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 #15

Christmas with Yuletide Village

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the fifteenth Art with Heart Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. This year we have been blog hopping since August and only have another 2 Blog Hops before we finish for this year. I hope you can check us out each week as there will be a many of ideas and different projects on display.

I love creating and sharing Christmas creativity with you. This week sees the culmination of 2 ideas I wanted to try out. I have wanted to use the Yuletide Village stamps for a more “Aussie feel” Christmas card, ie no snow but rather blue skies and colour. I also wanted to  follow-up on a different version of a fun fold shown by Sue Campfield, a USA Demonstrator. A few weeks ago I created a fancy fold that Sue had shown for her Crafternoon. At that time she also showed a number of variations of that fold, including a fold with 3 decorated diamond panels. She didn’t provide any dimensions so I needed to work out dimensions based on our A4 sizing. Here is my Aussie Christmas card:

A side view of the card gives a better view of the overall township created by the 3 diamond panels, but firstly, here are photos of each of the individual panels. The photo below is of the back panel.

Here is the middle panel:

And here is the front panel:

Two pieces of Soft Sea Foam card-stock was cut and scored with the 2 pieces being adhered together. Three hills and 2 valleys were created for the base. Three square panels also were cut from Soft Sea Foam card-stock, with the 2nd panel a little smaller that the back diamond and the front square diamond a little smaller again. Three Basic White card-stock panels were cut 2mm smaller than the Soft Sea Foam squares. Here is a side view to show the 3 “hills”.

Some Thoughtful Journey Designer Series Paper was used to decorate the 3 downward sections of the card base.

All of the buildings from the Yuletide Village stamp set were Gold heat embossed onto Basic White card-stock. The images were coloured with Stampin’ Blends Combos. Colours were selected to coordinate with the DSP, including Wild Wheat for the roofs. Each building was coloured differently, including Fresh Freesia, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral, Balmy Blue and Bubble Bath combos. Light Lemon Lolly was used to colour some windows and Light Pool Party to other windows to give a sense of a light shining inside or just indicating a glass window. Soft Sea Foam coloured the grass near the buildings. Each tree was coloured to coordinate with the building(s) and the specific DSP, eg Mossy Meadows and Old Olive; Pretty Peacock and Lost Lagoon; and Shaded Spruce and Soft Sea Foam. The Colour Lifter was used to add highlights throughout. As you can see there were many Blends colours used. As this is a stand alone stamp set, the coloured images were fussy cut with my Stampin’ Snips.

Each panel had some Balmy Blue Classic Stampin’ ink blended at the top for blue sky. There was some splattering added with a Pretty Peacock Stampin’ Write Marker and white splatters with White Craft ink. The small stand of trees from the Peaceful Evergreens stamps was used to stamp some trees in the background of each diamond panel. Again, each panel had the trees stamped in a different colour as the DSP and building colours were different. The trees were either stamped in Mossy Meadows, Pretty Peacock or Shaded Spruce inks.

A sentiment from the Peaceful Season stamp set was gold heat embossed onto Soft Sea Foam card-stock, before being trimmed and cut into two. A double bow was tied in Gold Twisted Thread and it was ticked under the sentiment. Some gorgeous Iridescent Foil Gems added some shimmer on each panel.

Inside the back fold of the card, a Basic White panel was added that had been Gold heat embossed using a sentiment from the Merriest Trees stamp set. A extra house was fussy cut and adhered on the panel at the bottom.  

This fancy fold card was designed to fit into a standard C6 Basic White envelope. The envelope was gold heat embossed with one of the buildings from the Yuletide Village stamps.

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

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 gorgeous person and my up-line, Kathryn Mangelsdorf. I love it when Kathryn is able to join us and look forward to checking out her creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' 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 love you to 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 wonderful 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 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   #yuletidevillage  #peacefulevergreens  #peacefulseason  #merriesttrees  

AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop #28 Granny Apple Green

Granny Apple Green with Sophisticated Sled

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 delightful yellow-green colour called Granny Apple Green. It is the colour of its name sake apple.  Granny Apple Green is part of the Brights Colour Family and I love it - now. Must admit, I used to think it was a really bright green until were had Lemon Lime Twist and Parakeet Party. Now I recognise it as a wonderful green that is seen in nature - not only granny apples, but so many different leaves and much more. I love Granny Apple Green with yellows & blues, with real red and Pool Party and many more.    

