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
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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 💖
