Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #20 Gray Granite

Gray Granite with Prized Peony and Fancy Phrases 

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 20th Colour Creations Showcase for 2020 with members of the Art with Heart Team.

So glad you are joining us as we focus on a rich neutral that, as the name suggests, is a colour similar to granite. Gray Granite sits within Stampin' Up!s Neutrals family of colours. Gray Granite can be found in Stampin' Up!s card-stock; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, re-inkers & Stampin' Spots); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin' Blends;  Water-colour Pencils, a range of Designer Series Papers, incl Peony Garden DSP, In Good Taste DSP, Feels Like Frost DSP; and Shimmer Ribbon. There is so much gorgeousness.

This week I have created 2 cards with different colour combinations. The cards look quite different given the variations in colour ways, but the Gray Granite does give them some commonality. Both "Get well" cards were created with 2 friends in mind. One friend underwent surgery a couple of days ago and the other had an accident and ended up in hospital. Here are this week's projects:

CARD 1:

My first card used Gray Granite card-stock as the card base, also the beautiful Peony and the sentiment were stamped in Gray Granite Classic Stampin' ink.

The top flap of the Gray Granite card base and a Whisper White card-stock front were cut with the large Many Medallions die. A piece of Window Sheet was cut a tad smaller. This was adhered to the tiny front flap and then the Gray Granite medallions were adhered on the underneath side. The white medallions were adhered to the front of the acetate together with the small top and bottom pieces forming the card front. Prior to die cutting the Whisper White card-stock, a piece of Adhesive Sheet was attached. This made it so easy to remove the backing sheet and adhere the die cut medallions to the acetate. 

It may be worth noting that initially I added a light water-colour wash in Petal Pink Classic ink, however, as I was creating the card front design I felt the Petal Pink wash didn't look right. It had been adhered in place, so a second Whisper White medallion piece (with Adhesive Sheet) was die cut and adhered over the Petal Pink water-coloured piece. The two layers of medallions adds a little extra dimension.

The Peony came from the Prized Peony stamp set. It was coloured with a number of Stampin' Blends, ie Light & Dark Rococo Rose, Light & Dark Petal Pink, Light & Dark Old Olive Blends and the Colour Lifter. I used the Colour Lifter to enhance soft highlights to the petals and leaves. 

Once coloured, the peony was die cut using the Peony dies. The peony bud was trimmed off and then added in a different position, peaking out from beneath the flower to allow room for a sentiment which came from the Many Mates stamp set. The sentiment was stamped directly onto a die-cut label using one of the Hippo & Friends dies. The label was adhered directly to the medallions panel and the peony was popped up on Dimensionals.

The card inner was decorated with a piece of Gray Granite DSP from the Peony Garden DSP and the same label shape that was used on the card front was added inside the card, ensuring it sat exactly beneath the front label. The Gray Granite medallions add a beautiful effect when opening the card. The large peony was also stamped in Gray Granite Classic ink onto the Whisper White C6 envelope.

The card was finished with the addition of five delightful Elegant Facetted Gems with one of the larger ones partially tucked under a leaf.

CARD 2:

My second card also used Gray Granite card-stock as the card base. The floral arrangement and sentiment were stamped in Gray Granite Classic ink and the card was embellished with Gray Granite Shimmer Ribbon.

 

The card front was created from Fluid 100 Water-colour paper that had a light Pool Party Classic ink water-colour wash. Following the water-colour wash and prior to it having fully dried, the paper was embossed with the Scripty 3D embossing folder. This was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Pool Party card-stock at an angle, that was then adhered directly, at an angle, to the card base.

The floral spray from the Fancy Phrases stamp set was stamped four times in Gray Granite Classic ink onto a piece of Whisper White card-stock. Two of the floral sprays were considered as the two base sprays and the smaller open flowers were coloured with Light & Dark Pool Party and Light So Saffron Stampin' Blends. These two floral sprays were fussy cut. 

