AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #3

Christmas with the Road to Christmas Kit + Alternatives

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the third Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2025. We are sharing Christmas inspiration each Monday evening until the end of November. I do hope you are checking us out as often as you can.

The Road to Christmas Kit:

As you know Stampin’ Up! creates many kits to help beginners, the time challenged crafter as well as the more experienced crafter. A few days ago my Road to Christmas Kit arrived and it was hard to wait to play with the kit so I thought I would share some of the kit with you. Here are the 2 card designs. The kit provides everything you need to create 8 cards, ie 4 cards in each of the 2 designs.

I couldn’t resist adding a couple of embellishments. Three little Brushed Brass Butterflies were added to the card below. This photo also shows the gorgeous envelopes that are provided for all the cards in the kit.

Brushed Brass Butterflies also were added to the second card and some of the new Irregular Weave Trim under the sentiment with a little Old Olive Linen Thread.

Alternative Cards:

While the cards in the kit are wonderful, I also wanted to create some alternative designs using elements in the kit. I only had a chance to create 2 alternatives. There are so many more  opportunities with this kit.

The kit provides laser-cut trees and dogs for each card, however, the card designs only uses these particular elements on one of the cards; that means the kit has 4 trees and dogs surplus to needs. Realising this, I wanted to design a card to use these extra elements. A lighter card base from the kit was cut in half to create a background layer on a Pool Party card base. A label from the Branching Out dies cut Basic White card-stock to create a base for the scene.

Some push out elements from the North Pole Delivery Speciality paper, ie a shop & 2 little presents were combined with the tree and dog. A sentiment from the Traditional Labels stamp set was White heat embossed onto Secret Sea card-stock. The design was finished with an Old Olive Linen Thread double bow and some delightful Low Profile Sparkle Dots.

The second alternative card is a simple fun fold using a Pool Party card-stock base. A darker plaid card from the kit was cut into pieces to cover the card base to the right hand side. On the left side, the card base was scored and burnished to create a 3.5cm rectangular column. The plaid card base was also cut to create 3 pieces to cover 3 sides of the column. These pieces were mounted onto slightly larger pieces of Basic White card-stock. The decorative panel from the kit was cut in 2 - a smaller piece for the top of the column and a bigger piece for the background. The red Ute and the presents were slotted together and the ute was positioned on the top of the column with Dimensionals. As above, some Irregular Weave Trim has been tucked under the sentiment strip and a few Low Profile Sparkle Dots were scattered.

It may seem from the photo above that the ute is hanging off the left edge of the card, however, to flatten the card so it fits into a standard C6 Basic White envelope, the column is flattened across the back piece which means the ute stretches across the card. The photo below partially shows the flattened card being slid into the envelope.

As the card front doesn’t provide any area for a personal message some Basic White card-stock can be added to the back.

Thank you so much for calling in on your way around this 2025 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue through the blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Claire Daly who is the leader of the Art with Heart Team. I always look forward to checking out Claire’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is so much Christmas inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Insta Hop on Instagram that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase a different Stampin’ Up! colour each week. We would love you to also check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  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 2025-2026 Annual Catalogue and or the new September-December 2025 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact regarding any queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2025 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #artisandesignteam  #artisandesignteam2025  #roadtochristmas

CASEing the Catty #537 CASE Traditions of Christmas

CASE Traditions of Christmas meets Most Wonderful

Hello, welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea & #537 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Judy May, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Peta Stephen so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from the Stampin' Up! Catalogues as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing the projects found on pages 21 - 27 of the 2025 Stampin' Up! September-December Mini Catalogue featuring the Traditions of Christmas.

This week I am CASEing the card shown on page 25 (shown below). My card may look quite different, but both cards have wreaths and my card has strips of cardstock as part of the fun fold instead of the red panels at the top and bottom of the card. Instead of a photo in the centre of the wreath my card has the focal sentiment.

I have been wanting to play with the Most Wonderful stamp set and it was perfect for today’s card. This stamp set pulls apart into 4 distinct pieces - the wreath, a top and a bottom leafy panel and the sentiment.

The wreath was stamped on Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper with Versamark ink and was gold heat embossed using the WOW Gold Embossing Powder and an Heat Tool. The leaves were watercoloured with both Lost Lagoon and Old Olive Classic Stampin’ inks and the fine Water Painter from the set of 3 Water Painters. As this set is a stand alone stamp set, the coloured wreath was fussy cut with Snips.

