AWH Colour Creations #7 Bumblebee

Bumblebee with Daisy Garden & Celebrate Sunflowers

Hi. 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 happy Stampin' Up! colour called Bumblebee.

Bumblebee is a strong yellow, that sits between Daffodil Delight and Crushed Curry in terms of Stampin' Up!'s yellows. It is a happy colour and is one of the 2020-2022 In Colour Family. Bumblebee is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; What a Year Memories and More Pack, Beauty of the Earth, You're A Peach, Pansy Petals, Sweet Symmetry & 2020-2022 In Color Designer Series Papers (DSP), Bumblebee Gingham Ribbon, Sequins for Everything and In Colour Square Gems and ribbon.

I loved playing with Bumblebee and water-colour so ended up creating 2 cards to share. It's interesting, as the stronger yellows are not my most "go to" colours, but it was fun playing with Bumblebee and seeing it's depth and softness achieved through water-colouring.

CARD 1:

My first thought when designing my card was to create a card inspired by the bright yellow daisies outside my bedroom window.  I started my crafting for this week's projects with water-colouring. I wanted to use emboss resist so first stamped the Daisy Garden stamp in Versamark ink on Shimmery White card-stock and then heat embossed with White Emboss Powder and a Heat Gun. (I had also tried the Fluid 100 Watercolor paper but wasn't sure how well the embossing turned out - which, as you would understand, is hard to tell with white on white.) Bumblebee Classic Stampin' re-inker was used with the wide Water Painter to achieve wet on wet water-colouring with a stronger colour at the top and ink dripping down to the bottom.

As the water-coloured panel was drying it was embossed with the Tasteful Texture 3D Embossing Folder. When dry the panel was mounted on Bumblebee card-stock and some White Crinkled Seam Binding was wrapped around and tied in a bow. This was mounted on a Thick Basic White card-stock base.

A label was also cut from Bumblebee card-stock using a small Hippo & Friends label die. A sentiment from the Color & Contour stamp set was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed as mentioned above. The sentiment was fussy cut.

Bumblebee and Gray Granite Stampin' Write Markers were used with the Daisy Garden stamp to stamp some flowers and leaves on Shimmery White card-stock. The flowers and leaves were coloured with Stampin' Blends Combos, that is Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight and Smoky Slate together with the Color Lifter; and then fussy cut.

The sentiment was positioned with Stampin' Dimensionals. The flowers and leaves were arranged with either Multipurpose Liquid Glue or Dimensionals. The final touch was to add some clear Elegant Faceted Gems. (Must order some more as I have almost run out - they are so gorgeous.)

The card inner was simply decorated with a partial stamping of the Daisy Garden stamp using Bumblebee Classic Stampin' ink onto a Basic White card-stock panel. A C6 Basic White envelope was stamped in a similar way to coordinate with the card.

CARD 2:

When water-colouring for the first project I also water-coloured a piece of Fluid 100 Paper in stripes using the wide Water Painter and Bumblebee Classic re-inker, as well as on off-cut of Shimmery White card-stock in a lighter Bumblebee wash and another off-cut in a Soft Succulent wash in readiness for a second project - if there was time. In the interim I saw the latest Global Design Project challenge - #GDP300. 

Loving the layout (as shown above), I changed my prior design concepts and squeezed in creating this 2nd project using the preprepared water-coloured panels and the Celebrate Sunflowers bundle.

And it was awarded a Special Mention. So delighted. #GDPspecialmention   #GDP300

A light wash of Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' ink was added to the front panel of Shimmery White card-stock. When dry it was die embossed with the Stitched Greenery die, that added a gorgeous tone on tone texture of stitched leaves. This was mounted on the Bumblebee striped panel, which in turn was mounted on the Thick Basic White card base.

Using the Sunflowers dies, the open sunflower die cut the sunflower shape from the light Bumblebee coloured Shimmery White piece and the detailed sunflower and flower centre dies were used on Basic White card-stock. The detailed leaves were cut from the Soft Succulent water-coloured panel. These pieces were arranged and positioned with liquid glue or Dimensionals.

The sentiment (from the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set) was stamped in Versamark on Bumblebee card-stock and heat embossed with White Emboss Powder. It was fussy cut and added to the centre of the flower together with a cute Bumblebee Trinket. Clear Epoxy Essential embellishments in the droplet shape also were scattered giving a sense of raindrops over the flower and backdrop.