On the other two floral sprays, the larger rose flowers were coloured with Light & Dark Bermuda Bay and Light & Dark Pool Party Stampin' Blends together with the Colour Lifter. A few of the smaller flowers were also coloured. The coloured flowers were fussy cut, lightly shaped and adhered over the same flowers on the base sprays. The smaller flowers were adhered with a tiny dot of Multipurpose liquid Glue, while the roses were lifted on Mini Dimensionals.

The sentiment came from the Fancy Phrases stamp set and was stamped on Whisper White card-stock. This was die cut using one of the rectangular Stitched So Sweetly dies. The die was positioned to align with the bottom of the sentiment and passed through the Cut and Emboss Machine. Then the die was moved to align with the top of the sentiment so the label edge was cut close to the sentiment. This two-step die cutting process can give more flexibility than simply die cutting with one pass through a Cut & Emboss Machine. The sentiment was adhered with Dimensionals over a doubled over piece of Gray Granite Shimmer Ribbon.

The card inner was made from a piece of Whisper White card-stock which was similarly stamped in Gray Granite Classic ink using the floral arrangement from the Fancy Phrases stamp set. A very thin strip of the water-coloured paper was added to the side. A Whisper White C6 envelope was also stamped with the same floral stamp in Gray Granite Classic ink.

I hope my cards have provided some ideas and inspiration. I have enjoyed creating them to share. I love Gray Granite as a colour. As a neutral, it coordinates with many colour combinations.

I have a beautiful girl for my fur family - Gemma is such a sweetie. She was groomed this morning and is looking so gorgeous, so I thought I would take a photo of my cards with her in the close background. I set the cards on the ground and Gemma moved away and sat with her back to me. I don't think she wanted to be photographed with the cards. 😉 

Thank you for spending some time with me at my blog. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any queries, would like me to send you a Stampin' Up! catalogue or if I can help you with any products.

Catherine Proctor is our amazing host of the Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase. If you haven't finished visiting all of the team's colour creations, you can visit/revisit Catherine's page at What Cathy Made, where she hosts all the links to the other Showcase participants. I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's Gray Granite creations. It is always inspiring to see the amazing projects created by my colleagues and their application of the nominated colour.

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team will share projects that hero Highland Heather. 

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

Andrea 💕🐾

#colourcreationsshowcase

Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #14 Daffodil Delight

Daffodil Delight with Prized Peony and Ornate Style

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the fourteenth 2020/21 Colour Creations Showcase by members of the Art with Heart Team.

This week we are focussing on a bright yellow called Daffodil Delight. Yes, it is the yellow of daffodils. This colour sits within the Brights Stampin' Up! colour family. Daffodil Delight can be found in Stampin' Up!s cardstock, Classic inks, Stampin' Write Marker, Watercolour Pencil, Designer Series Paper and embellishments. 

In preparing for this week's projects, I realised that yellow is not a general 'go to' colour for me. I love bright yellow daffodils, yet when creating I don't tend to use yellow as a focal colour but rather as a colour that is part of a colour combination. This is one of the reasons it is great to be challenged to create with each of the Stampin' Up! colours as part of this Colour Creations Showcase. I certainly am becoming more attuned to the various colours.

CARD 1: My first card is a fancy fold which features the Prized Peony stamp set together with the Forever Fern stamp set. Photos of the unfolded card are below, but first let's talk about the card front. A Whisper White card-stock panel was die cut using the Stitched Rectangles dies. A piece of Old Olive card-stock was cut a tad larger than the stitched rectangle card front. 

One of the Forever Fern stamp set leaf twigs was stamped all around the stitched rectangle in Old Olive Classic Ink. Old Olive Stampin' Blends, both Light and Dark, were used to add more depth to the leaves. The smallest peony from the Prized Peony stamp set was stamped multiple times in Daffodil Delight and Mango Melody Classic ink as well as the leaf section of the same stamp being stamped in Mossy Meadow Classic ink. The flowers were coloured with both Daffodil Delight and Mango Melody Stampin' Blends combos plus the Colour Lifter - some of the flowers were coloured to be darker flowers while others were coloured to be lighter. The leaves were also coloured with Old Olive Stampin' Blends.

