Social Stamping - #5 War and Peace

War and Peace with Painted Poppies

Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Social Stamping Blog Hop for ANZAC Day. Our theme this week is "War & Peace".

This morning as I stood in my driveway for the Dawn Service to remember those who fought to keep Australia and New Zealand free, I was so thankful to be an Australian and live in a country that provides so many blessings. This is no more true than in the current times as we battle against COVID-19. Yes, we have not been immune to the impact of this deadly virus and there a many struggles and difficulties, but we are in such a better place than other countries. 

My Grandfathers and Father fought in the First & Second World Wars and while they returned home, they were never the same. So ANZAC Day is an important day for me. When contemplating this week's theme, I wanted to design something around one of the symbols, Poppies and they needed to be red poppies in recognition of the blood that was shed. I had a number of ideas but decided on using another symbol, that of a wreath. 

The card base was cut from Old Olive cardstock, scored in the middle and folded in half to form a 5.5inch square card. A slightly smaller piece of Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper was adhered in place to form a background for the card design.

The poppies were die cut out of Poppy Parade and Cherry Cobbler card-stock and then they were further coloured with sponge daubers to add depth. The flower centre and the leaves also were tinted with Whisper White and Garden Green inks. I love adding touches of ink to add some life to the die cut pieces. Before the poppies and leaves were positioned on the card front, a wreath of leaves was stamped directly onto the the card which then was dry embossed with the Subtle Embossing Folder to give it a very subtle texture.

The decorated card front was popped up on dimensionals and adhered to the card base. A Wink of Stella pen was used to sprinkle a tinge of glitter over the card (you can't see this in the photo). A triple bow of Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding was added to finish off the wreath.

To link the centre of the card with the card front a couple os strips of the DSP were added along with a die cut and coloured sprig of leaves.  An envelope was custom made out of the same Designer Series Paper.

Thank you for spending time with me and allowing me to muse over the theme.

There are so many talented people participating in the "War & Peace" Social Stamping Blog Hop. I do hope you are gaining ideas and inspiration as you go from blog to blog. The next person is the lovely and talented Denita Wright-Smee. Click on the "Next" graphic to see her creation.

  

To go to the full list of participants click here and you will find links that will take you to everyones' blogs.


Stay home, stay safe, stay healthy and I hope you are staying sane. I look forward to blog hopping with you again next week.

A list of Products used to create this card will be added soon.

Social Stamping - #4 Friends

"Friends" With A Range Of Flowers

Hello, welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 4th Social Stamping Blog Hop that is focussing on the theme of "Friends".

Friends are so important to us but in current times there are not the same opportunities to catch up with our special friends. As card makers, this is a perfect opportunity to share our love and creativity by sending cards.

Following the instigation of self isolation, a special lady, friend and my Stampin' Up! upline sent 1/2 card kits (ie Stampin' Up!s Calligraphy Essentials Project kit) to friends and  team members as well as establishing a private Facebook group so we could chat and share our creations. She challenged us to do our own "thing" rather than follow the kit directions. It's been a great way to keep contact, keep crafting and to encourage one another. I've only used 3 of the card bases thus far, but thought I would share them with you as the kit came with love and encouragement from a friend and the cards will be posted to friends to let them know I am thinking of them and sending paper hugs.  

I found each of the card bases were a challenge to think of a card design that could build on and blend with the base. 

CARD 1: I love the colour combination of the central base (shown above) and used the colours in designing the card front. Both Petal Pink card-stock and Vellum were die cut with the rectangular stitched die from Thoughtful Moments dies and the vellum piece was embossed with the Parisian Flourish 3D embossing folder. Ooo - I do love the delicacy of embossed vellum. The flowers and leaves were stamped using the Timeless Tulips stamp set in Petal Pink (flowers) and Smoky Slate (leaves). While this is a distinktive stamp I added further colour and depth using the Stamparatus and Stampin' Write Markers, ie Grapefrut Grove for the tulips and Bermuda Bay on the leaves. I so love playing with colour and so really enjoy colouring the stamps with markers and gradually building up the colours with multiple stamping.

