AWH Heart of Christmas # 16

Christmas with Poinsettia Petals

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the 16th Art with Heart Team 2021 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. 

So glad you are joining us for this Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. When we commenced our Blog Hops, Christmas seemed so distant, but now it is certainly getting closer. How are your Christmas preparations going? I have another Christmas card for you - I hope you like it:

I had a number of concepts as possibilities to create for last week's Colour Creations Blog Hop where we hero-ed Granny Apple Green. One was inspired by this wild rose photographed while walking along the Sturt River with my dog Gemma. I was disappointed that I ran out of time to follow-up this concept so I decided to run with it for this Heart of Christmas Blog Hop.

I also wanted to try different techniques using the Soft Pastel Assortment. Again, I scraped some pastel dust off both the Granny Apple Green and the Daffodil Delight pastels, then tried applying pastel dust with a stiffer bristle brush, a Water Painter and a Sponge Dauber.

I started by embossing a piece of Shimmery White card-stock with the pine fronds embossing folder from the Wintry 3D set of Embossing Folders. It gives a gorgeous effect. A Sponge Dauber was used to lightly apply some Granny Apple Green pastel powder over most of the embossed background. Love the effect. The embossed panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Granny Apple Green card-stock.

 

The three sizes of poinsettia petals from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set, were stamped in So Saffron Classic ink. Using a stiff bristled brush, powder from the Daffodil Delight soft pastel was applied to the centre of the poinsettia petals. I wanted the colour at the centre to be a stronger yellow so used the mid-sized Water Painter to wet apply extra Daffodil Delight pastel. Similarly, the Holly leaves were stamped in Granny Apple Classic ink and then coloured with the Granny Apple Green soft pastel. To add some interest and sparkle, a little Shimmery Embossing Paste was applied to the edges of the poinsettia petals and tips of Holly leaves.

The flower petals were crinkled up and the flower put together with dots of Multi-purpose Liquid Glue. The poinsettia was adhered with a Dimensional and the Holly leaves tucked underneath. The arrangement needed something else so I die cut some Basic White card-stock using one of the pine fronds dies from the Christmas Pine Cones dies and separated the pine fronds. I also cut some berries using a die from the Poinsettia dies from left over surrounds from the Wonderful Snowflakes.

Sentiments from the Heartfelt Wishes stamp set were stamped in Evening Evergreen Classic ink and fussy cut. A bow tied with White Crinkled Seam Binding ribbon was attached with Glue Dots and Genial Gems were added to the centre of the flower and near the sentiment.

A Basic White card inner was second generation stamped with So Saffron Classic Stampin' ink and the mid-sized poinsettia from the Poinsettia Petals stamps. The "Merry Christmas" sentiment was stamped in Evening Evergreen Classic ink and a thin strip of Granny Apple Green card-stock adhered to the base of the card inner. A C6 Basic White envelope was also stamped on the front of the envelope with a light So Saffron poinsettia. 

Thank you so much for spending time with me. I so appreciate you.

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 July - December Mini Catalogue then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you. Also, please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

To continue with the blog hop, click on the "onto the next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the amazing Claire Daly - the leader of the Art with Heart Team.  I always look forward to checking out Claire's creations together with everyone else's. 

I hope to see you next week for another AWHT Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. Stampin' Up!'s products are amazing, providing brilliant inspiration for creating lovely Christmas projects. Also, don't forget the weekly Colour Creations Blog Hop by the Art with Heart Team that goes live every Wednesday at 8.00pm AEDT.

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

Andrea XXX

  

As mentioned, it is always a delight to see everyone's creations and the way they each use the amazing Stampin' Up! products. I am sure there will be gorgeous Christmas projects on show. Don't miss checking out each blog. 

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up or you started part way through, please head to the blog of this week’s lovely host for the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, and she will have the list of all Art With Heart Team members who are participating in this blog hop. Check out her beautiful creation while you are there.