Granny Apple Green is produced in Stampin' Up!'s card-stock, both A4 & 12"x12"; Classic Stampin' inks (ink pads, re-inkers & ink spots); Stampin' Write Marker; Stampin’ Blends Combo; Watercolor Pencils, Soft Pastels, Brights Designer Series Paper as well as many other products. 

These projects have incorporated Granny Apple Green as Classic Stampin' ink, card-stock, Stampin' Write Marker and Stampin’ Blends Combo.

I had planned a different card to showcase Granny Apple Green but not long before I started to create I saw a card by Jay Sorario, a UK Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator where he used the base die from the Sophisticated Sled dies used as a window - so I had to give it a go. 

The sled die was cut from Gold Foil as well as a number cut from Thick Basic White cardstock. The white die cuts were adhered together with a piece of … Vellum adhered on top. It was trimmed to the outside of the adhered die cuts and the gold foil piece was layered on top. A piece of … Designer Series Paper was laid behind and it too was trimmed with Snips. This was adhered to a panel of Basic White card-stock that had been embossed with the Exposed Brick 3D embossing Folder.

The wreath, other floral arrangement and the bird were gold heat embossed onto Basic White card-stock. The images were coloured with Stampin’ Blends, ie Granny Apple Green, Real Red, Pool Party Combos and the Colour Lifter. The coordinating dies from the Sophisticated Sled dies cut the images. The bow from the other arrangement was fussy cut and then popped up on the wreath with a Mini Dimensional. The wreath was added to the “window” with Mini Dimensionals.

I had decided to create a “Flying Flinch” card, a design that I had first seen Sue Campfield create, a USA Demonstrator. I found my measurements for use with A4 card stock  and cut and scored the base from Thick Basic White. The focal panel was mounted onto a slightly larger piece of Granny Apple Green card stock and then popped up on Dimensionals onto a larger piece of Thick Basic White card stock that had been embossed also with the Exposed Brick 3D Embossing Folder. Two Basic White card stock pieces were trimmed a little smaller than the 2 end panels. Two Granny Apple Green panels were cut to fit in the next inner sections. Two panels of Gold Mercury Vellum Speciality DSP were cut to the same size as the green card-stock pieces. They were adhered together and then embossed with the same Embossing Folder.

Here is a photo taken from above to show the fold.

The focal panel was finished with a sentiment from the Sophisticated Sled stamps that was white heat embossed onto Granny Apple Green card-stock and then trimmed down. It was added with Mini Dimensionals and an unravelled thread of the Gold Twisted Twine was placed underneath. A red cardinal was added to the left side. A few gold Blooming Pearls were scattered near the sentiment.

There is only a small panel for writing a personal message and a message could extend to the panel on the other side (below).

A Basic White C6 Envelope was gold embossed with the longer arrangement and the envelope flap was embossed with the same brick embossing folder.

A coordinating tag was created too. Three individual tags were die cut with the tag die from the Merriest Trees dies. The Granny Apple Green tag was embossed with the Brick EF. The Gold Mercury Vellum was just die cut and a 3rd tag was die cut from Basic White card-stock. A rectangle of Gold Foil was a section that fell out from the die cut Gold Foil “window”. Another arrangement and cardinal were added with Mini Dimensionals. Another sentiment from the same stamp set was gold heat embossed as well. The 3 tags were tied together with a little Iridescent Striped ribbon and some Gold Twisted Thread.

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around the Granny Apple Green Colour Creations Blog Hop. I so appreciate you spending time with me.

To continue with the blog hop just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Kate Morgan. 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 Gray Granite 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, then let me know and I will be delighted to send it to you.  

Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up! 

#colourcreationsbloghop  #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards  #stampinupdemonstrator  #papercrafting   #sophisticatedsled

AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #14

Christmas with Iconic Imagery

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the fourteenth Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. We will be hopping every week until the end of November. It is hard to believe there are only a few blog hops remaining for this year. 

We all love sharing Christmas creativity with you and hope that you will be inspired in your preparations for Christmas. This week I am using an On-line Exclusive bundle that was launched months ago. When I first saw the Iconic Imagery bundle I envisaged using these smaller images to create wreaths with either stamping in the round or placing the die cut images in a circle. This week I have focussed on using the little tree images. There are two tree images, one being a line image and other a filled in stamp. They are used together as a 2 step process to create a little tree.

