AWH Heart of Christmas 2021 #1

Christmas with Tidings & Trimmings

Hi. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the first Art with Heart Team's 2021 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. We will be continuing a weekly blog hop every Monday night through to mid December.

How quickly the year is passing. It is July already - and in Australia many celebrate Christmas in July - usually so we can enjoy a traditional Christmas meal without sweltering in the heat. However, are you thinking "its too early to start preparing for Christmas"? I do understand your thoughts, but last year I had made new friends on the other side of the world and so wanted to send Christmas cards. The trouble was ... by the time I thought about it and got my act into gear and posted the cards - the Christmas cards arrived well into the New Year. I need to be more on the ball this year, check with the Post Office re postage times so my cards arrive in the United Kingdom, Europe, USA & Canada all before Christmas. This means I need to start creating now ...

When first perusing the new Stampin' Up 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue I spied the Tidings and Trimmings bundle including the die cut stars - it went on my list. This is the bundle used for this first Heart Of Christmas blog hop. 

Last month I was asked at one of my classes to show how to create a soft blended background. This was the starting point for my project and will be made in the class next month. The background was created using Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' ink and Stampin' Up!'s delightful Blending Brushes on Basic White card-stock. A little water was spritzed on the coloured area and a Misty Moonlight Stampin' Write Marker was used to flick some blue spots around. Once dry, this front panel was adhered directly to a Balmy Blue card-stock base.

The next step was die cutting using the Christmas Trimmings dies. Four stars of the larger star were die cut from Thick Basic White card-stock and 4 of the mid-size star were also cut from Thick Basic White card-stock. Why did I cut so many stars you may ask? I wanted some dimension for the stars and so decided to stack and adhere 4 die cuts - one on top of the other - for the larger star. There were only two die cuts stacked on top of each other for the mid-sized stars. Five tiny stars were die cut from the Night of Navy Ombre Glimmer Paper. They were individually positioned.

After arranging the stars, I decided on the positioning of the sentiment. Using my trusty Stamparatus, "Noel" was stamped directly on the card front using Night Of Navy ink. The stars were all adhered in place.

To add some starry sparkle Rhinestone Basic Jewels were sprinkled around. It still needed something else. Wink of Stella was flicked over to add some delightful shimmer over the starry sky. Its a pity the camera doesn't pick up the shimmer effect. It's gorgeous in real life.

Some stars and a sentiment from the Tidings and Trimmings stamp set were stamped in Night of Navy ink on to a piece of Basic White card stock to form the card inner. I realised when taking the photographs of this project that I hadn't as yet stamped the envelope to coordinate. Some stars will be stamped in Night of Navy ink on a Basic White C6 Envelope before it is posted.

Thank you for visiting Valley Inspirations with Andrea. I had fun playing with a blended background and creating this Christmas project to share. My Monday class ladies will be making this card next month. They saw it this morning as a foretaste of what is to come.

If you are in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue then let me know and I will be delighted to send one to you. Please don't hesitate to make contact if you have any other queries about this project or Stampin' Up!

There is more Christmas creativity. To continue with the blog hop, click on the "next" graphic to be taken to the lovely Kate Morgan's blog. I am looking forward to checking out Kate's creation and everyone else's.

Hope to see you next week for the second AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. There is so much Christmas inspiration to share and Christmas in July is the right time to start card-making. Then, in August the new Mini Catalogue will be launched which will have so many gorgeous Christmas products and I'm sure it will lead to an explosion of further Christmas inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself and others.

Andrea 💕🐾

  

I am so appreciative of Sharon Davern, together with Tina Gillespie and Rachel Woolard, who are our dedicated hosts for the Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2021. They are special ladies and I thank them for taking up this role. I really enjoy this Blog Hop each year.

I always love seeing everyone's creations and the way they use the amazing Stampin' Up! products. I am sure there will be gorgeous Christmas projects on show, so do make sure you check out each blog. 

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up please head to the blog of this week’s host for the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

#heartofchristmas