What is a colour challenge?

Happy Sunday!

Today’s card is my entry for the Global Design Project #345 colour challenge and features the Hydrangea Haven stamp set and co-ordinating Hydrangea dies by Stampin’ Up! I haven’t played along with one of the Global Design Project challenges for a while but find creative challenges are a good way to get my creative juices flowing and I had a lot of fun making this card.

Cardmaking challenges provide a good starting point for your cardmaking and are usually suggestions for card sketches, colours or themes. The Global Design Project have a different challenge every week.

You can even combine challenges although I’ve never done that! There are so many challenges out there that you can literally play every day of the week if you have time and the fun part is no two are alike!

A colour challenge is generally three colours and you can add a neutral like Whisper White, Basic Black, Very Vanilla or Crumb Cake.

The combination for this colour challenge is Starry Sky, Sweet Sorbet and Petal Pink. Not my usual colours but it’s good to step outside my comfort zone every now and then! There are a lot of ways to be creative with Stampin’ Up! colours and the Design Team have some lovely projects to inspire us.

When I saw this colour combination an idea for a card popped into my head with the Hydrangea Haven stamp set and co-ordinating dies. Does that ever happen to you? On the first card I used Parakeet Party for the leaves and then remembered the rule that only neutral colours should be added to a colour challenge so I made a second version using Crumb Cake instead. Hydrangea Haven is a two-step Stampin’ set, which allows you to layer two or more images to create one final image with extra texture and dimension in the colours you want.

For both cards, I used the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder to add lots of lovely texture to the background. Next using the largest of the water painters, I created a watercolour wash using Starry Sky ink on half a sheet of our Fluid 100 watercolour paper and set that aside to dry before creating a panel with one of the Stitched Rectangle dies. I love that so many of our dies leave a stitched edge on the inside and outside of the die cut so we can use both pieces and I’ll be sure to use the left over piece on another project.

Supplies

Stamps:
Hydrangea Haven

Cardstock:
Starry Sky 21cm x 14.8 cm – scored at 10.5cm
Basic White 10cm x 14.3cm
Basic White quarter sheet of A4 for stamping and die cutting
Petal Pink 4cm x 6cm
Sweet Sorbet 4cm x 6cm
Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper half sheet

Inks:
Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Starry Sky, Sweet Sorbet, Petal Pink, Parakeet Party

Accessories:
Basic Pearls. Crumb Cake and White twine

Tools and Adhesives:
Hydrangea and Stitched Rectangles dies, Painted Texture 3D Embossing Folder, Water painter, Sponge Dauber, Wink of Stella, Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Instructions:

1. Cut and score card base
2. Emboss basic white layer
3. Create a watercolour wash on watercolour paper and set aside to dry before die cutting
4. Stamp flower and colour with second step stamps
5. For a two-tone flower head apply darker colour with a sponge dauber to the flower head second step stamp
6. A second flower head was stamped in the same way and die cut with the detailed die – apply wink of stella and add to die cut flower
7. Add small pieces of card to opposite corners off the watercolour panel before adding to embossed layer with dimensionals
8. The flower was added with a dimensional and glue
9. Stamp the sentiment before die cutting with a mini label die
10. Tie a twine bow. add to label with a glue dot and add to flower with a dimensional
11. Add basic pearls – odd numbers are best from a design point of view
12. Glue the whole panel the card base

Here are the two cards side by side so you can see the differences – I’m not sure which I prefer as I think both are pretty. This is the first time I’ve used colour blocks on a project – have you ever used this technique? It is a great way of highlighting the colours in a colour challenge. Using a dauber to randomly add the Sweet Sorbet to the second step stamp for the flower heads means they are different every time – which is perfect as I believe every handmade card should be unique. It doesn’t show in the photo’s but a Wink of Stella brush adds a lovely subtle bit of sparkle to the flower head.

I made a quick video of the first card I made which you can watch over on my YouTube channel.

If you click on the images below you will be taken to that item in my Stampin’ Up! on line store so you can pop it in your basket. If your order is over £25 please use my current monthly Online Shopper code (you can find it at the top of the sidebar on the right) so I can send you a handmade card and little thank you gift next month. However, if your wishlist is over £99 you should really think about joining our lovely team. If you would like to learn more about joining Stampin’ Up! and buying products at a discount please give me a call on 07580 852499 for a no obligation chat or send me an email to lynn@lynniecdesigns.co.uk – I would love to answer any questions you have.

As always, thanks for stopping by and happy crafting.

Lynn
xxxxxx

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