An off-cut from the water-coloured stripes was added to a Basic White panel, as was the word "you" that was part of the front sentiment and a spray of Soft Succulent water-coloured leaves. A C6 Basic White envelope was partially stamped with the sunflower stamp in Bumblebee ink to coordinate with the card.  

Thank you for visiting Valley Inspirations with Andrea. I did have fun playing with water-colouring in Bumblebee to create these projects to share and appreciate the inspiration of Steffi Helmschrott's delightful Global Design Project #GDP300 card. 

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 new 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 Bumblebee creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the delightful Ros Davidson's blog. I am looking forward to checking out Ros's creation and everyone else's. If you started part way through or if you missed someone click on the link below to go to Catherine Proctor's blog where she has a list of all the participants in tonight's Colour Creation Blog Hop and their links.

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Cajun Craze; and don't forget the AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop occurs every Monday evening up to 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.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop

AWH Heart Of Christmas 2021 #2

Christmas and Snowflake Wishes

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the second weekly Art with Heart Team's Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. 

There is always something fun about creating Christmas projects ... well most of the time. Must admit I spent ages trying to create a card with Christmas stars, but the idea that I had in mind and various options I tried just didn't work. I really didn't like the card I was developing, but being stubborn, I kept trying to make changes - I still wasn't happy! Eventually I put it aside and with limited time available I decided to start again from scratch with completely different products. To help my development process, I used a layout of Emma Goddard's that I had seen during the past week. Thank you Emma again for your inspiration which moved me out of a frustrated/unhappy space. The card includes a range of different colours, products and theme - but the layout is lovely.

The Wintry 3D Embossing Folder was used to dry emboss the centre panel of Basic White card-stock. Wow, the embossing is gorgeous! This was mounted on Balmy Blue card-stock which in turn was adhered to a Thick Basic White card base.

Both snowflakes (cut using So Many Snowflakes dies) and the centre label (from the Hippo & Friends dies) were cut from Basic White card-stock and a second centre label was cut from Vellum A4 card-stock. Metallic Mesh Ribbon, which had been cut in half lengthwise, had been wrapped around the mounted embossed centre panel and tied in a bow prior to the panel being adhered to the card-base. This ribbon adds a delightful touch of light glistening beauty.

The label was stamped randomly with small flurry of snowflakes from the Snowflake Wishes stamp set using Balmy Blue and Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' ink. The Fresh Freesia ink was applied lightly in some areas of the stamp with a sponge dauber. To lighten the overall impact of the stamped flurry of snowflakes, the Vellum label was added on top. This muting of the stamping allows the die cut snowflakes to shine.

The die cut snowflakes were arranged and adhered with either Multipurpose Liquid Glue or Mini Dimensionals. Oh so gorgeous Blue Adhesive-Backed Gems were added to the centre of each snowflake. I'm so glad these gems continued over from last years Mini Catalogue. They are delightful. A sentiment from the coordinating stamp set was stamped in Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' ink and then over-stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder and a Heat Gun. The clear heat embossing gives a shine to the sentiment - which isn't picked up by the camera.

To create the card inner another sentiment from the same stamp set was also stamped in Misty Moonlight and snowflakes were stamped along the side edge in the same colours as used on the front label. A C6 Basic White Envelope was also stamped with snowflakes along one edge.

Thank you for visiting Valley Inspirations with Andrea. I so love the beauty of snowflakes and enjoyed playing with embossing, die cutting, snowflakes to develop this Christmas card to share with 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 new July - December 2021 Mini Catalogue & Sale-abration brochure then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you. Please don't hesitate to make contact if you have any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!

There is so much more Christmas creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic to be taken to the lovely Christine Blain's blog. I am looking forward to checking out Kate's creation and everyone else's.

Hope to see you next week for the second AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. Don't forget that the new Mini Catalogue will be launched in August and has so many gorgeous Christmas products. As demonstrators we have the opportunity to purchase products the month prior to Catalogue Launch and so we are starting to play with the new products as I am sure you will see in this blog hop and will be even more so next week. I'm sure there will be an explosion of further Christmas inspiration.

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

Andrea 💕🐾

  

I always love seeing everyone's creations and the way they 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 please head to the blog of this week’s host for the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, and she will have the list of all AWH team members who are participating.

#heartofchristmas

AWH Colour Creations #6 Blushing Bride

Blushing Bride with Pansy Patch & Hand-penned Petals

Hi. 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 another colour starting with "B", that is Blushing Bride.

Blushing Bride is a pretty pale pink. It is a lovely colour and is part of the Subtles Colour Family.