#heartofchristmas #heartofchristmas2021 #awhtheartofchristmas

AWHT Colour Creations #20 Granny Apple Green

Granny Apple Green with Gorgeous Leaves and Christmas Season 

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 a bright yellow green called Granny Apple Green. Granny Apple Green is part of the Brights Colour Family and is a wonderful colour for foliage, grasses, granny apples and where a bright yellow green is needed. I see this colour in so many forms as I walk with my dog along the Sturt River.

Granny Apple Green is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, Stampin’ Spots & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Stampin’ Blends; Watercolour Pencils; Soft Pastels; the Brights & Pattern Party Host Designer Series Paper; Rainbow Glimmer Paper and Shaker Shapes. The cards below have used Granny Apple Green Classic ink, plus a range of other bits and pieces.

Card 1:

As I was thinking of what I would create using Granny Apple Green (GAG) I was walking along the Sturt River and seeing a range of foliage in different greens and many were differing shades of GAG. I determined that I would create project(s) with leaves in some form. I also recently saw a delightful still life photo showing Granny Apples sitting in a Blushing Bride bucket on a Pool Party painted chair. The painting was ageing and showing wood in patches. These inspired my first card.

The Very Vanilla card front was stamped in Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' ink with the lighter of the splatter stamps from the Gorgeous Leaves stamp set. (This is such a gorgeous stamp set.) The panel was then dry embossed with the Timber 3D embossing folder, giving a delightful look of timber grain across the card-stock. The embossed panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gold Foil from the Brushed Metallic card-stock pack.

The larger detailed leaf die in the maple leaf shape from the coordinating Intricate Leaves dies was cut multiple times from Fluid 100 Watercolor paper. The leaves were wet on wet water-coloured using Granny Apple Green, Blushing Bride and Pool Party Classic inks with the mid-sized Water Painter from the set of 3 Water Painters. I do love water-colouring die cut pieces and it is so easy when watercolor paper has been used.

The maple leaf was also stamped in Crumb Cake ink 3 times on Very Vanilla card-stock and then die cut. The detailed leaves were partially adhered to the stamped leaves. This enabled me to pop the leaves up on Dimensionals.

Before adhering the leaves in place, some Linen Thread and Gold trim from the Simply Elegant Trim pack was tied around the card front and finished in a bow. A sentiment from the Through It Together stamp set was stamped twice in Crumb Cake ink on Very Vanilla card-stock. The sentiment was fussy cut so most of it could be used in one long strip rather than 2 rows. You may notice 2 words with some dimension. Initially, I had highlighted these words in a different colour but then decided I didn't like it so added another set of the 2 words on top. Given the layers, the words are still highlighted but it is more subtle. Some Genial Gems were added for a little glimmer. I do love a touch of bling.

The Very Vanilla card inner and C6 envelope were both stamped with a row of maple leaves using Crumb Cake ink. The card inner also had a thin strip of Gold foil adhered at the bottom.

A lovely friend is trudging through a difficult time at present. I know she loves cards with leaves so this card will be heading her way, hopefully to brighten her day and so she knows she is thought of and loved.

Card 2:

I first starting to create this card for last week's CASEing the Catty Challenge but things happened and I didn't complete it in time. The challenge was based on this sketch:

I made sure some of the foliage was stamped in Granny Apple Green so I could share it here. As you will notice, I'm currently trying to create at least one Christmas card for the Colour Creations Blog Hop to help build my card stash. Christmas is coming more quickly now.

I die cut a layer of Vellum and of Basic White card-stocks using the two pine fronds dies in the Christmas Pinecones die set. These were layered on a Thick Basic White card-stock base. Two smaller circles from the Layering Circles die set were used to cut Cherry Cobbler card-stock. Leaves, holly, berries and pinecones were stamped on Basic White card-stock using Granny Apple Green, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake. Apart from the berries the leaves and pinecones had 2 stamps to give shading. The first stamp was stamped off first and the second was stamped in full strength ink. The stamped pieces were fussy cut - although I'm not sure why as there were coordinating dies - but it made sense at the time??

