AWH Colour creations Blog Hop #29 Gray Granite

Gray Granite with Yuletide Village

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 focussing on a beautiful mid-grey colour called Gray Granite.  Gray Granite is part of the Neutrals Colour Family and is a warm grey that can coordinate with many colours, including yellows, reds, other neutrals, etc and it would be wonderful for wood, woodgrain, buildings …  and anything needing a mid-warm grey.

Gray Granite is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Marker; Stampin’ Blends Combo; Neutrals Designer Series Paper as well as Nests of Winter, Lily Pond Lane, Country Woods & Otterly Adorable DSPs, Season of Elegance Speciality DSP, Autumn to Remember Scrapbooking Kit, Layered Landscapes Kit, Bakers Twine Essentials Pack, Adhesive Backed Dappled Dots, Riverside Irregular Pearls and a number of other products. 

This project has incorporated Gray Granite as Classic Stampin' ink, card-stock, Stampin' Write Marker, Stampin’ Blends and Season of Elegance Speciality Designer Series Paper.

I do love this colour. The slight fawn-ish tinge gives Gray Granite a lovely warm tinge. As I am still in card-making mode I was thinking how i could showcase this colour in a Christmas card and saw the Yuletide Village stamps on my work table. I also had a gold embossed little church remaining from a previous project so I started by colouring the church with Stampin’ Blends, using the Gray Granite combo. To incorporate traditional christmas colours, the church door was coloured with the Real Red combo; a little Light Lemon lolly was added to the windows to give a sense of the lights on inside and the wreath on the church tower was coloured with the Old Olive combo. Some highlights and blending were added with the Color Lifter.

The Yuletide Village stamp set is a stand alone set, so the church image was fussy cut and an extra layer of ground snow was added with a torn die cut circle. In reference to the die cut part-circle, to create the focal section a piece of Thick Basic White card-stock was folded and a larger circle die from the Spotlight in Nature dies was used to cut a part circle. Some of the “B” side of the Season of Elegance Speciality DSP was also cut with the same die and this piece was adhered to the outside of the folded panel. Some White Craft ink was blended over to lighten some of the panel. A card base was created with a piece of Gray Granite card-stock. A background panel was cut from Basic White card-stock and it was embossed with the Birchwood 3D Embossing Folder.

The bare trees were die cut from some of the Graceful Greenery Vellum. Holly was Gold heat embossed on Basic White card-stock using a stamp from the Sentimental Wishes stamp set. The twiggy berries were cut from Gold Foil using a die from the Changing Leaves dies.

The sentiment came from the Peaceful Season stamp set and it was white heat embossed using the WOW Embossing Powders onto Real Red card-stock. A double bow tied with Gold Twisted Thread was tucked under the sentiment and adhered with a Glue Dot. The final touch was the addition of a number of Adhesive-backed Metallic Gems.

Sentiments, also from the Peaceful Season Stamp set, were gold heat embossed within the folded part-circle. Some “off cuts” left over from the Blends coloured holly were adhered both near the sentiments and in the inner section of the card. Never throw away off cuts till you have finished the project. 

A C6 Basic White envelope was gold heat embossed with the holly from the Sentimental Wishes stamp set.

Thank you so much for calling in on your way around this week’s Colour Creations Blog Hop. I appreciate you dropping by.

To continue with the blog hop just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Di Furniss. I am looking forward to checking out Di’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

I do hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Highland Heather as we continue the weekly 2024-2025 Colour Creations Blog Hop series. 

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

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.

Living in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2024-2025 Annual Catalogue or the 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! 

#colourcreationsbloghop  #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards  #stampinupdemonstrator  #papercrafting   #yuletidevillage  #peacefulseason

AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #13

Christmas with Sentimental Christmas

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the thirteenth Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. We are hopping every week until the end of November. I hope you can continue to check us out each week as there will be so many ideas and different projects on display to inspire your Christmas preparations.

Thank you for dropping in - I so appreciate it.  I love sharing Christmas creativity with you. This week I am sharing an idea I had for this week’s CASEing the Catty Challenge, but I missed signing up for their Challenge Launch Blog Hop so thought I would use that idea for tonight’s Blog Hop. My inspiration came from the top central wrapped present.

I love the off-centre ribbon and bow with the hand made tag, so decided to turn this idea into a card with the ribbon and bow off-set and the tag added at an angle. A specially designed and hand created card is indeed a present. Instead of the background being Sentimental Christmas Designer Series Paper, the background has been dry embossed card-stock and the tag features the Sentimental Christmas DSP.

As you can see, I created 3 similar cards to build my card stash as it hasn’t been growing quickly enough to satisfy my Christmas Card list. I was pleased with my first card so thought it was fairly simple to replicate another one or two.

This was my first card. I love the simplicity with the contrast between card base and ribbon. This design of the Sentimental Christmas DSP is so gorgeous. Each of the cards has a background panel of card-stock that was embossed with the Forever Plaid 3D Embossing Folder. The card base is the same colour as the background piece.