Blushing Bride is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads & re-inkers); Stampin' Write Markers; Hand Penned & Subtles Designer Series Papers (DSP) and Hand Penned Memories & More Cards.

I loved playing with Blushing Bride so ended up creating 2 cards to share. However, in doing so I am now running short on time to write my blog, so I won't go into as much detail as I usually do. That said, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any queries. Here are my Blushing Bride projects: 

Project 1:

I started by playing with some water colouring on Fluid 100 paper, using Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' ink and Stampin' Up!'s flat end Water Painter. In the end I cut the piece of water-colour paper into 2 and have used the piece that was pretty well coloured all over. The 2nd piece will be used another time.

Once the water-coloured paper was dry, I embossed it with a new set of decorative masks, ie the Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks and Shimmery Embossing Paste. I usually forget about embossing paste, but I love the effect. I'm thankful to Emma Goddard who used some embossing paste in her Facebook Live this week and reminded me to give it ago. 

I hadn't used my Pansy Patch bundle and thought it would be great to showcase Blushing Bride, so I die cut pieces of Basic White card-stock using the Pansy dies to form flowers, buds and leaves. I part coloured each piece using Blushing Bride, So Saffron & Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' inks and sponge daubers. Must admit, I used a Sponge Dauber for the leaves that had previously been used with a darker green. I tried it on scrap paper and no ink was transferred so I inked it up with Soft Sea Foam, however, the colour that transferred onto the leaves was not a pure Soft Sea Foam green so I applied ink lightly as I didn't have an un-inked dauber to use. The flowers and bud were pieced together using Glue Dots.

The water-coloured panel was mounted on a slightly larger piece of Blushing Bride card-stock. Before arranging the pansies, a piece of White Crinkled Seam Binding was wrapped around the card front and tied in a bow. The flowers, bud and leaves were arranged and then adhered with either Multipurpose Liquid Glue or Dimensionals.

A sentiment from the Pansy Patch stamp set was stamped in Versamark ink on Blushing Bride card-stock and heat embossed using White Stampin' Emboss Powder and a Heat Gun. A few white Elegant Faceted Gems were added as the finishing touch.

A piece of Basic White card-stock that had been pierced with the Stitched Greenery die was adhered to a Thick Basic White card-stock base. I so love the subtle and beautiful effect of this die. The card front was popped up on Dimensionals.

The card inner was created by stamping the delightful pansy and leaves in Blushing Bride and Soft Sea Foam. Another sentiment from the Pansy Patch stamp set was stamped in Polished Pink ink to give the sentiment added strength of colour. The card inner was mounted on Blushing Bride card-stock. 

A Basic White C6 Envelope was also stamped with the delightful little pansy in Blushing Bride ink to link it to the card it will carry. (I love Stampin' Up!s distinctive stamps that give variegated levels of colour with just one step - check out the detail of the pansies on the envelope.)

PROJECT 2:

After creating the pansy card, I remembered the Stampin' Up!s Designer Series Paper Sale that is on throughout the month of July, with 15% of selected papers. It's a good deal that needs to be highlighted so you don't miss out. This was the impetus for the 2nd project. Even though I was running out of time, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to showcase at least one of the gorgeous Designer Series Papers - especially as the Hand Penned DSP is one of my favs.

One of the designs in the Hand-Penned DSP was Blushing Bride and White, so it was perfect for my card. A piece was cut to card front size. Both Basic White and Blushing Bride card-stocks were cut with one of the dies from the Basic Borders dies. Do check them out in the catalogue - they are great.

The detailed die from the Penned Flowers dies was used to die cut Basic White card-stock multiple times. The die cuts were then arranged and adhered all over the white panel, giving a subtle, though effective tone on tone effect. White Crinkled Seam Binding was wrapped around the centre and tied in a bow.

A floral stamp from the coordinating Hand-Penned Petals stamp set was stamped in Basic Grey ink twice and the flower's infill stamp was used with Blushing Bride ink. Stampin' Blends Combos were used to further colour the flowers and leaves, ie Polishing Pink, So Saffron, Smoky Slate and the Colour Lifter. The flowers alone were coloured on the second image and they were fussy cut and added over the first image to give added dimension. A sentiment from the stamp set was also stamped in Basic Gray ink and fussy cut. Pearl Basic Jewels were added to finish the card front design.

The card inner was created with a piece of the same Blushing Bride Hand-penned DSP and a large Scalloped Contours die. A Basic White C6 Envelope was stamped with the same flower, but this time in Blushing Bride ink. It doesn't need a lot of effort to bring coordination.