Some of the Cherry Cobbler & Gold ribbon was sliced down the middle and swished in place. A sentiment was White heat embossed on the smaller circle before the 2 Cherry Cobbler circles being added with Dimensionals; and the leaves, berries and pinecones arranged around the labels and over the ribbon. A gold foil spray of berries (from a previous project) was laying on the workstation so I cut it into 3 and tucked them in to add some extra gold to the arrangement. Genial Gems were added as the finishing touch.

The Basic White card inner and C6 Basic White Envelope were both stamped with leaves at an edge. Two pinecones were also adhered directly to the card inner.

I had fun creating with Granny Apple Green. I hope my projects have given you some food for thought. Another design using GAG is bubbling in my brain - so stay tuned, as it may turn up in a coming Heart of Christmas Blog Hop.

If you live 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 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 Granny Apple Green creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a very special and talented friend, Rachel Palmieri. As always, I am looking forward to checking out Rachel's creation and everyone else's. I do love seeing everyones' projects - so many ideas and such great creations

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Gray Granite; and don't forget that the AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop goes live every Monday evening at 8pm AEDT 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, our wonderful AWHT Colour Creations Coordinator.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2021 

AWH Heart of Christmas #15

Christmas with Snowflake Wishes & Words of Cheer

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Art with Heart Team 2021 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. 

It's wonderful that you are joining us for this Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. Creating  Christmas cards is a happy experience, especially with the fabulous Stampin' Up products. I had some ideas for this week's card, but ran out of time and so I am sharing a couple of cards I created after recently watching Emma Goddard during one of her Card & a Cuppa sessions, where she demonstrated the masking technique with blending and stamping.  I have a 3rd card part created, but it didn't fall neatly into place and requires some fiddling with placement etc. I will try to upload it here over the next few days. Here are my two completed cards - I hope you like them:

As my time has completely disappeared with today's commitments extending longer than planned, I won't be going into all the details of how the cards were created and with what, but will just summarise key aspects. Please contact me if you have any queries.

Both cards used the masking technique where a piece of paper was torn in half and then placed over the card front with a space in-between. One of Stampin' Up!s gorgeous Blending Brushes was used to colour the Basic White card-stock in-between the torn edges. The first card used a mix of Fresh Freesia, Pool Party and Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' inks. 

Before lifting the masking paper some snowflakes from the Snowflake Wishes stamp set were stamped in the same colours was the blended background, but as they were stamped the colours are more intense.

A sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped in Balmy Blue Classic ink. A large snowflake from the Wonderful Snowflakes embellishment pack was positioned with other die cut snowflakes, cut using the So Many Snowflakes die set from the paper used for the snowflake embellishments. The snowflakes were finished with Blue Adhesive-backed Gems at the centre.

Both the card inner and a C6 Basic White envelope were stamped with flurries of small snowflakes using the same ink colours as listed above.

Card 2: The second card used the same masking and stamping technique, but a different stamp set, ink colours and embellishments. 

The blended coloured panel was created using Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin ink and the poinsettia arrangement from the Words of Cheer stamp set was stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink over the masked and blended area.

The sentiment came from the same stamp set and was also stamped in Cherry Cobbler. I love the richness of this colour for Christmas. The same poinsettia arrangement was stamped twice more on a seperate piece of Basic White card-stock and holly leaves were stamped in Garden Green Classic Stampin' ink. There was an infill stamp for the leaves that was stamped in second generation stamping, ie stamping off first.

The poinsettias on the seperate piece of card-stock were coloured with Stampin' Blends, ie Flirty Flamingo, Cherry Cobbler and the Colour Lifter. The poinsettias were fussy cut, as was the tiny holly leaves. Some gold threads that came from a piece of disassembled Cherry Cobbler & Gold ribbon were adhered to the card front and the poinsettias and holly leaves were arranged over it. Champagne Basic Rhinestone Jewels were added to the centre of each layered poinsettia.

