Stampin’ Up! Balmy Blue Card  

Stampin’ Up! Balmy Blue Card  

Welcome to week eight of our Art With Heart 2024-25 Colour Creations blog hop!

This week we’re featuring a lovely soft blue colour called Balmy Blue and I’ve created a duck pond scene card using the Lily Pond Lane suite.

The colours in my duck pond card are the colours from the Lily Pond Lane DSP: Balmy Blue, Granny Apple Green, Gray Granite, Peach Pie, Pretty In Pink, Pretty Peacock.

Call me Cathy or call me crazy (most people do!) for this week’s card I decided at the very last minute to make a fancy fold that I had no instructions for. This fancy fold is called an easel block card, a block easel card or a pop-up block easel card.

Here’s a video that show how this card opens up and looks from the side.

The easel card base is a 6 x 12 piece of Basic White cardstock, scored and folded at 6 inches and 3 inches.

A 6 x 6 piece of Basic White cardstock attached to the front 3 x 6 part of the easel card becomes the card front, decorated with a piece of Lily Pond Lane DSP ( 1/4 inch trimmed off the top and one side) and the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Lily Pond Lane stamp set .

Here’s what it look like when opened up to reveal the inside. You can write your message on the top half of the inside of the easel fold. I’ve just laid a couple of extra ducks here for this photo.

This top view (with easel folded over) shows how the blocks in this fancy fold hold the different elements at different depths. This is why this is such a great fancy fold for creating scene cards – you simply slot them in and adhere them.

To make the blocks at the base I used a 12 x 12 sheet of the Delightful Florals DSP in Pretty Peacock. Each block measures 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches, scored and folded at 1, 2, 3 and 4 inches.

I folded each piece of DSP along the score lines to create a 1 inch square block adhered with Tear-n-tape and then laid them side by side inside the card base, adhered again with Tear-n-tape.

I used scraps of Balmy Blue, Granny Apple Green, Gray Granite, Peach Pie, Pretty In Pink and Pretty Peacock cardstock to die cut the ducks, ducklings and vegetation, as well as Stampin’ Blends for colouring in the stamped and die cut ducks and duckings.

The lily pads were adhered to the front of the card and these blocks all fold back to lie flat so the card can be placed into an envelope.

Now it’s time to hop in over to our next participant, the lovely Andrea Sargent – I can’t wait to see what Andrea has made this week!

If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.  

Andrea Sargent

Kate Morgan  

Christine Blain

Di Furniss

Rachel Woollard

Kathryn Ruddick   

Ros Davidson     

Rosa Leyden

Vicki Boucher

Theresa Gerrard

Sharon Davern

Catherine Proctor  – you are here!

We’ll be back next Wednesday, 26th June, showcasing Basic Gray.

I hope you can join us then!



Stampin’ Up! Azure Afternoon Layers of Beauty Card  

Stampin’ Up! Azure Afternoon Layers of Beauty Card  

Welcome to week seven of our Art With Heart 2024-25 Colour Creations blog hop!

Now that we’ve featured the five new In Colors and the new neutral/core colour, Basic Beige, we are returning to our alphabetical showcasing of the Stampin’ Up! colour range, starting with Azure Afternoon.

Azure Afternoon is in the brights family and this bold aqua blue really makes me happy. For my card this week I’ve combined it with Balmy Blue, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Basic Black and Basic White, such a gorgeous colour combination.

Although Azure Afternoon reminds me of the sea and the sky, I decided to create a blue rose floral birthday card.

Apologies in advice – my photos this week are not the best as I make this card just before giving it to the recipient, so I had to photograph it using inside lights long after the sun had set.

The bundle I used for this card is a brand new favourite of mine, the Layers of Beauty bundle. In addition to a stamp set and matching dies it has a set of layering masks, fabulous for colouring techniques.

The masks are numbered 1–5 and there are notches in the masks to help with perfect alignment. After stamping the large floral spray stamp in Memento Ink, I used blending brushes to add the following colours to the numbered masks.

  1. Balmy Blue – bottom floral mask
  2. Azure Afternoon – middle floral mask
  3. Azure Afternoon – top floral mask
  4. Old Olive – bottom leaf mask
  5. Mossy Meadow – top leaf mask

I stamped and coloured two identical floral sprays using these masks so I had extra flowers to decorate the envelope and add an extra layer to the front of the card.

Using one of the smaller dies, I cut out one of the roses from second floral spray and adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals on the main floral spray.

The embossed layer of the card is created with the Distressed Tile embossing folder. I think its vintage vibe really suits this floral image.

A bow of linen thread attached the “Happy Birthday” sentiment from the Country Birdhouse stamp set is stamped over two lines so it fits into the cute little tag from the Layers of Beauty dies.

I also die cut an extra tag in Azure Afternoon to add interest and dimension to the card.

Not wanting to waste the rest of my second coloured floral spray I used the largest die and my paper snips to fussy cut a rose to decorate the back of my envelope.

Now it’s time to hop in over to our next participant, the lovely Kate Morgan – I can’t wait to see what Kate has made this week!

If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.  

Kate Morgan

Di Furniss

Andrea Sargent  

Christine Blain  

Rachel Woollard

Rosa Leyden

Tina Gillespie

Ros Davidson  

Vicki Boucher

Theresa Gerrard

Sharon Davern  

Catherine Proctor  – you are here!