The coordinating dies includes a die to cut this flower, however, as I was going to cut the leaves off and later attach the green leaves, I decided to fussy cut the flowers. A couple of the flowers were adhered directly to the card front while most were lifted on Dimensionals.

I am needing some birthday cards so selected a sentiment from the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set. I love affirming sentiments so "Let's celebrate you" was perfect and was stamped in Mango Melody Classic ink. To finish the card front Basic Pearl Jewels were coloured with the thick tip of a Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blend. The Stampin' Blends are so great for colouring embellishments to ensure they compliment the project's colour scheme.

This fancy fold design and dimensions was demonstrated by Emma Goddard, a United Kingdom Stampin' Up! Demonstrator who has been part of the Stampin' Up! Artisan Team for a few years. This card is a tad shorter as I kept trimming a smidgen off so the pieces balanced - but realised it was now much shorter - oops! Once mounted on the Old Olive card the card front was attached at one end to the Whisper White card flap that came around to the front. The Whisper White card-stock overlapped the back of the Daffodil Delight card that folded on the RHS. The inner section of this flap was covered inside with a piece of Whisper White card-stock that had been mounted on a slightly larger piece of Daffodil Delight card-stock.

Here is the card inner fully open. Whisper White card inners were stamped with the same leaf stamp and coloured in the same way. One of the smallest peonies was adhered flat onto the LHS flap. A second sentiment also came from the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set and was also stamped in Mango Melody. Two of the mid-sized peonies were stamped and coloured in a similar way to the peonies on the card front. The lighter peony was adhered directly to the card inner and I couldn't resist popping the darker peony on Dimensionals. Stamped and coloured leaves from the Prized Peony stamp set were tucked under the peonies.

The mid-sized peony was stamped on a Whisper White C6 Envelope with Daffodil Delight Classic ink to tie the envelope to the card design.

CARD 2: I didn't think I would be able to create a second card, but this morning I started creating before progressing through my normal morning routine. I have a large old daisy bush in my front garden that is currently flowering with bright yellow daisies. It has inspired this card.

A Whisper White card-stock card front was embossed with one of the Meadows Moments Embossing Folders, with the leaves being embossed at both the top and bottom of the card front. Before being adhered directly to the Daffodil Delight card base Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding, which had been stamped with the daisy stamp in Daffodil Delight Classic ink was wrapped around the embossed piece and a bow tied at the edge. The stamping on the ribbon gave it a light yellow mottled tinge.

A large label was die cut in Whisper White card-stock using one of the larger and less ornate labels in the Ornate Labels die set. A piece of Daffodil Delight card-stock was cut to be a tad larger that the die cut piece. Once stamped and embossed the die cut label was mounted on the larger Daffodil Delight card-stock.

The single daisy from the Ornate Style stamp set was stamped in three similar colours, that is Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry and Mango Melody. A couple of the daisies were stamped on Post It Notes and fussy cut so the flowers were stamped with some perspective. The Whisper White label was embossed with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder. Once the Whisper White label was mounted on the Daffodil Delight mount it was adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.

Three extra daisies were stamped on an extra piece of Whisper White card-stock using the Stamparatus with Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizzaz Stampin' Write Markers. The daisies were coloured with Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody and Old Olive Stampin' Blends Combos. Each daisy was fussy cut and layered over the stamped daisies on the embossed label using Mini Dimensionals. Instead of a stamped sentiment, the word "friend" was die cut four times from Daffodil Delight card-stock and layered directly one above the other. A little sponging in Mango Melody with a Sponge Dauber was added to the bottom of the word. A simple word like this enables the card to be used in a range of ways. It could be used for a friend's Birthday, a Thank You, Just Because or ...