The little flowers were die cut with a die from the Perfect Pears dies. A piece of watercolour paper was watercoloured with Berry Burst & Blackberry Bliss inks. The small die cuts 5 tiny flowers in one pass through a Cut ‘n Emboss Machine.

The sentiment from the stamp set was gold embossed onto a piece of Basic White card-stock and cut with a Spotlight on Nature circular die.

This fun fold was one I have used previously after having seen Susan Campfield, a US Demonstrator create a version of it. The back panel is the size of 1/4 A4. The top and bottom front strips are a little longer than the card back to enable tabs to fold over the back of the card. The back of the card (both sides) was decorated with a Soft Sea Foam leafy design from the … Birthday Speciality Designer Series Paper. The front strips were covered with 3D Dry Embossed Basic White card-stock. It was embossed using the … 3D Embossing Folder.

The final touches a white double bow with a Gold twine bow (this gold twine recently retired). Iridescent Gems were added to some flower centres and a few around the sentiment.

A Basic White panel was adhered to the back of the card. Before it was adhered in place, it was heat embossed using one of the edge stamps.

A C6 Basic White envelope was also gold heat embossed on each end of the envelope.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this creative CASEing The Catty Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the wonderful Peta Stephen. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be something special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have specifically created for this Challenge which has been inspired by the projects shown on pages 21-27. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and once anpproved all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would so love to see your creation.

 

#ctc537 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #mostwonderful  #spotlightonnature #alamodealphabet #caseingthecatty #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam

AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop # 1

Christmas with the Modern Christmas suite

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the first Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2025. We will be sharing Christmas inspiration each Monday evening until the end of November. I do hope you will check us out as often as you can.

I had another Christmas card in mind for this blog hop but as I was getting ready to create my plan changed to using different products (most were already on my desk) and an idea I have wanted to create for quite a while. Here is what developed.

If you saw my CASEing the Catty project that was shared last night you may recognise the same Modern Christmas Designer Series Paper, although this card uses different designs. While writing up the blog I have decided to remove the gold ribbon that spans across this card. I think it doesn’t work so well with the double line across the middle. What do you think???

The background panel came from a ‘B’ side of the Modern Christmas Speciality Designer Series Paper. The letters were cut with the Party Alphabet dies from the White speciality Snowflake paper. This doesn’t show well in the photos but adds some extra texture in real life. The bauble was cut using the Ornamental Christmas dies and the trees were fussy cut from one of the designs of the Modern Christmas SDSP.

A sentiment from the Traditional Labels stamp set was white heat embossed on Basic Black card-stock. It was then fussy cut leaving behind the word ‘joy’ as the letters and bauble spell ‘JOY’.

The bow was created with … which is available in the LAST CHANCE section @stampinupofficial . Some gold Drewsy … were added to give some extra shimmer.

Trees from the Ornamental Christmas stamps and another sentiment from the Traditional Labels stamp set were stamped to decorate inside the card, A C6 Basic White envelope was also stamped with the trees. 

Thanks so much for calling in on your way around the first Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2025.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with this blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Judy May. I always look forward to checking out Judy’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is so much Christmas inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations InstaHop that goes live every Wednesday night on Instagram, where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would love you to also check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

Andrea 💕🐾

If you find a broken link or would like to view the full list of participants in this week’s Hop go to Sharon Davern’s blog @ Rhapsody in Craft. Sharon is our amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  Check out her delightful creation while you are there. I wonder if it will be a fancy fold? Sharon is the queen of Fancy Folds.

If you live in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of the Stampin' Up 2025-2026 Annual Catalogue and or the new September-December 2025 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact regarding any queries about this project or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2025 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #artisandesignteam  #artisandesignteam2025

CASEing the Catty #535 - CASE the Annual Catalogue

CASE Stampin’ Up!s Annual Catalogue meets Ornamental Christmas

Hello, welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea & #535 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

I am so glad you have dropped by. You may have come from Monique Fielder, as you take this week’s Blog Hop or perhaps arrived directly here; either way I am delighted you are here. At the end of my blog, I have linked to Peta Stephen so you can continue with the Blog Hop.

At CASEing the Catty we love to use the samples from Stampin' Up! Catalogues & On line Exclusives as inspiration and each week we have a different theme to guide our CASEing. To CASE is to "Copy And Selectively Edit" or some say "Copy And Share Everything". This week we are CASE-ing the projects found in the 2025-2026 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.

