Gorgeous Grape Forever Forest Watercoloured Christmas Card

Gorgeous Grape Forever Forest Watercoloured Christmas Card

Welcome to week twenty six of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop!

This week we are showcasing Gorgeous Grape, a vibrant purple colour that is now in the regals family, however I still consider it to be a bright! I’ve made a watercolour Christmas card that pairs Gorgeous Grape with Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky.

Watercolor backgrounds are so easy to make and even though they come out differently every time you really can’t make a mistake with watercolour. Well, that’s what I like to tell myself, anyway.

Adhere a torn strip of Stampin’ Up masking paper to the bottom section of a sheet of Fluid 100 watercolour paper and then use the widest water painter brush to cover the watercolour paper with water.

Once the paper is all wet, colour it in with Gorgeous Grape, Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky from top to bottom. Use a heat tool to dry the water coloured background.

Stamp trees from the Forever Forest stamp set in Starry Sky and splatter some Whisper White Craft Stampin’ Ink Refill (diluted with water) before carefully removing the masking paper to reveal the snowy landscape.

The ‘joy & peace’ sentiment is from the Night Divine stamp set and the moon and star images are from The Forever Forest stamp set, both stamped in Starry Sky.

Tiny white snowflakes from the Adhesive-Backed Snowflake Assortment complete the front of the card.

I stamped another tree on the left in Starry Sky once I trimmed the card front to fit on the card base – I forgot the watercolour paper is a lot wider than our metric card bases.

The Starry Sky cardstock layer behind the water coloured card front really makes the Gorgeous Grape water coloured section of the sky stand out.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Rachel Palmieri – I can’t wait to see what Rachel 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  

Tina Gillespie  

Kate Morgan   

Christine Blain  

Catherine Proctor  – you are here!

Rachel Palmieri

Next Wednesday, 1st November, we’ll be back showcasing Granny Apple Green or you can join us on Monday night for some Christmas inspiration.

I hope you can join us then.



Cajun Craze Let’s Go Shopping Watercolour Card

Cajun Craze Let’s Go Shopping Watercolour Card

Welcome to week fifteen of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop!

Cajun Craze is our colour for this week and as it’s a colour that always makes me think of terracotta pots or brick walls I decided to use the Let’s Go Shopping stamp set to make a watercolor card.

I’ve kept my colour palette fairly simple, stamping the images in Stazon Black Onk onto watercolour paper before watercolouring in Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Gray Granite.

I love the “looseness” of watercolour. Even though I’m not very proficient at watercolouring there aren’t really any mistakes with watercolour. Or at least that’s what I like to tell myself!

Watercolour is a great way to maximise your colours as you can achieve so much variety of depth from each colour. The pale pink door is Cajun Craze watered right down and the entire building is different intensities of Cajun Craze.

Although I now have the reinkers, I still find it easiest to either press my inkpad lids into the ink pad and use the lid as my palette or ink up my acrylic blocks with my ink pads and use the blocks as my palette.

Gray Granite adds shadow and grounds the entire scene.

As I didn’t use watercolour paper for the inside of my card I stamped the pots using Memento ink and coloured them in with Stampin’ Blends instead.

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

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

Tina Gillespie

Di Furniss  

Andrea Sargent  

Christine Blain  

Kate Morgan  

Amie McIlroy  

Christina Barnes  

Sharon Davern  

Rachel Palmieri

Ros Davidson      

Theresa Gerrard

Catherine Proctor – you are here!

Next Wednesday, 16th August, we’ll be back showcasing Calypso Coral or you can join us on Monday 14 August for some Christmas inspiration.

I hope you can join us then.



Stampin’ Up! Just Jade – Week 23 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Stampin’ Up! Just Jade – Week 23 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Welcome to week 23 of our 2021-22 Colour Creations blog hop! Tonight we are showcasing Just Jade a mid teal green from the 2020-22 InColour collection.

Do you enjoy watercolouring? I find it very relaxing and I love the way Stampin’ Up! products make me feel like an artist! If you feel nervous about watercolouring have a go at making this card – it’s actually very easy to do and I just love the way watercolour turns out different every single time.

To make this card I used Shimmery White Cardstock, which is excellent for watercolouring, however you can use the Fluid 100 Watercolour paper if you prefer. Remember to always stamp your images for watercolouring using the Jet Black StazOn Ink Pad NOT the Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad.

You’ll also need the Water Painters and I like to use the acrylic blocks as my ink palette or you can simply lift ink off the lid of the ink pads. These are the colours I used to watercolour my card.