A Whisper White card inner and a Whisper White C6 Envelope were simply stamped with the same daisy in Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry and Mango Melody Classic inks.

Three self adhesive sequins from the Sharing Sunshine Paper Pumpkin kit were added as a finishing touch.

Thank you for spending time at Valley Inspirations. I hope you found the cards bright and happy. (Just realised my daisy bush is in the background.)

Catherine Proctor is our wonderful host of the Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase. If you haven't finished visiting all of the team's colour creations, you can visit/revisit Catherine's page at What Cathy Made, where she hosts all the links to the other Showcase participants. I'm certainly looking forward to checking out everyone's Daffodil Delight creations and am sure they will be inspiring.

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team will share projects that hero a dark brown, Early Expresso. 

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

Andrea 💕🐾

#colourcreationsshowcase

Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase - #11 Coastal Cabana

Coastal Cabana with Seaside Notions and Prized Peony

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 11th Colour Creations Showcase by the Art with Heart Team. So glad you have dropped in. This week we are focusing on a gorgeous colour, Coastal Cabana.  This colour is a bright green aqua colour that sits within Stampin' Up!s "Brights" collection of 10 colours.

Coastal Cabana is found across Stampin' Up!s product range, including: Card-stock, Classic Stampin' Ink Pad and Ink Refill; Watercolour Pencils Assortment 2; Stampin' Write Markers; a number of the Designer Series Papers (Playing with Patterns); Playing with Patterns Combo Pack Ribbons; Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels and Playing with Patterns Resin Dots Embellishments. 

This week hasn't been my best week as health and other demands have taken their toll. I noticed the impact as I was crafting ... with dropping things, ink smudges, gluing things the wrong way round or undertaking processes out of order which led to further errors. Has this ever happened to you??? Even though I needed to undertake a number of processes multiple times, I still tried to relax into these projects and enjoy crafting. It is so good to be 'mindful', put aside other things for a while and to create.

First Project: Given the name of this week's colour, I wanted to create a card with a sea theme. Apart from hero-ing Coastal Cabana, I also wanted to use the lovely Seabed 3D Embossing Folder.

I started with a piece of Whisper White card-stock and laid a variegated layer of Coastal Cabana blending to light Pool Party at the top using a Sponge Roller. Sea weed or sea greenery (can't remember what they are called) was stamped in Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' ink. I created a mask for the sea weed so the images didn't cross over each other. 

The sentiment from the Seaside Notions stamp set was stamped in Night of Navy Classic Stampin' ink. Some water droplets as well as some Frost White Shimmer Paint were flicked over the inked card front. Once dry, this card front was trimmed to sit with a narrow mount on a piece of Night of Navy card-stock and was cut into 4 pieces. Then, it was embossed in the Seabed 3D embossing folder - such a gorgeous effect.

The embossed card front pieces were adhered to the Night of Navy card-stock with Dimensionals (do make sure you place the pieces in the right order 😞 - you can probably guess why I am saying that). A piece of Coastal Cabana Playing with Patterns ribbon was tied around the card front in a bow. The card front was adhered directly to a Coastal Cabana card-stock card base.

The seahorses from the Seaside Notions stamp set were stamped in Versamark ink on Shimmery White card-stock and heat embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss powder. After being water coloured with Night of Navy and Pool Party Classic Stampin' inks using a Blender Pen, the sea horses were fussy cut and a layer of Shimmery Crystal Effects covered the sea horses. Once the Crystal Effects dried, they were adhered in place with Mini Dimensionals. A few Blue Adhesive Backed Gems were added as a finishing touch.

The Whisper White card-stock inner and Whisper White C6 Medium envelope were both stamped with the sea house in Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' ink.

Second Project: With the second card design, I thought I would stretch myself out of my comfort zone and work with a different colour combination that had been posted on Pinterest using Coastal Cabana, Gorgeous Grape and Sahara Sand. I usually am more comfortable with soft or muted colours and if I use bright colours it would be as a highlight or small touch. 

