AWH Heart of Christmas #3

Heart of Christmas Blog Hop: Peace to You with Watercolour

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the third Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2022.

I love the simplicity of the Peace to You images and the heartfelt sentiments. The images remind me of the old style woodcuts or vinyl cuts. To show off the nativity scene I chose a simple fancy fold called a Faux Step Fold. I had recently seen a colleague, Diane Furniss, use this fold and at the time I decided to use it with the Peace to You nativity image.

I thought I may create 2 cards for this blog hop using the same design but different colours. My initial idea was a water-coloured background with a water-colour penciled scene that was “watered” with a Blender Pen. However, the water-coloured background seemed to detract from the coloured nativity scene. One of the water-coloured backgrounds had already been embossed, trimmed and adhered to the folded card-stock and so 3 cards were created with one water-coloured background left over.

As you can see the overall design is the same, but different colours and accents were used. The basic process was the same for each card, starting with stamping the nativity scene from the Peace to You stamp set on Shimmery White card-stock using my trusty Stamparatus. As the image has areas of solid colour and I wanted good coverage the Stamparatus enabled me to stamp the image a number of times without any blurring. Once the ink was dry I dabbed it with my Embossing Buddy and then clear heat embossed it with Versamark, Clear Emboss Powder and a Heat Gun.

The image was coloured with Stampin' Up!s Watercolor Pencils, that is Daffodil Delight, Early Expresso, Real Red, Flirty Flamingo and Calypso Coral; then "water-coloured" with a Blender Pen. This can soften the colours and remove pencil lines and is another way to water-colour. The image was trimmed leaving a boarder of white and then mounted onto a piece Starry Sky card-stock.

A half an A4 sheet of Starry Sky card-stock was scored, measuring along the long side, at 7.5cm, 15cm, 17.5cm and then cut at 20cm. It was folded in an 'M' shape and the folds burnished with a bone folder. An extra piece of Starry Sky card-stock was cut to 21cm x 7cm; and scored at 10.5cm. A piece of Sun Prints DSP was used to cut 3 pieces, ie 14.5cm x 7.2cm, 14.5cm x 2.2cm and 10.2cm x 6.7cm. They were embossed with the Merry Melody 3D embossing folder and adhered directly to the front facing sections of card-stock. The backgrounds were splattered with White Craft ink reinker with a tad of water and a Water Painter. One needs to remember craft ink takes longer to dry. 

The coloured nativity scene was added to the long thin panel using Dimensionals. A sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped in Starry Sky ink and immediately some Clear Emboss Powder was sprinkled over then melted with a Heat Gun. The sentiment was also added with Dimensionals. A double bow was tied with the delightful Starry Sky Metallic Woven ribbon and tucked behind the sentiment with a couple of Glue Dots. A few Starry Sky 2022-2024 In Colour Matte Decorative Dots were added to finish off.

A piece of Basic White card-stock was added to the inside back panel with a thin strip of the DSP adhered at the base. I had planned to include another sentiment but simply forgot. Will need to add it later using the Stamparatus to ensure it is straight and clear. The Basic White C6 envelope was partially embossed with a little of the Merry Melody EF.

The second card was built on Orchid Oasis card-stock and inked with Orchid Oasis Classic ink. The process was the same a detailed above. The Nativity scene was coloured with Watercolor Pencils, that is Daffodil Delight, Balmy Blue, Pacific Point, Gorgeous Grape and Calypso Coral. Vellum cardstock was used for the background and was embossed with the Merry Melody 3D embossing folder. I usually love the effect of embossed vellum, but I don't think it works as well as the background for this card. What do you think?

The background was splattered with White Craft ink and Orchid Oasis ink using a Stampin' Write Marker.  Some of the delightful Orchid Oasis Metallic Woven ribbon was used to tie a double bow and Basic Rhinestone Jewels were coloured with a Light Fresh Freesia Blend to finish off this card.

The third version ended up as more rustic. The Crumb Cake card-stock base was lightly daubered with some White Craft ink. The Nativity scene was stamped in Crumb Cake Classic ink and clear embossed (as described above). The scene wasn't further coloured as the water-coloured and embossed background panels added enough colour and texture. Some Crumb Cake ink was very lightly daubered over the music embossing and 2 opposite corners were softened and paper edge divided and bent. 

The mounted image edges were carefully roughened with Snips. A piece of Natural Finish ribbon was frayed and adhered behind the sentiment. A double Linen Twine bow and some Rustic Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots finished off this card. A side view is shown below.

Thank you for dropping by. I really appreciate it.

It is always a delight to see everyone's creations and I am sure there are gorgeous Christmas projects on show so don't miss checking out each blog. To continue with the blog hop, click  the "onto the next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Theresa Gerrard. I always look forward to checking out Theresa’s creations and everyone else's. 

Don't forget the weekly Colour Creations Blog Hop by the Art with Heart Team that launches every Wednesday at 8.00pm AEST. 

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

Andrea XXX

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up or you started part way through, please head to the blog of our Heart of Christmas Blog Hop Host, the very special Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all Art With Heart Team members who are participating in this blog hop. Check out her beautiful creation while you are there.

If you are in Australia, don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like your own copy of Stampin' Up's 2022-2023 Annual Catalogue and or the July - December Mini Catalogue then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you. Pease don't hesitate to contact me with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

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