Thank you for visiting Valley Inspirations with Andrea. I had fun playing with some water-colouring, daubering/sponging and infill stamping/Blends colouring featuring Blushing Bride to create these projects to share. 

 

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 then let me know and I will be delighted to send one to you. Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

There is more Blushing Bride creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic to be taken to the lovely Diane Furniss' blog. I am looking forward to checking out Diane's creation and everyone else's. If you started part way through or if you missed someone click on the link below to go to Catherine Proctor's blog where she has a list of all the participants in tonight's Colour Creation Blog Hop and their links.

Hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Bumblebee; and don't forget the AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop launches every Monday evening up to 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.  Check out her amazing creation while you are there.

#colourcreationsbloghop

AWH Heart of Christmas 2021 #1

Christmas with Tidings & Trimmings

Hi. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the first Art with Heart Team's 2021 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. We will be continuing a weekly blog hop every Monday night through to mid December.

How quickly the year is passing. It is July already - and in Australia many celebrate Christmas in July - usually so we can enjoy a traditional Christmas meal without sweltering in the heat. However, are you thinking "its too early to start preparing for Christmas"? I do understand your thoughts, but last year I had made new friends on the other side of the world and so wanted to send Christmas cards. The trouble was ... by the time I thought about it and got my act into gear and posted the cards - the Christmas cards arrived well into the New Year. I need to be more on the ball this year, check with the Post Office re postage times so my cards arrive in the United Kingdom, Europe, USA & Canada all before Christmas. This means I need to start creating now ...

When first perusing the new Stampin' Up 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue I spied the Tidings and Trimmings bundle including the die cut stars - it went on my list. This is the bundle used for this first Heart Of Christmas blog hop. 

Last month I was asked at one of my classes to show how to create a soft blended background. This was the starting point for my project and will be made in the class next month. The background was created using Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' ink and Stampin' Up!'s delightful Blending Brushes on Basic White card-stock. A little water was spritzed on the coloured area and a Misty Moonlight Stampin' Write Marker was used to flick some blue spots around. Once dry, this front panel was adhered directly to a Balmy Blue card-stock base.

The next step was die cutting using the Christmas Trimmings dies. Four stars of the larger star were die cut from Thick Basic White card-stock and 4 of the mid-size star were also cut from Thick Basic White card-stock. Why did I cut so many stars you may ask? I wanted some dimension for the stars and so decided to stack and adhere 4 die cuts - one on top of the other - for the larger star. There were only two die cuts stacked on top of each other for the mid-sized stars. Five tiny stars were die cut from the Night of Navy Ombre Glimmer Paper. They were individually positioned.

After arranging the stars, I decided on the positioning of the sentiment. Using my trusty Stamparatus, "Noel" was stamped directly on the card front using Night Of Navy ink. The stars were all adhered in place.

To add some starry sparkle Rhinestone Basic Jewels were sprinkled around. It still needed something else. Wink of Stella was flicked over to add some delightful shimmer over the starry sky. Its a pity the camera doesn't pick up the shimmer effect. It's gorgeous in real life.

Some stars and a sentiment from the Tidings and Trimmings stamp set were stamped in Night of Navy ink on to a piece of Basic White card stock to form the card inner. I realised when taking the photographs of this project that I hadn't as yet stamped the envelope to coordinate. Some stars will be stamped in Night of Navy ink on a Basic White C6 Envelope before it is posted.

Thank you for visiting Valley Inspirations with Andrea. I had fun playing with a blended background and creating this Christmas project to share. My Monday class ladies will be making this card next month. They saw it this morning as a foretaste of what is to come.

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 then let me know and I will be delighted to send one to you. Please don't hesitate to make contact if you have any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!

There is more Christmas creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic to be taken to the lovely Kate Morgan's blog. I am looking forward to checking out Kate's creation and everyone else's.

Hope to see you next week for the second AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. There is so much Christmas inspiration to share and Christmas in July is the right time to start card-making. Then, in August the new Mini Catalogue will be launched which will have so many gorgeous Christmas products and I'm sure it will lead to an explosion of further Christmas inspiration.

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

Andrea 💕🐾

  

I am so appreciative of Sharon Davern, together with Tina Gillespie and Rachel Woolard, who are our dedicated hosts for the Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. They are special ladies and I thank them for taking up this role. I really enjoy this Blog Hop each year.

I always love seeing everyone's creations and the way they use the amazing Stampin' Up! products. I am sure there will be gorgeous Christmas projects on show, so do make sure you check out each blog. 

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up please head to the blog of this week’s host for the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

#heartofchristmas