Both the card inner and a C6 Basic White Envelope were masked and the same blending and stamping were added to an edge of each to tie them in with the card front design.

Thank you so much for spending time with me on my blog.

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 July - December Mini Catalogue then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you. Also, please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

To continue with the blog hop, click on the "onto the next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the very special Kate Morgan. I always look forward to checking out Kate's creations together with everyone else's. 

Hope to see you next week for another AWHT Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. There is so much Christmas inspiration to share using Stampin' Up!'s products and preparing early for  Christmas will minimize some of the stresses of the silly season. Also, don't forget the weekly Colour Creations Blog Hop by the Art with Heart Team that launches every Wednesday at 8.00pm AEST.

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

Andrea XXX

  

As mentioned, it is always a delight to see everyone's creations and the way they each use the amazing Stampin' Up! products. I am sure there will be gorgeous Christmas projects on show. Don't miss checking out each blog. 

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up or you started part way through, please head to the blog of this week’s delightful host for the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all Art With Heart Team members who are participating in this blog hop. Check out her beautiful creation while you are there.

#heartofchristmas #heartofchristmas2021 #awhtheartofchristmas

AWHT Colour Creations #19 Gorgeous Grape

Gorgeous Grape with Soft Pastels Assortment and Angels of Peace & So Many Snowflakes   

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 an intense purple called Gorgeous Grape. Gorgeous Grape is part of the Stampin' Up! Brights Colour Family and is a great colour, even if its one I haven't used regularly. I would have said that I'm not a purple person, however, of late I have enjoyed creating with purple in it's various SU shades. This week's projects started with a decision to use the Soft Pastels Assortment as hadn't used them since they arrived. Focussing on Gorgeous Grape was a great opportunity to experiment with techniques using the pastels.

Gorgeous Grape is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, re-inkers & ink spots); Stampin' Write Markers; Watercolor Pencils; Soft Pastels Assortment; the Brights Designer Series Papers; Ombre Speciality Paper; Sheer Ribbon; Pastel Pearls and Sheer Ribbon. The cards have used Gorgeous Grape card-stock, Classic ink, Soft Pastels Assortment and Gorgeous Grape Sheer Ribbon plus a range of other bits and pieces.

Background Techniques with Soft Pastels: 

I started by experimenting with 2 background techniques. I remembered seeing one technique, I think by one of the Artisans; the second - I hadn't seen anyone try. 

Starting with a container of water, I sprinkled fine scrapings from the Gorgeous Grape pastel stick on top of the water. I also sprinkled some Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana scrapings on top of the water and gave a little swirl. Then a piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor paper was laid on top of the water. When I lifted the paper, some pastel ink had transferred to the paper. I did notice that the powdered ink didn't lay on top of the water for very long but dropped to the bottom of the container, as such the colouring is fairly light. Next time it may be worth testing out transferring one colour at a time to the paper - layering one colour on top of another.

With another piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper, I wet the paper with water from a Stampin' Up! Mister and then sprinkled scrapings from Gorgeous Grape, Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana pastels onto the damp paper. The powdered pastel dissolved a little, but generally didn't do that much, so I misted more water over the powdered pastels on the paper. This spread the colour, with some colour blending. As you can see the colour is more intense but there are some lumps of congealed powder. It will be interesting to experiment further at another time.

CARD 1:

Once the background panel had dried following being coloured using the first technique described above, it was embossed with the Merry Melody 3D embossing folder.

The larger angel from the Angels of Peace stamp set was stamped in Versamark ink onto Shimmery White card-stock and heat embossed with White Emboss Powder and a Heat Gun. Using the finest Water Painter the angel was coloured using the Soft Pastels Assortment. With remaining scrapings from the Gorgeous Grape pastel stick, plus some scrapings from the Real Red and Daffodil Delight pastels, the wet tip of the fine Water Painter was dipped into the pastel powder, dissolving some of the powder and then colouring the angel. This was similar to water-colouring using our re-inkers. As there isn't a brown pastel stick, I mixed a little Real Red and Coastal Cabana dampened pastel powder to create a brown for colouring her hair. I'm so glad for the colour theory I studied many many years ago.

