

This is a Slimline 3D Box style card, with a middler layer sitting between the front and back. It will lay flat and fit into a standard DL envelope. The front and back base pieces were cut from a piece of A4 Thick Whisper White card-stock; with the front piece being 1 1/2" longer than the back piece. Both ends of the front piece were scored in from the edge at 1/4" and 3/4"; so the front sits 1/2" away from the back. The 1/4" section was used to adhere front to back.

Before forming the box, a woodgrain piece of In Good Taste Designer Series Paper was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Real Red card-stock; which in turn was mounted to the front base piece. A rectangular hole was cut in the centre of the front section using a rectangular die from the Stitched So Sweetly dies. As it was cutting through 3 layers of paper, it needed to be passed through the Cut n Emboss machine a few times. The rectangular hole was to be longer than the die, so the die was moved further along ensuring it aligned with the cut scallops. Part of the cut rectangular piece was used to create the in-between layer.

A number of dogs were fussy cut and one die cut from a couple of designs from the Playful Pets DSP. The red stripe that has been used for the background also came from the same focal central grey dog was popped up on Dimensionals, a couple of dogs were adhered to the middle layer, and one of the dogs (the one doing the "downward dog") was adhered to the front layer. One of the dogs (probably a Lhasa Also or Shih Tzu, is wearing a healing collar that was cut from Vellum card-stock with a small circular die from the Layering Circles dies. A second fussy cut head was added to give the appearance of wearing the collar and add further dimension. 

The letters to form the word "Doggone" were cut from Real Red card-stock that had been adhered to an Adhesive Sheet. A second set was cut from Real Red card-stock to add to the back of the letters as I realised that the letters would partially hang over the edge of the cut out centre. The letters were adhered at the base in a wonky fashion. A piece of twine from the Playful Pets Trim Combo pack was attached to one of the dogs (as a lead) and partially looped around some of the letters, with the end frayed a little. A rolled Glue Dot held the twine in place behind the 'N'.

A sentiment from the Healing Hugs stamp set was stamped in Early Expresso Classic Stampin' ink onto Vellum card-stock and then over stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss powder. The Stamparatus was used for stamping which enabled the double layer of stamping to stamp directly onto of the Early Expresso sentiment. I do love my Stamparatus. As the sentiment didn't show well in position, a small piece of Whisper White card-stock was adhered to the Vellum and the sentiment was also popped up on Dimensionals.

A piece of Whisper White card-stock was mounted on Real Red cardstock and then onto the back panel. Prior to mounting, the panel was stamped with a dog, dog bowl and butterflies from the Pampered Pets stamp set in Early Expresso Classic Stampin' ink. The same dog was also stamped on the front of a DL envelope.

To finish off the Slimline 3D Box card a bone trinket from the Playful Pets trinkets was adhered with a Glue Dot to the focal dog and butterflies were stamped in Early Expresso Classic Stampin' ink.

I thought I would take a photo of my special girl with the card that is to be sent to her groomer. It wasn't an easy process as she had positioned herself in the garden. To take the photo I ended up in the garden, kneeling in the wet dirt. Most of the photos showed her looking anywhere but toward the camera. Peta of Stampin' Cat, I am in awe of you and your photos of your cards with your cat. I have decided that the ol' adage about actors never working with children or animals also applies to taking photos of dogs and cards together!!! 

Here's Gemma with the card:

I hope you are enjoying this month's Social Stamping Blog Host that has focused on a "Get Well Soon" theme. If you started at the beginning with our amazing Social Stamping Host, Kelly Kent, then this is the last blog, however, If you started part way through you can either click here to be transferred to Kelly's blog 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 at My Papercraft Journey where you will find individual links that can take you to each person's blog.

Hope to see you again next month (Saturday, 28th November) when the Social Stamping Blog Host theme is "Merry & Bright".

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

Andrea 😘