Gray Granite with Joy of NOEL & Framing Foliage 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 mid warm grey called Gray Granite. Gray Granite is one of the Neutrals Colour Family and is a grey with a touch of brown. This colour is lovely neutral that coordinates with so many colours. I do love pink and grey - as you can see in both of my cards for this blog hop. 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 Earthen Elegance DSP, Colourful Kaleidoscope kit and Sentimental Rose All-inclusive Kit & Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack. Gray Granite card-stock, ink and Baker’s Twine Essentials pack have been used in the creation of these projects plus a range of non-Gray Granite bits and pieces. My first card features Gray Granite with a little Petal Pink and touches of Soft Sea Foam. The card base and background use Gray Granite card-stock. The background was stamped with the larger Christmas arrangement from the Joy of Noel set with Versamark Ink and White Emboss Powder and a Heat Gun. A little White Watercolour Pencil lightly coloured the image. The background panel was cut down using the largest Deckled Rectangle die. A little White Craft ink was blended over the edges. This panel was directly mounted onto a slightly larger piece of Basic White card-stock. Using the Joy of Noel stamps, the NOEL was stamped in Petal Pink Classic Stampin’ ink and “Joyous” in Gray Granite ink. The curved Christmas arrangement was stamped in 2nd generation Gray Granite ink and then coloured with Gray Granite, Petal Pink, Calypso Coral and Soft Sea Foam Stampin’ Blends Combos. The NOEL was backed with Foam Adhesive sheet and cut out with a coordinating die from the Joy of Noel dies. The other part of the sentiment and the coloured arrangement were both fussy cut - the latter only because I was sitting with a dog on my lap so couldn’t get up to die cut with the coordinating die. A thin strip of Petal Pink Glimmer paper from the Three Colour Glimmer Speciality Paper (a new online exclusive) was flagged at each end and laid across the card. A Basic White label, cut using the largest Stylish Shapes circle die was embossed with the Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder and adhered with Dimensionals. Some Wink of Stella was splattered over the card front. The remaining pieces were arranged and a double Linen Thread bow adhered in place with a Mini Glue Dot. The final touch of glimmer was the addition of Adhesive-backed Glitter Sequins. The Basic White card inner was simply stamped in Gray Granite ink with the curved arrangement. A Basic White C6 envelope was similarly stamped with the same stamp in Gray Granite ink. CARD 2 The second card has a similar colour scheme, although a couple of different colours were used when colouring the main image. I hadn’t inked the Framing Foliage stamp set so white heat embossed the Christmas frame onto a Basic White piece of card-stock. This panel was diagonally blended half with Gray Granite and Petal Pink inks, making it a little darker around the embossed image. The image was “bleached” with water and left to dry - that is, a wet fine tipped Water Brush was used to lift the ink within the image. Once dry Stampin’ Blends Combos, ie Gray Granite, Petal Pink, Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Pecan Pie and the Colour Lifter were used to colour the image. A White Watercolor Pencil was used to add highlights. The letters from the Alphabet A La Mode dies that spell “Happy” cut Basic White card-stock backed with Foam Adhesive Sheet. “Christmas” from the More Wishes stamp set was stamped on Basic White card-stock and fussy cut. The “Happy” letters were arranged in a higgledy piggledy fashion. (I liked the way the letters were originally arranged but they didn’t end up the same way when adhered. A little bit different makes a difference!) The card was finished with a double bow of Gray Granite Bakers Twine from the Essentials Pack, some gorgeous Adhesive-backed Speckled Dots and a splattering of Wink of Stella. The card inner was simply stamped in Gray Granite ink on Basic White card-stock using the edge of the Christmas foliage frame stamp. A Basic White C6 envelope was similarly stamped with the same stamp edge, but on both shorter edges of the envelope. Thank you so much for dropping by on you way around the Colour Creations Blog Hop. I know we are a smaller group this week but I am sure there will still be so much Gray Granite inspiration shared. To continue with the Gray Granite blog hop just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of my friend, the lovely Christine Blain. I am looking forward to checking out Christine’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyones' projects. I do hope to see you next week when we will be featuring Highland Heather as we continue the weekly 2023-2024 Colour Creations Blog Hop series. We are also sharing Christmas inspiration through the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop every week, going live Monday nights until the end of November. We would love you to drop in then as well. Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others. 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. 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 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 these projects or Stampin' Up!. #colourcreationsbloghop #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam #papercrafter #valleyinspirations #framingfoliage #joyofnoel