The labels were cut using the Label Me Lovely & Label Me Fancy punches from Whisper White and Petal Pink card-stock. The sentiment came from the coordinating Layered with Kindness stamp set and was stamped in Smoky Slate ink with extra colour added using Bermuda Bay and Lovely Lipstick markers. The labels were popped up on Dimensionals and the card was finished with snippets of Petal Pink Organdy Striped Ribbon and Lovely Lipstick Grosgrain Ribbon partially tucked under the top label. Here is a close up of the card centre.

CARD 2: The next card was particularly challenging for me as the combination of the Pool Party leaves and the Old Olive centre was not quite 'me'. However, I love a challenge 😉 and also love the crocuses from the Easter Promise stamp set. Having seen Emma Goddard create a card combining these flowers with the swirly label from the Painted Labels dies I started the design there. The crocuses were stamped in Momento ink and then coloured with Petal Pink, Lovely Lipstick and Pool Party Light & Dark Blends and then fussy cut. Also, the Daffodil Delight blends were used where the centre of the flowers are seen.

A rectangular piece of Vellum was die cut using the Ornate Layers dies. The label was die cut from Whisper White card stock and the sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set was stamped in Lovely Lipstick ink. The flowers were tucked in around one side of the label with some of the flowers being popped up on Dimensionals. A quadruple Whisper White Bakers Twine bow was adhered with a Glue Dot and the finishing touch was a few sequins that came with the card kit.

 

CARD 3: For this 3rd card (which was actually created first), I was sitting at my craft space looking at the card base and wondering what I would do when I spied out of the corner of my eye some flowers and leaves that I had previously fussy cut from the See a Silhouette Designer Series Paper. I started playing with the fussy cut flowers and arranging them on the card base. After deciding on the arrangement, I die cut two flower centres using small dies from the Poppy Moments dies and Whisper White card-stock. Some flower/leaves pieces were adhered direct to the card front and a little dimension was added with a few Dimensionals. Two Gold Faceted Gems finished off the flowers.  

The sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set was stamped in Mossy Meadows ink and die cut with one of the smaller Stitched Rectangles dies. A double Whisper White Bakers Twine bow was adhered at the bottom of the flowers with a Glue Dot and a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels were coloured with an Ivory Blend and scattered on the card.

That's it for me in this week's "Friends" Social Stamping Blog Hop. Thank you for dropping by - I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to seeing all the wonderful "Friends" projects created by others in the Hop. The next paper crafter is the lovely Peta Stephen at Stampin' Cat with Peta 

  

Click on the NEXT graphic to head over to another Friend 

To go to the full list of participants click here and you will find links that will take you to everyones' blogs.

Stay home, stay safe, stay healthy and I hope you are staying sane. I look forward to blog hopping with you again next week.

With love and prayers 

Andrea 💖

Art With Heart Monthly Creative Showcase - March 2020

MONOCHROMATIC CARD USING MORNING STAR WITH STAMP LAYERING & MARKER SHADING

Thanks for dropping in. I hope you and your loved ones are feeling well and coping in this difficult time. May you enjoy the Art with Heart Creative Showcase for creative endeavours can minister to our heart, whether in the creative process or viewing and thinking about the end product.

This month the Art With Heart Team are featuring Monochromatic cards, that is cards that only show different shades of the same colour. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the wonderful range of Stampin’ Up! colours across our inks, papers and embellishments that can be combined to produce the amazing monochromatic projects that we have to share with you. It is wonderful to be able to trust Stampin' Up! ability to ensure that cardstock, inks and embellishments identified as the same colour actually are the same colour and work together so well.

Here is my monochromatic card:

This card has been inspired by two amazingly creative women.  As I was watching Paula Dobson's Facebook Live last Saturday I was inspired to create a monochromatic design with the stamps and layout Paula used. Later I started playing with the Morning Star stamp set, trying a couple of colour combinations and techniques, however I wasn't satisfied with the outcomes. I wondered about using our Whisper White Craft ink on the background card front for the flowers, but before I had a chance to play, life went somewhat topsy turvy. Well, at least a couple of days seemed to disappear as I responded to internal flooding due to blocked drains. Yukkkk 😧. Then, I watched a U-Tube video by Jennifer McQuire on Stamp Layering on Dark Cardstock. The cogs started turning again - and this is what I was created.

