Art Gallery - Stampin INKspirations Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the very first Stamping INKspirations Blog Hop!  I will be using a brand new bundle called Art Gallery for my project.

If you are starting here with me or hopping over from Rebecca-Jo welcome, the theme for our hop is 'something new' - this could be a new job, new regime or new crafty goodies.  There are 35 of us from all around the world for this first hop so, you might want to grab a cuppa before you start to hop around!

With the launch of the brand new January - June mini catalogue and all the gorgeous new products in there of course I was going to play with new goodies wasn't I?  I had to make a tough decision as to which new items to use.  

I eventually decided to play with some of the items that can be found in the Fine Art Floral Suite (page 32).

The lovely flowers and textures in this suite are a modern take on classic impasto paintings.  Rich textures, lovely florals, gold leafing and more all work together to create a fine art look that is sure to yield beautiful results.

Did you spot the Gilded Leafing embellishment that is part of this suite?  I have long been a fan of these wonderous gilding flakes so I could not wait to get my hands on this new offering from Stampin' Up!

So, here is my project:

The colours I used:

Bumblebee

Granny Apple Green

So Saffron

You will need:

21 cm x 14.5 cm Granny Apple Green - scored at 10.5 cm

10 cm x 14 cm Granny Apple Green

6 cm x 10.5 cm Basic White Thick (BWT)

Basic White Thick (BWT) for stamping and die cutting

10 cm x 14.5 cm Basic White (BW) for the insert

The background:

I used the leaf image and Granny Apple Green ink to stamp a border of leaves around the Granny Apple Green panel - I do love a spot of tone on tone stamping don't you?  No need to waste time or indeed ink stamping in the middle of the panel as it will be covered up!

The embossing:

I used a fabulous new 3D embossing folder called Painted Texture with the small BWT panel.  And guess what?  It does look exactly like painted texture - so much dimension and texture that looks just like an impasto inspired palette knife texture.  I know I will be using this folder a lot!

The stamping and gilding:

• Stamp the flower onto the piece BWT firstly with So Saffron ink.
• Stamp the additional detail with Bumblebee ink.
• Rub over the stamped image with the Embossing Buddy.  Stamp the detail image again this time using Versamark ink and sprinkle Heat & Stick Powder on top.  At this point you can use a fine paint brush to remove some of the powder if you like.

• Using a heat tool, gently heat the powder until it turns shiny.  I used my heat tool on the lowest setting.
• Gently pick up the gilding flakes and lay on top of the image, pressing down gently with a soft brush.  I used a small sponge to gently swirl over the image to remove excess gilding.

Top Tip #1

I have a tub that is just perfect for my gilding flakes!  It even has a small divider so that I can store the sponge seperately.  Before putting some flakes into the tub I wiped around the inside with my Embossing Buddy to help to reduce the static.

Top Tip #2

The flakes will float around all over the place if you let them!  I only put a small amount of flakes in the tub so that I can use the rest of the flakes safe.

Top Tip #3

When you are removing excess flakes with the sponge make sure you hold the card over the tub so that you can catch all the little pieces.  Each and every speck of the flakes can be used at a later date.  These lovely flakes are too precious to waste!

Die cut the flower with the coordinating die.  You will also need to stamp a leafy stem and cut out too.

To assemble:

Adhere the stamped Granny Apple Green panel to the card base with dimensionals.  Wrap some of the sparkly Fine Art ribbon around the bottom of the embossed panel adhering with double sided tape.  Attach the panel to the card front with dimensionals.  

Curl and shape the leaves and then adhere the stem and the flower to the card front with with dimensionals.

The finishing touch:

Take a small piece of ribbon and pass underneath the adhered ribbon, tie in a single knot and trim the ends.  I quite like the frayed ends but you can always neaten if you prefer.

The details:

The gilding on this flower is so pretty - I will be having lots of fun with these gilding flakes - so many techniques to try with them but, so little time!

The inside/envelope:

Stamp a border around the edge of the BW panel with Granny Apple Green ink. 

Adhere to the inside of the card with double sided tape.  I also stamped a leafy border along one edge of the envelope.

The completed project:

I choose to keep my project sentiment free so that I can add the sentiment I want when I need to use the card.  As soon as I get the chance I will be stamping these lovely flowers in lots of different colour combos.

Next up is Danielle Kassing who has a lovley project to share with us using more new goodies.

Thanks to the lovely Angie McKenzie for organising this new hop and keeping us all in order! If you get lost along the way, a list of participant s can be found below.

Details of the products I used for this project can be found at the end of this post.

Happy hopping, don't forget to leave comments as you hope around to let us know what you think of our projects - we like that!

Susan xx

January 20201 

Angie McKenzie  ●  Jo Blackman  ●  Jan Musselman 

Tricia Butts  ●  Shel Anderson  ●  Libby Fens 

Gez Carpenter  ●  Sue Allen  ●  Karen Henderson

Elaine de Montmorency  ●  Leonie Stuart  ●  Mo Rootes

Linda Moore  ●  Annette Ball  ●  Jill Chapman

Ann Krucek  ●  Susan Webster  ●  JoAnn Pollock

Narelle Fasulo  ●  Terry Hamilton  ●  Rebecca-Jo Unwin

Susan Simpson  ●  Danielle Kassing  ●  Sharon Hashimoto Burkert

Ilse van Vliet  ●  Cheryll Miller  ●  Rochelle Laird-Smith

Teri West  ● Chris Smith  ●  Melissa Gifford

Vicki Milyard  ●  Anne Marie Hile  ●  Aurélie Fabre 

Mikaela Titheridge  ●  Alejandra Gomez  

Thank you so much for looking at my Blog today, if you don't have a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and you live in the UK, I would love to be yours!  

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