As you can see, the cards are similar and different. The techniques to create the wreaths are different. I will go into that below. 

This first card was also created in response to a challenge Emma Goddard gave to those in her Card and a Cuppa Group. We usually gather via Zoom every Friday night, however, Emma was away on a well earned holiday last Friday so she gave us a layout challenge with 4 potential variations. I CASEd this layout, though moved the wreath into the upper left quadrant.

The trees were individually stamped, firstly with the outline stamp and then with the in-fill stamp from the Iconic Imagery stamp set. I found it easier to line up the images by stamping in this order. The outline colours were Pretty Peacock, Shaded Spruce & Garden Green Classic Stampin’ inks, whereas the infill colours were lighter, ie Shaded Spruce, Garden Green and Granny Apple Green inks.

The little trees were individually die cut with the coordinating tree die from the Iconic Imagery dies. A circle was die cut from Soft Sea Foam card-stock using 2 of the Spotlight On Nature dies. They are a wonderful set of circular dies. A panel of Soft Sea Foam card-stock was embossed with the Birchwood 3D Embossing Folder. It was then layered over a Basic White card-base with a wide strip of white & gold Regal Distressed Patterns Speciality Paper.

Some splattering was added to the background using both Shaded Spruce and Granny Apple Green Stampin Write Markers. The tree wreath was built by alternating the 3 different colour trees and adhering them to the die cut ring. Dimensionals were added behind the wreath and it was positioned to the left-hand side over the SDSP strip.

The word “Celebrate” from the Iconic Imagery stamps was white heat embossed onto Shaded Spruce card-stock. The smaller words “The Season” was white heat embossed onto Gold Foil. The sentiment words were fussy cut and then added with Mini Dimensionals.  A bow was tied in the Iridescent Striped Trim and it was tucked under the sentiment pieces. Some Iridescent Foil Gems were scattered around the sentiment and wreath. 

A Basic White card inner was stamped with some other words from the same stamp set. An embossed strip of Soft Sea Foam card-stock and a thin strip of the white and gold SDSP were adhered down the RHS and 3 remaining die cut trees were adhered in a row and the bottom of the card. Some Shaded Spruce splattering was added with a Stampin Write Marker.

The last 3 remaining little die cut trees were added to a C6 Basic White envelope and a little Shaded Spruce splattering was added. 

CARD 2

I wanted to use the same stamps to create a tree wreath by stamping in the round. Many years ago I had created a template using a square die and die cutting it 4 times to create 16 distinct points. I used this and my retired Stamparatus to stamp the tree outline in Shaded Spruce ink. The infill stamp was inked with Granny Apple Green ink with touches of Garden Green ink applied with a Blending Brush. You could draw a circle and then manually stamp the trees in place, but knowing me, it would likely be a little uneven. A little Shaded Spruce splattering was added.

The stamped background was mounted to a slightly larger piece of Gold Foil. In turn, the background panel was adhered with Dimensionals, to a panel of white & gold Regal Distressed Patterns Speciality Paper that had been mounted on a Shaded Spruce card base.

I usually heat emboss at least 2 of the sentiments in case one goes array. Both sentiment sections were good and so I had a set ready for this 2nd card - just needed to fussy cut them.  This time the Gold Foil sentiment was adhered with Multipurpose Liquid Glue and “Celebration” was added with Mini Dimensionals with the bow tied using 2 half pieces of the gorgeous Iridescent Striped Trim tucked under the sentiment and adhered in place with a couple of Glue Dots. Some of the subtle Pearl embellishments from the Cherry Cobbler and Pearl Self Adhesive Berries were scattered around the sentiment and tree wreath.

A Basic White card inner was stamped with words from the same stamp set.  Trees were 2 stepped stamped in a row at the bottom of the card inner and a Granny Apple Green inked heart near the sentiment (to disguise the fact that “Love” is at a tad of an angle).

I had a 6x6 inch envelope at hand so stamped that with little 2-step stamped trees in the same colours as on the card. Another option would be to create an envelope using DSP. 

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 a lovely lady, Christine Blain. I always look forward to checking out Christine’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyones' projects - there is so much inspiration. I know we are small in number this week, but I am sure there will be wonderful projects to see.

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 love you to 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 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   #iconicimagery