I started by stamping 3 peonies from the Prized Peony stamp set in Versamark ink and heat embossed them with White Stampin' Emboss powder. The flowers were coloured with Coastal Cabana and Gorgeous Grape Water-colour pencils and softened with a Blender Pen. Not wanting a wider white boarder around the flowers, they were fussy cut, trimming near to the white embossed edge.

A Whisper White card front was adhered directly to the Coastal Cabana card-stock card base. The centre panel was cut from a piece of Coastal Cabana coloured Designer Series Paper (DSP) from the Playing with Patterns DSP. A piece of Vellum card-stock was cut a tiny bit smaller to allow a border of the DSP to show. Both pieces were edged on the lower edge with the scalloped die from the Peony dies. The vellum was embossed with one of the Meadows Moments embossing folders. The vellum was adhered directly to the DSP and then the panel was adhered in place with Dimensionals.

To bring in the Sahara Sand colour and tie to the Gorgeous Grape flower, leaves from the Prized Peony stamp set were stamped in Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' ink onto a piece of Purple Posy striped DSP from the Playing with Patterns DSP. They were fussy cut. The flowers and leaves were arranged with soft bows in White ribbon from the Flowers for Every Season Ribbon Combo pack and Linen Thread. A "Happy Birthday" sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set was stamped in Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' ink on to a label punched with the Everyday Label punch, which was positioned with Dimensionals.  I added a few pieces of Vellum leaves that were nearby (which had been cut for a previous project from the Forever Flourishing dies). Three clear Elegant Faceted Gems provided the finishing touch.

The Whisper White card inner and the Whisper White C6 Medium envelope were both stamped with the peony in second generation Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' ink.

I hope you are enjoying this week's Colour Creations Showcase, which is focussing on Stampin' Up!s Coastal Cabana. 

Catherine Proctor is our amazing host of the Art with Heart Colour Creations Showcase. If you haven't finished visiting all of the team's colour creations, you can visit/revisit Catherine's page at What Cathy Made, where she hosts all the links to the other Showcase participants. I'm certainly looking forward to checking out everyone's Coastal Cabana creations.

I hope to see you again next week when members of the team will share projects that hero a neutral colour, Crumb Cake. Also, please join us next Monday when the Heart with Art Team will be sharing Christmas themed projects. There will be so much inspiration to encourage everyone to start creating Christmas cards early. Christmas will be here before we know it.

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

Andrea 😘

(The list of products used in creating the cards will be added over the next couple of days.)

Social Stamping - #16 Sympathy

Sympathy with Prized Peony

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 16th Social Stamping Blog Host. This is the first blog hop of the Monthly Social Stamping Blog Host. Kelly Kent, our amazing Coordinator and Blog Host is continuing to keep us in order and I am so appreciative that Kelly is continuing to coordinate this Blog Hop.

 

This week our theme is "Sympathy". I recently heard of a colleague who's partner just lost his battle with a terminal condition. This card was created with her in mind.

I have a beautiful rose on my table that came from my rose pruning yesterday. It has Rococo Rose colouring and is lighter on the petals tips. It inspired this card. Also, I love the Peony Garden Suite and some of the sentiments in the stamp set are perfect for Sympathy cards. I hadn't used the Peony dies so I played with them to create a gorgeous flower that is the focal point of my card.

I cut the flower pieces from Rococo Rose card-stock and the stamens from So Saffron card-stock. Pear Pizzaz card-stock was used for the leaves. Each of the die cut pieces were sponged on the edges using Sponge Daubers. White Craft ink was added to all the outer edges of the flower die cuts as if the sun was shining on the petals' edges. Rococo Rose ink was sponged on the inner areas to give extra depth to the flower. While there were 4 die cut pieces for the peony, they were very easy to fit together and to add the stamen piece.

The set of dies has three different sized leaves and each leaf is made from two pieces. The leaf die cuts were also sponged with the White Craft Stampin' ink on one edge and Classic Pear Pizzaz ink on the other side. I do love the effect of sponging die cuts as it can add extra depth and life.