The Stampin' Up! colours used in this card were Calypso Coral, Flirty Flamingo, Petal Pink, a tiny bit of Merry Merlot, with Whisper White and Very Vanilla. These colours blend together really well to create this monochromatic card, especially with layered stamping using the Whisper White Craft ink as a base. Craft ink on dark cardstock (in this case Calypso Coral) doesn't fully block out the background colour but shows it as a really light shade. Stamping over the craft ink with Flirty Flamingo ink, shows the colour as a different tint and where Flirty Flamingo stamps directly onto Calypso CoraI cardstock a darker tint is created - thereby creating a range of variations of the colour. Stamp layering on dark cardstock is a great technique for a monochromatic card.

The card front was die cut out of Calypso Coral cardstock using the largest Stitched Rectangles dies. Leaves from the Morning Star stamp set were stamped firstly in Whisper White Craft ink and then the leaves were stamped again in Flirty Flamingo ink in the same position but a little to one side. (Must admit stamping a little "off " came quite naturally to me. 😀) The stamped card front was dry embossed using the Subtle Embossing folder. (This is such a versatile embossing folder - I love it.)

The flowers were stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock using the Stamparatus. (I so love my Stamparatus.) I used Stampin' Up!s positioning tool for two reasons, that is I was able to stamp a couple of layers to strengthen the Petal Pink and I was also able to add touches of extra shading using a Flirty Flamingo Stamping Write Marker. The flowers were all fussy cut and then positioned with a Mini Dimensional under the flower heads and a Glue Dot at the stem end; giving the flower a tad of height off the card front.

The card front was then mounted first onto Very Vanilla and then Flirty Flamingo cardstock using Tombow Liquid Glue.  A little notch was punched on either side of the mounted card front with the Classic Label punch. Whisper White Bakers Twine which had been coloured with a Dark Petal Pink Blend Alcohol Marker was tied around the mounted card front at the notches. The card front then was adhered to the Petal Pink card base with Dimensionals. A sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set was stamped on Petal Pink cardstock with Calypso Coral ink. The words "Life" and "friend" were highlighted by colouring them on the stamp using a Merry Merlot Write Marker and then stamped. The Stamperatus was used to enable this technique. The sentiment was mounted with a fine Very Vanilla boarder and adhered in place over the twine with Mini Dimensionals. The card was finished with a tiny Bakers Twine bow and Basic Pearls coloured with a Light Calypso Coral Blend. Here are a couple of close ups of the card:

As you may know, I love to add design elements to the card inner to ensure it ties in with the card  design. The Whisper White cardstock inner was stamped with Petal Pink leaves and mounted on Flirty Flamingo cardstock with a fine boarder showing. Flirty Flamingo flowers, which had some Calypso Coral shading, were fussy cut and adhered flat with liquid glue.

I also like to tie in the envelope as well. The leaves and flowers were stamped directly onto the envelope.

I had hoped to have a couple more monochromatic cards for you, but life and blocked drains demanded time that had been set aside to create. Check in with me on my blog next week for some more monochromatic cards. Hopefully the ideas in my head will translate easily onto paper.

Thank you so much for joining me as you hop around this Art with Heart Creative Showcase. I am so looking forward to seeing everyone's creations.

Do continue to look after yourself and those you love and ensure you do something nice to lighten your load. 😘

The next demonstrator to share her monochromatic project is the amazingly talented Caroline Manwaring. Click on the graphic below to see her card on Carussell Crafts.

  

If you have a broken link or have come to this blog hop midway, you can view all the participants by clicking on the links below:

Rebecca Jacovou

Tina Gillespie

Kate Morgan

Sharon Davern

Vicki Boucher

Catherine Proctor

Rachel Woollard

Andrea Sargent < You are here

Caroline Manwaring

Claire Daly

Michele Taylor

Don't forget that Sale-a-bration is finishing on 31^st of March. There are so many amazing products that you can earn with a purchase of $90 or $180 worth of Stampin' Up products. Contact any of the team members for more information. We would be delighted to help you.