The angel was fussy cut and layered over a couple of Wonderful Snowflakes on top of the embossed coloured background. The angel needed something else to ground her so I cut a side piece of Fresh Freesia card-stock using the pointed stitched die from the Basic Borders die set. Some gorgeous White Glittery Organdy ribbon also was added with the snowflakes and angel layered on top. The whole card front was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gorgeous Grape card-stock. This was popped up on Dimensionals onto a Fresh Freesia card base.

The White Glittered Organdy ribbon and the Gorgeous Grape Sheer ribbon were both cut in half length-wise and a piece of each were tied into bows and tucked under the top snowflake,  adhering them with Glue Dots. A sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with White Emboss Powder. The top line of the sentiment was fussy cut and adhered in place with Mini Dimensionals. A number of Subtle Shimmer Sequins were added to add some extra shimmer.

The card inner was decorated with the angle and a different sentiment stamped with Gorgeous Grape on Basic White card-stock. This panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gorgeous Grape card-stock. A Basic White C6 envelope was also stamped with the angel in Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin ink.

CARD 2:

The second pastel coloured panel was used as a background for a Snowflake Shaker card. A centre hexagon shaped hole was cut in a piece of Snowy White Velvet Sheet. It doesn't show in the photo, but it feels so soft and velvety. This die cut piece was embossed with the snowflake embossing folder from the Wintery Embossing Folder set. It creates a delightful embossed image.

A shaker window was created with a piece of Window Sheet, Foam Adhesive Strips, the delightful Subtle Shimmer Sequins with the background piece layered behind. The whole shaker window was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Gorgeous Grape card-stock and in turn adhered to a Fresh Freesia card base. The shimmer of the white and silver sequins is delightful over the pastel coloured base.

Three snowflakes from the So Many Snowflakes dies were cut from Fluid 100 Watercolor paper. These snowflakes (plus another 2 for decorating the card inner) were water-coloured using some remaining Gorgeous Grape, Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana soft pastel powder and the fine Water Painter. Once dry, the snowflakes were adhered with a little Multipurpose Liquid Glue and finished with Blue Adhesive-backed Gems. (The formal name may sound boring but they are anything but boring. Their shimmer and colour is scrumptious.)

A sentiment from the coordinating Snowflake Wishes stamp set was stamped in Smoky Slate Classic ink on Basic White card-stock. The sentiment was stamped again in Gorgeous Grape ink and the words "Merry Christmas" cut out. This piece was layered over the Smoky Slate sentiment with Dimensionals.

A left over piece of the coloured background and a very fine strip of Gorgeous Grape card-stock were added to the RHS of a piece of Basic White card-stock. The two extra water coloured snowflakes were layered on top. A Basic White C6 Envelope was stamped with one of the small snowflake flurry stamps using Fresh Freesia ink with a little Gorgeous Grape ink partially daubered on the stamp (using a Sponge Dauber). The stamping went all around the front edge of the envelope.

Thank you for spending some time with me. I had a lot of fun playing with techniques using the Soft Pastel Assortment. I would like to further explore the techniques used on these cards and refine my use of the techniques. There are many other techniques that I would like to try as well. You never know - they may turn up in more Colour Creations projects.

If you live 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 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 Gorgeous Grape creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of a lovely lady, Ros Davidson. As always, I am looking forward to checking out Ros's creation and everyone else's. I do love seeing everyones' projects - so many ideas and such great creations

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Granny Apple Green; and don't forget that the AWHT Heart of Christmas Blog Hop is launched every Monday evening at 8pm AEDT 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, our amazing AWHT Colour Creations Coordinator.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop  #colourcreationsbloghop2021