Just Jade colour combination

www.whatcathymade.com.au

Using the two largest floral stamps from the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set I stamped around the edge of my Shimmery White Cardstock and then water coloured the flowers in Balmy Blue and Misty Moonlight, the leaves in Just Jade and the centre of the flowers in Mango Melody. I then used the Crumb Cake to watercolour the background space.

I didn’t want to cover up too much of my watercolour pattern so I kept the rest of the card quite simple, tying some linen thread around one side and into a bow and adding a small sentiment to the middle of the card. This sentiment is from the Art Gallery Stamp Set, stamped in Versamark Ink and heat embossed using white embossing powder.

It was only when writing this blog that I noticed my mistake – let’s just call it “artistic licence”! Can you see where I forgot to watercolour my card?

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

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the the full list of participants below:

Kate Morgan  

Theresa Gerrard  

Di Furniss

Catherine Proctor

Andrea Sargent

Michele Taylor

Christine Blain

Rosa Leyden

Rachel Woollard  

Tina Gillespie

Caroline Manwaring

If you live in Australia, you can find and purchase all these products in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store or by clicking on the images below.

Product List

I’ll be back with another Christmas card next Monday. In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx



Art With Heart Creative Showcase: Summer

Art With Heart Creative Showcase: Summer

Welcome to the Monthly Art With Heart Creative Showcase. Tonight we’re sharing some ideas for summer cards.

Summer for me means frangipanis, my favourite flower. I have many frangipani trees in my garden in various shades of yellow and pink and most of them have been grown from cuttings. My frangipanis are just coming into flower now and every year the yellow ones always flower before the pink ones do.

I’m sure it will come as no surprise when I tell you that I’ve used the Timeless Tropical stamp set and its co-ordinating In the Tropics dies for my card today. I have to admit I bought this entire bundle just for the frangipani flower and die, but I love this entire stamp and die set!

The palm tree is coloured using the marker technique – I used soft suede for the tree trunk and old olive for the palm branches. Once I coloured the stamp with my markers I “huffed” on it before stamping. To add colour and depth I used Watercolour pencils to lightly add some more old olive to the branches and some early espresso to the trunk.

The frangipani flower was stamped in smoky slate (stamped off once) and then coloured in using my daffodil delight and pumpkin pie watercolour pencils.

The pool party layer is die cut with a stitched rectangle die and embossed with the wrapped in texture embossing folder – on sale now at 50% off as it is retiring at the end of December or when sold out.

This pool party embossed layer is then layered onto Sahara Sand (also die cut with a stitched rectangle die) and adhered to a whisper white notecard.

The sentiment is also from the Timeless Tropical stamp set, stamped in versamark ink and heat embossed with White Emboss powder.

Did you notice the embellishment in the centre of the flower? It’s a clear wonderful gem from the August – December 2020 Mini Catalogue and it adds a lovely sparkle to my frangipani flower.

To see more summer card inspiration from the AWH Team head back to Rachel‘s page as she is hosting our monthly blog hops.

If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the forthcoming January-June 2021 Mini Catalogue, the August – December 2020 Mini Catalogue, the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.

Art With Heart Creative Showcase: Cards Using Only Five Supplies

Art With Heart Creative Showcase: Cards Using Only Five Supplies

Welcome to the Monthly Art With Heart Creative Showcase. Tonight we’re sharing some ideas for cards that only use five supplies or less – a challenge for many avid crafters.

Luckily we all agreed that paper trimmers, paper snips, acrylic blocks and adhesives were core supplies assumed to be already on hand, which meant we could chose five more supplies in addition to these basics.

Although technically you could argue that an all inclusive card kit could be counted as one supply I did feel that would be cheating for the purposes of this challenge, so after much deliberation I settled on the following five supplies:

  • Zoo Globe Stamp Set – this set is perfect for colouring and has both sentiments and images
  • Watercolour Pencils – an affordable and easy way to get a wide range of Stampin’ up! colours
  • Blender Pen – brings watercolours to life and not as wet or messy on the card stock as water painters
  • Memento Stamp Pad – versatile black stamp pad for images and sentiments
  • Whisper White card Stock – an essential and versatile basic for both making the card base and stamping the card layer

I had so much fun playing with the zoo globe stamp set I ended up making three cards to share with you several different techniques you can try even if you only have limited supplies.

TECHNIQUES 1 AND 2: CREATING YOUR OWN DSP AND BLENDING WATERCOLOUR PENCILS WITH BLENDER PENS

All three of my cards today begin with a piece of home made rainbow DSP. I created my rainbow DSP by simply using my watercolour pencils to scribble on my card stock in rainbow order. I could have also created a homemade patterned DSP by stamped images onto the card stock and either coloured them in or left it as black and white but this was much faster.