Either Shaded Spruce Satin & Sheer Ribbon or Cherry Cobbler & Gold Satin Ribbon was added to one side or the other and a second piece near the top. The ends of the pieces of ribbon was adhered to the back with some Tear ‘N Tape. Some Linen twine (either the green twine from the Natural Tones Linen Thread pack or Linen Twine) was tied around the cross over of ribbon and a ribbon bow was added with a Glue Dot and the Linen Twine was tied around the centre of the bow.

Using the tag die from the Merriest Trees dies, tags were cut from 3 of the Sentimental Christmas DSP designs. Some of the larger key images were fussy cut from the DSP. The fussy cut images were added onto the tags using Mini Dimensionals to add a little dimension and interest. One end of the linen twine was poked through the tag hole and then tied into a bow to sit over the ribbon bow.

The same sentiment from the Merriest Trees stamp set was used on each of the cards. It was white heat embossed onto either Shaded Spruce or Cherry Cobbler card-stocks to coordinate with the ribbons. The sentiment was fussy cut and added with Multipurpose Liquid Glue and Mini Dimensionals. A different sentiment was added inside the card.

Either loose White Snowflakes or a number of the Iridescent Faceted Gems were added to the tags to provide a little fun and sparkle.

The inside of the card, a thin strip of the DSP that was used for the tag was adhered to an edge and a different sentiment from the Merriest Trees stamps was stamped in either Shaded Spruce or Cherry Cobbler Classic inks. An extra fussy cut image was adhered inside as well.  Either a Shaded Spruce or Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker added some splattering both inside and out.

A Basic White C6 envelope was stamped with some holly from the Sentimental Wishes stamp set in Shaded Spruce ink. The berries were coloured with a Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write Marker. 

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with the blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Sharon Davern. I always look forward to checking out Sharon’s creation(s). I wonder what she is sharing with us this week - she is a wiz with fun folds. I do love seeing everyones' projects - there is so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Blog Hop that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would also love you to check in on us on Wednesday evening for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants then also go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our wonderful Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  She is a special lady. Check out her delightful creation(s) 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 Stampin' Up 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and or the new September-December 2024 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact re any queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2024 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #merriesttrees  #sentimentalwishes  #sentimentalchristmas  

AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #5

Christmas with Reindeer Days

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 5th Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. We are hopping each week through August until the end of November. I hope you can check us out each week as I know there will be so many ideas and different projects on display to inspire your Christmas preparations.

I do love creating for Christmas and sharing creativity with you, hoping you will be inspired in your preparations for Christmas. This past week has been full so was thinking of something more simple to create and decided to CASE a card I made last year, ie a slim line card that features fussy cut images from Designer Series Paper to create a scene. This time I am featuring the wonderful Reindeer Days Designer Series Paper. Here is my card:

When I first saw the Reindeer Days Designer Series Paper with all the happy reindeers I thought of fussy cutting and rearranging them into a scene.  My plan today was to share 2 slimline cards that would be similar but different using different designs of the Reindeer Days DSP. It’s probably is no surprise that I couldn’t resist stepping it up a little with dry embossing, blending and layers so I ran out of time to complete the second card. There is a photo at the end of this blog to give you a sense of the images/layout of the second card, but I will try to finish it over the weekend and upload a photo.

I fussy cut numerous different images from a sheet of DSP, noting that the background was a gorgeous snowy Pool Party, so I couldn’t resist gently blending Pool Party Classic ink over the background panel. 

The panel was embossed with the gorgeous Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder, before mounting the panel onto a slightly larger piece of Pool Party card-stock. The mounted panel was adhered to a Thick Basic White card base. An extra piece of Basic White card-stock was cut with dies from the Delicate Forrest dies to form little sloping hills.

The fussy cut images were arranged to form a story and adhered in place with Dimensionals and Multipurpose Liquid Glue. A sentiment from the Peaceful Season stamp set was white heat embossed onto Pool Party card-stock and then fussy cut, removing the second line of the sentiment. 

Two partial images on the edge of the sheet of DSP were fussy cut and added to inside edges of the card. A different sentiment from the Sentimental Wishes stamp set was added in Coastal Cabana ink. I will be creating an envelope from coordinating DSP for this card or perhaps stamping on a DL envelope when I find my stash.

Card 2: I also fussy cut reindeer from a different sheet of the DSP. Some trees were cut from a third sheet. See below, a rough layout of the second card. I will finish the second card in a similar but different way to the first card.

Thank you so much for spending time with me on my blog. I hope my card(s) brought a smile.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with the blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a lovely lady, Christina Barnes. I am looking forward to checking out Christina’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Blog Hop that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. It would be wonderful if you could also check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  She is a special 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 Stampin' Up 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and or the new September-December 2024 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!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2024 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #reindeerdays  #peacefulseason  #sentimentalwishes