Heart of Christmas 2020 - September

Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas 2020 with Dove of Hope

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase by members of the Art with Heart Team. 

This year is speeding by. We are in September already and soon Christmas will be around the corner. A friend of mine has already created over 50 Christmas cards in readiness for writing and sending to friends. How are you going with Christmas preparations?

This month I have created two projects to share; a Christmas card and a Christmas Tree Ornament; both using the delightful Dove of Hope bundle.

PROJECT 1: Stampin' Up!s August-December 2020 Mini Catalogue has a range of amazing bundles of coordinating stamps and dies, including the oh so gorgeous Dove of Hope bundle. 

The card I created is a square card of 13cm x 13cm. To start, I die cut a circle from a scrap of card-stock with the aim of using the circular hole as a template. The largest circle from the Stitched Shapes dies was used to cut the hole. 

This template was placed over a piece of Whisper White card-stock, and the area was sponged using Misty Moonlight Classic ink. It's important to build up the colour slowly and to regularly check how much colour has been applied, remembering that you can always add more colour but its really hard to remove it. Once I was satisfied with the sponged colour, the template was removed and some Seaside Spray Classic ink was sponged around the coloured circle to soften the edge and blend out to no colour. It's very subtle and adds a softness to the design. A little water was misted over the sponged ink to add further interest.

The Detailed Dove die set has a number of dies to cut the pieces that create this lovely dove. The detailed wings and body was die cut from Whisper White card-stock while the open dies were used to cut Vellum card-stock to go behind the feathered areas. The olive sprig also was cut from Whisper White card-stock and was lightly sponged with Pretty Peacock Classic ink.

The white dove was adhered together with a combination of Multipurpose Liquid glue and Mini Dimensionals. To add a little shading and some shimmer, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint was lightly added with a Water Painter. While you may be able to see a little of the metallic touches, the lovely shimmer hasn't been picked up by the camera.

Before the dove was adhered to the card front with Mini Dimensionals the "feathers" were gently curved to add shape and interest. Also before attaching the dove, the card front was cut down to the appropriate size and mounted on a piece of Misty Moonlight card-stock allowing a small boarder to be seen.The finished card front was popped up on the card base with Dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of Whisper White card-stock in Misty Moonlight Classic ink. This was fussy cut and adhered directly to the card front. 

The card inner was stamped with a different sentiment from the same stamp set and the smaller dove was stamped off before stamping on the card inner. A custom created envelope was made out of a piece of the Snowflake Splendor Designer Series Paper with a Whisper White label cut with the Tasteful Labels dies, was adhered to the front of the envelope for writing the name and address of the recipient.

To add finishing touches, a piece of twine from Flowers for Every Season Ribbon Combo pack was tied around the card front with a bow and three of the super delicious Blue Adhesive-backed Gems were added.

PROJECT 2: The second project uses the Detailed Dove dies set to create another dove, similar to the dove in Project 1. As above, the die cut pieces for the dove were cut out of Whisper White and Vellum card-stocks. The Whisper White pieces had touches of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint added to add shading and shimmer. A second body piece and full set for a second wing was cut so the back of the dove is the same was the front so that as the ornament swings the back of the ornament is just as decorative.

The pieces were adhered with a mix of Multipurpose Liquid glue and Mini Dimensionals to form the white dove. The tail end of the body and the beak were adhered over the Gold Hoop Embellishment to hold the dove's position. Pieces of the dove were gently shaped to add a sense of movement. A piece of Gold twine from the Wonder of the Season Ribbon Combo pack was tied over the gold hoop into a loop for hanging the ornament. Concepts for other ornaments came as I created this dove ornament. It is going to be fun to try experiment.

Thank you for sharing the Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase for September. I hope you are enjoying the blog hop and finding inspiration. We are always excited to see each others creations and always inspired by one another.

Judy May is our talented host this year for the Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase each month as we head up to Christmas. If you haven't finished looking at all of the teams Christmas creations, you can visit/revisit Judy's page at Just Judy Designs, where she hosts all the links to the Showcase participants.

It is such a blessing to share with such talented people and so I am sure there will be wonderful projects to inspire in each blog, so do drop by.  I hope to see you again next month for our October Heart of Christmas 2020 Showcase. 

I really appreciate you dropping by and visiting Valley Inspirations.

Also, please don't hesitate to contact me if you are in Australia and would like a copy of the  Stampin' Up! 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue or the August - December 2020 Mini Catalogue; or if you have any queries that I could help with. If you are interested in buying Stampin' Up! products, I would privileged to help you.

I hope you are coping in these difficult times. Look after yourself and your loved ones. Stay safe, stay healthy and stay sane.

Andrea 😘

#awhtheartofchristmasshowcase