To blend the colours together I simply coloured over the top of my pencil marks with my blender pen – it’s amazing to watch the pencil lines smooth out with the blender pen. Once I’d finished I rubbed the nip of my blender pen onto some scrap paper until it ran clear. It doesn’t matter if your nib is stained – it’s now ready to use again with any colour.

The photo below shows my homemade DSP with the globe base stamp already stamped onto it, which leads to my next techniques….

TECHNIQUES 3 AND 4 : PAPER PIECING AND FUSSY CUTTING

Once you’ve created your own DSP you can use it in a variety of ways. For card one I’ve stamped the base of the globe onto it before fussy cutting this piece out with my paper snips.

The dome of the globe was stamped directly onto my card base but the balloons, elephant and base of the globe were all coloured in with watercolour pencils and then blended with the blender pen before being fussy cut out and adhered to the card using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Leaving a white space in the middle of the balloons gives them a real dimension.

The “happy birthday” sentiment was stamped onto scrap piece of Whisper White card stock before being trimmed to size with the paper trimmer and adhered using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

TECHNIQUES 5 AND 6: CREATING A BORDER WITH STAMPS AND THE BLENDER PEN DIRECT TO PENCIL COLOURING TECHNIQUE

For my second card I used a rainbow strip of my homemade DSP and the grass stamp to create a double border for the base of my card.

This time, when colouring my animals I first applied the nib of my marker to the tip of the pencil, lifting the colour off the pencil with my blender pen and then colouring the images with my blender pen.

You can also use your blender pen in this way to lift ink from the lid of your ink pad or ink from an acrylic block – it means your clear blender pen can be used to colour in any coloured pencil or ink that you have.

TECHNIQUE 7: USING HOMEMADE DSP AS BACKGROUND LAYER

I hadn’t originally intended to make a third card but the colours on my remaining section of homemade DSP reminded me of the Australian outback…and I hadn’t used the adorable kangaroo and joey stamp yet!

This time I glued both of the stamped, water coloured and fussy cut images directly onto my home made DSP and added dimension behind the DSP by using Stampin’ Dimensionals to adhere it to the card base.

So what do you think of my 5 ingredient cards?

Simple cards made with few supplies can be really effective…especially if you have a few techniques and tricks up your sleeve that enable you to maximise whatever supplies you have on hand.

To see more Designer Series Paper inspiration from the AWH Team head back to Rachel‘s page as she is hosting our monthly blog hops.

To purchase any of the products I’ve used in my cards tonight simply click on the phots of the products below.

Product List

If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the forthcoming January-June 2021 Mini Catalogue, the August – December 2020 Mini Catalogue, the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.

Art With Heart Colour Creations Showcase: Week 11 Coastal Cabana

Art With Heart Colour Creations Showcase: Week 11 Coastal Cabana

Welcome to week six of our 2020-2021 Art With Heart Colour Creations Showcase.

Each week various members of our Art With Heart Colour Creations team will be bringing you weekly colour inspiration as we showcase our range of over 50 beautiful Stampin’ Up! colours in alphabetical order.

Week 11 – Coastal Cabana

Coastal Cabana is one of the brights and such a happy colour – exactly what we all need in our world right now! Today I’ve paired it with Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Crumb Cake and Whisper White to create two watercolour scenes.

I’ve used a beautiful stamp set called Seaside View that I gave to my “crafting partner in crime” (AKA known as Jenny Boffey!) as part of her birthday present last week.

I then immediately borrowed it back from her to make my Coastal Cabana Cards!

I stamped my seaside images using Black Stazon ink onto Fluid 100 Watercolour Paper and then used my smallest water painter brush to lift ink off the lids of the my ink pads and water colour my scenes.

The sentiments are also from the Seaside View stamp set but I stamped them with the Saddle Brown Stazon ink – I love this colour and I think it looks great with Soft Suede.

The background layer for my “Take Time for Yourself” card is die cut using the largest Ornate Layer die and the other layers are cut using the stitched rectangle dies.

Card two also uses the largest Ornate Layer die but it was too big for the notecard base so I trimmed the edge off the die and uses it as a lace detail at the top and the base of my card.

Don’t you love it when you already have the matching prop for a photo shoot? I found these miniature chairs at an op shop several years ago – they are so cute and just perfect for this Coastal Cabana seaside card!

Both cards are finished off with a bow of linen thread.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the Art With Heart team have created with Coastal Cabana today. Click on the links below to see what they’ve made.