We’ll be back next Wednesday, 19th June, showcasing Balmy Blue.

I hope you can join us then!



Stampin’ Up! Basic Beige City Sights Kit Alternatives Card  

Stampin’ Up! Basic Beige City Sights Kit Alternatives Card  

Welcome to week six of our Art With Heart 2024-25 Colour Creations blog hop!

Today we’re featuring another new colour, Basic Beige, which is a new addition to the Stampin Up! colour range. Basic Beige is a great replacement colour for the now retired Sahara Sand.

I’ve created this graphic to show how Basic Beige compares to the other light brown neutral/core colours in the Stampin Up! colour range.

I’m always on the lookout for masculine cards and I love anything with buildings, so the new City Sights Kit was a kit I just couldn’t resist. I love these water coloured cityscape designs in neutral colours, its masculine charm, and these big city skylines.

As this is an all-inclusive kit it includes so many different elements!
* City Sights Photopolymer Stamp Set
* Pebbled Path Stampin’ Spot
* 8 printed card bases and 8 printed envelopes
* Shaped die cuts, printed sentiments and corrugated cardstock accent pieces
* Copper metallic embellishments
* Mini dimensionals and tear’n’tape
* Acrylic block

My favourite element is this fabulous line drawing stamp set. It reminds me of happy times in New York.

I’ve used this stamp set to make two alternative cards in a monochromatic colour scheme of Basic Beige and Pebble Path.

For card one I drew a line in pencil and stamped along the line to create a city horizon and added a narrow strip of Pebbled Path offcut from the printed sentiment sheet.

I used the dotted grid stamp to create a cloud effect in the sky.

For card two I used the Basic Beige offcuts from the shaped die cuts to frame a single stamped image of the city sky.

The Basic Beige offcut was adhered dusing the mini dimensionals – it gives a really cool effect that you can see in this close-up photo below.

One of the “happy birthday” printed sentiments was cut in half and placed top and bottom of the framed image.

I did also make a couple of the cards as per the instructions in the kit and I love these cards too. Here are the four cards I’ve made so far. I can’t wait to make some other designs using this city skyline stamp set.

Now it’s time to hop in over to our next participant, the lovely Andrea Sargent – I can’t wait to see what Andrea has made this week!

If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.  

Andrea Sargent

Kate Morgan   

Di Furniss  

Christine Blain  

Michele Taylor

Rachel Palmieri

Rachel Woollard

Vicki Boucher

Rosa Leyden  

Ros Davidson    

Theresa Gerrard

Sharon Davern

Catherine Proctor – you are here!

We’ll be back next Wednesday, 12th June, showcasing Azure Afternoon.

I hope you can join us then!



10% off Stamp and Die Bundles and Cut & Emboss Machines

10% off Stamp and Die Bundles and Cut & Emboss Machines

From today until 30th June, it’s the perfect time to add some new bundles to your collection or purchase a Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine or a Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.  

You’ll receive an additional 10% discount on stamp and die bundles (that’s a total of 20% discount on stamp and die bundles!) and you’ll save 10% off Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machines as well as the Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machines (white and Boho Blue). 

You can take a look at all of the bundles on sale and order them online HERE.

Please note – this sale excludes suite collections and stamp and punch bundles.

I’ll be back tonight at 8pm with a new card to share, when our Art With Heart Colour Creations team will be showcasing Basic Beige.

I hope you can join me then!



2024-26 In Colors – Summer Splash Card  

2024-26 In Colors – Summer Splash Card  

Welcome to week five of our Art With Heart 2024-25 Colour Creations blog hop!

Today we’re featuring another of the new 2024-26 In Colors: Summer Splash. I’ve created this graphic to show how Summer Splash compares to the current blue/greens in the Stampin Up! colour range.

As I have been time poor this week I’m sharing a quick and simple watercolour card I made at our Stampin’ Up! Onstage conference earlier this year.

This card pairs Summer Splash with Pecan Pie and our new core colour, Basic Beige. I simply stamped the teapot and the plant from the Country Flowers stamp set using Black Stazon Ink onto watercolour paper and used a water painter to lift ink from the ink pads and watercolour the image.

This new Basic Beige colour is a wonderful substitute for Sahara Sand, especially for adding shadows under images to ‘ground’ the images in a scene.

I’ve decorated the inside of the card with a layer of Basic White cardstock, stamped in Black Memento ink. The little flowers are coloured in, this time using the Summer Splash Stampin’ Blends.

TIP – use Stazon Ink when using water in your colouring (e.g. water colouring with water painters and ink) and use Memento Ink when using alcohol markers to colour in (e.g. Stampin’ Blends).

Now it’s time to hop in over to our next participant, the lovely Di Furniss – I can’t wait to see what Di has made this week!

If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.  

Di Furniss

Michele Taylor

Kate Morgan  

Andrea Sargent

Judy May

Rachel Woollard

Kathryn Ruddick

Tina Gillespie

Rosa Leyden

Ros Davidson

Theresa Gerrard

Vicki Boucher

Sharon Davern

Catherine Proctor – you are here!

We’ll be back next Wednesday, 5th June, showcasing our new core colour, Basic Beige.

I hope you can join us then!