The card base was a standard half of an A4 piece of Rococo Rose card-stock. The Whisper White card front was sponged with Petal Pink and Rococo Rose Classic ink. A few water drops were scattered over the sponged area as well as splattering from a Rococo Rose Stampin' Write Marker to add a little texture to the card front.

Following the positioning/sizing of a triangular piece of Designer Series Paper (DSP) from the Peony Garden DSP, the larger Peony stamp was stamped in Smoky Slate Classic ink so that some of it peaked from behind the DSP. Two pieces of scalloped vellum that had been cut using the scalloped die from the Peony dies were adhered under the edges of the DSP. The peony, leaves and ribbon were roughly arranged to ensure the DSP was positioned well. The sentiment from the Prized Peony stamp set should have been stamped onto the sponged card front at this point, but I was so engrossed with sorting out other aspects of the design that I forgot about it till the end. The piece of DSP was adhered in place and any overhang on the side edge of the card front was trimmed off. 

The piece of Gray Granite Shimmer Satin ribbon was "swished" to sit under the peony and Dimensionals were placed on the back of the flower around the ribbon to give the peony extra dimension from the card. The leaves were lightly curled and tucked underneath the flower. As a final touch, a number of Elegant Faceted Gems were scattered around.

The larger peony was stamped in Smoky Slate Classic ink on the Whisper White card-inner and on the envelope.

That's my project for this blog hop. Thank you for taking time to visit the Valley Inspirations blog. Please contact me if you would like any further information about the card; or if you live in Australia and would like the 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue and or the new August-December 2020 Mini Catalogue posted to you; or if I can help in any other way.

I hope you are enjoying this week's Social Stamping Blog Host that has focused on the theme - "Sympathy". If you started at the beginning with our amazing Social Stamping Host, Kelly Kent, then you can either click here to be transferred to Elizabeth Gross at Lilly Loves Paper 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.

Do look after yourself and your loved ones in these challenging times.  My heart is especially  with those of you in Victoria and New South Wales.

Hope to see you again next month (Saturday, 29 August) when the Social Stamping Blog Host theme is "celebrate".

Take care

Andrea 😘

  

List of Products used to create these projects: 

Stamps, Dies & Punches

• Prized Peony stamp set - #152504
• Peony dies - #152701

Inks

• Rococo Rose Classic Stampin' pad - #150080
• Petal Pink Classic Stampin' pad - #147108
• Basic Gray Classic Stampin' pad - #149165
• Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' pad - #147113
• White Craft Stampin' ink - #147277
• Stampin' Write Markers 2019-2021 In Colours - #150079

Paper

• Whisper White card-stock - #106549
• Thick Whisper White card-stock - #140490
• Rococo Rose card-stock - #150888
• Peony Garden Designer Series Paper - #152483
• Vellum card-stock - #106584
• C6 Whisper White envelopes - #106589

Embellishments

• Elegant Faceted Gems - #152464
• Gray Granite Shimmer Ribbon - #152463

Adhesives

• Multipurpose Liquid Glue - #110755
• Mini Glue Dots - #103683
• Tear & Tape Adhesive - #138995
• Mini Stampin' Dimensionals - #144108
• Stampin' Dimensionals - #104430

Tools (incl Embossing Folders)

• Take Your Pick Tool - #144107
• Bone Folder - #102300
• Paper Snips - #103579
• Paper Trimmer - #152392
• Stamparatus - #148187
• Block C - #118486
• Block D - #118485
• Block E - #118484
• Block H - #118490
• Grid Paper - #130148
• Stampin' Pierce Mat - #126199
• Silicone Craft Mat - #127857
• Sponge Daubers - #133773
• Stamping Sponge - #141337
• Simple Shammy - #147042
• Heat Tool - #129056
• Stampin Cut & Emboss Machine - #149653
• Magnetic Cutting Plate - #149656
• Speciality Plate - #154711