Next Tuesday we’ll be showcasing one of the Regal family: Crumb Cake. We hope you can join us all then.

To purchase any of the products featured in today’s post, simply contact your Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, any of the ladies in the AWH Colour Creations Showcase or click on the product links below.

Product List

If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.

In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx

Art With Heart Colour Creations Showcase: Week 8 Calypso Coral

Art With Heart Colour Creations Showcase: Week 8 Calypso Coral

Welcome to week eight of our 2020-2021 Art With Heart Colour Creations Showcase.

Each week various members of our Art With Heart Colour Creations team will be bringing you weekly colour inspiration as we showcase our range of over 50 beautiful Stampin’ Up! colours in alphabetical order.

Week 8 – Calypso Coral

Calypso Coral is in the subtles family but as the brightest of the subtles it really holds its own when combined with any of the brights, the regals or the neutrals – Calypso Coral really is a versatile colour. So when I saw a card created by Maria Cowans (a Stampin’ Up! demo located in the UK) I decided to create a card like hers, inspired by the Stampin’ Up! logo and using the same stunning colour combination.

Maria’s beautiful card is pictured below beside the Stampin’ Up! folder that inspired her design.

Calypso Coral looks incredible when paired with these other vibrant colours: Night of Navy, Old Olive, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry and Whisper White.

Maria used the brand new “All Things Fabulous” bundle to recreate the Stampin’ Up! floral design. This is a fabulous bundle if you enjoy two step stamping – it reminds me of “Jar of Love” which is one of my all time favourite Stampin’ Up! stamp sets.

Would you believe I had just ordered the “All Things Fabulous” bundle but it hadn’t arrived yet? So I decided to make a quite different card, one that uses the same colours in the Stampin’ Up! folder, but made with the floral stamps in the Good Morning Magnolia stamp set instead.

This card was very quick and easy to make. I stamped the large magnolia image and two of the smaller buds onto Watercolour paper using Black StazOn ink.

The Good Morning Magnolia Stamp is a double stamp set and it has co-ordinating Magnolia Memory dies which I used to cut out my flowers.

I used my new Water Painters to colour in my magnolias with Night of Navy, the buds with Calypso Coral, the leaves with Old Olive and the centre of the main flower with Crushed Curry.

Water colouring with ink pads is so easy to do. You simply tap an acrylic block onto the surface of your ink pad to pick up the colour and then lift the ink off your block with your water painters.

Once my water coloured flowers were dry I cut the flowers away from the leaves with my paper snips and trimmed closer to the stamp outline before rearranged the elements onto a Whisper White panel. I adhered this to a Night of Navy card base, which is simply a sheet of A4 card stock cut in half and then folded in half.

The “Thanks” sentiment is stamped in Night of Navy and comes from the Good Morning Magnolia stamp set as well.

As soon as I had finished this card my “All Things Fabulous” bundle arrived in the post! So I decided to make a second card, this time more closely CASED on Maria’s one.

I used the “Wishing you all things fabulous” sentiment from the All Things Fabulous stamp set – I really love sentiments that have two different fonts on them, like this one.

This was such a quick card to make – it took me less than 5 minutes and the design evolved as I went. You really can’t go wrong with a floral stamp set like this.

For several of the Night of Navy and Calypso Coral flowers I stamped off the ink once before stamping the larger part of the flower and then stamped the ink at full strength for the second stamp that forms the middle of the flower.

I’m not sure which card I prefer. But I do think that this Calypso Coral colour combination really works well whether you use it for water colouring or for two set stamping and stamping off.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the Art With Heart team have created with Calypso Coral today. Click on the links below to see what they’ve made.

Kate Morgan

Sharon Davern

Kathryn Ruddick

Sujatha Harding

Fiona Ryan

Theresa Gerrard

Michele Taylor

Tina Gillespie

Rachel Palmieri

Diane Furniss

Christine Blain

Rachel Woollard

Vicki Boucher

Ros Davidson

Andrea Sargent

Caroline Manwaring

Next Tuesday we’ll be showcasing one of the Regal family: Cherry Cobbler. We hope you can join us all then.

To purchase any of the products featured in today’s post, simply contact your Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, any of the ladies in the AWH Colour Creations Showcase or click on the product links below.

Product List

Bonus Days are happening now! From July 1st to August 3rd you will earn a $9 bonus days coupon for every $90 you spend in one transaction (before post). Stampin’ Up! will email you your Bonus Days vouchers which you redeem for shopping in August. 

7-01-20_dheader_bonusdays_naspuk

If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the August – December 2020 Mini catalogue, the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.

In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx

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