I am CASEing one of the cards on page 40 that has been created to showcase the Florals in Bloom Suite. I love the layout of the card at the top of the page and also the lateral use of one of the wonderful Party Banner dies. CASEing those aspects I have used parts of the Modern Christmas suite (a soon to be released On-line Exclusive) together with the Words for the Season bundle (from the coming September-December Mini Catalogue).

While I have been someone who uses very little Black in my projects I am really taken with the Modern Christmas Speciality Designer Series Paper. It is luscious and striking featuring Basic Black, Basic White & Gold. The stunning gold stars on a black background design was used as the background for this card. 

The trees were stamped and die-cut using the Ornamental Christmas bundle. One of the techniques used was heat embossing on speciality papers, that is on Gold Foil and the gorgeous  Secret Sea Peaceful Garden Glimmer Paper. I hadn’t stamped on this type of speciality paper previously so was excited to see the results. It opens up new horizons.

A panel of Thick Basic White card-stock was cut with a Party Banner die. I do like to use this card-stock when I am going to pop it up on Dimensionals. The two black trees were adhered directly to the banner where-as the gold and white tree was also popped on Dimensionals. A section of Gold Foil was adhered to part of an Adhesive Foam Sheet before being die cut with a die from the Words for the Season dies. The word “Greetings” was white heat embossed onto Basic Black card-stock and cut with a die from the same set of dies. This was popped on Mini Dimensionals - they are the perfect size.

Final touches included some Basic Black splattering, a double bow using the Black & Gold Twine from the Modern Christmas suite. A number of Black Shimmer Star Foam Stickers were strewn around.

The inside of the card was stamped with trees from the Ornamental Christmas stamp set and the sentiment is from the Words for the Season stamps. A Basic White C6 envelope was also stamped with the same trees.

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around the CASEing the Catty Blog Hop for Challenge #535. I do so appreciate it.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this creative CASEing The Catty Crew. The next blog in the hop is by the lovely Peta Stephen and Marvi. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I wonder which project she has CASEd - I am sure her project will be special.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project that you have created for this Challenge which has been inspired by the current Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue. To share, all you need to do is go to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group on Facebook. If you aren't a member, it’s easy to request to join and once anpproved all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would so love to see your creation.

 

#ctc535 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations  #modernchristmas  #wordsfortheseason #ornamentalchristmas  #caseingthecatty #artisandesignteam2025  #artisandesignteam

Be Inspired - Bright & Bold

 Be Inspired Design Team Blog Hop

Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the August Be Inspired Blog Hop.

BRIGHT AND BOLD

This Blog Hop has a theme of BRIGHT & BOLD. As I was musing on the theme I was walking with my dog and saw a number of local Rainbow Lorikeets. They are a beautiful Aussie bird and certainly Bright & Bold, so I decided to build my project around these gorgeous birds.

I had the Feathered Fun Stamp set and had previously thought of colouring the images to be reminiscent of Aussie birds. The 2 images were stamped in Versa-mark ink and Gold heat embossed, then water-coloured the birds with Lemon Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade and Blueberry Bushel. Once fully dry the images were fussy cut.

The coming Reaching Out bundle was also used on this card, ie to gold heat emboss branches and pine sprays. A little Pool Party was lightly blended in the background. Some twigs also were die cut and lightly coloured with Pecan Pie and Granny Apple Green. Two sizes of the Branching Out labels were cut in Basic White card-stock with the smaller label framing the branches, etc. The Basic White background panel was embossed with the coming Traditional Wreath 3D Embossing Folder.

A sentiment from the Branching Out stamp set was White heat embossed onto a strip of Blueberry Bushel card-stock. Mossy Meadow & Gold Ribbon and Low Profile Sparkle Dots. added that final touch.

The card inner was simply Gold embossed with one of the bird images and a little Pool Party blending was added. A C6 Basic White envelope was also gold heat embossed with a cute bird.

Thank you so much for calling in on your way around the August Be Inspired Blog Hop. 

I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created for the Bright and Bold theme.  Next in line is the amazing Lynn Cheesmur. Just click on the graphic below to head over to Lynn’s blog.

The full list of those participating in this hop is:

Maheswari Rajaguru

Brian King

Emma Goddard

Heather Thomas

Stesha Bloodhart

Angela Meiritz-Ried

Annette Elias

Andrea Sargent <you are here 

Lynn Cheesmur

Annette Ball

#beinspired  #beinspireddesignteam  #stampinup   #stampinupofficial  #stampinupaustralia #valleyinspirations  #artisandesignteam #artisandesignteam2025  #featheredfun #stampinupofficial #branchingout