AWH Heart of Christmas #17

Heart of Christmas Blog Hop: Joyful Flurry & Christmas Lights

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the Art with Heart Team's Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2022. How quickly the year is going! Christmas will be here before we know it. As I am sending Christmas cards to the UK, I need to get my card writing act together.

So glad you are joining us for our seventeenth 2022 Heart of Christmas Blog Hop. I saw Susan Campfield, a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator in the USA, yesterday when she created a new fancy fold card. Susan had altered a project she had seen. As I was intrigued with her fold, I converted her measurements to make the most of our A4 sized card-stock. I also used different stamp sets, Designer Series Paper, colour scheme and added a belly band. 

Here is my card (closed view):

The other inspiration for this card was to play with the Frosted Flurry dies. I had created a card for a The Stamping Cove Design Team using the Frosted Flurry dies, but, I wasn't happy with it. I loved the effect of the die cut snowflakes but didn't feel I had showed them at their best. I didn't want to be beaten, rather to redeem myself. I am happier with the effect seen on this project. What do you think??? 

A Very Vanilla Thick card-stock base was scored and burnished and an extra piece of Very Vanilla card-stock was cut to create a flap that will hide the personal written panel and have a decorative panel in the centre. Here is a top view photo of the standing card to give you a sense of the folds.

A Very Vanilla and gold design of the Lights Aglow Speciality Designer Series Paper was ombre blended with Blushing Bride and Polished Pink Classic Stampin' inks. One 6"x6" piece of SDSP was the perfect size for this fold. The front panel was decorated with gold heat embossed snowflakes from both the Joyful Flurry & Christmas Lights stamps. The front centre panel of the back flap was also gold heat embossed with snowflakes. Both front panels and the front flap panel also were coloured with ombre blending using the same colours, although I brought the colouring down further on the front panels. I didn't intend to recreate the SDSP, but there are similarities.

Gold foil panels were embossed with the snowflake embossing folder from the Wintry 3D Embossing Folder pack. When standing open the foil panels are only minimally seen but I like the drama created when looking more closely at the card panels.

I thought I would experiment and layer the detailed snowflake dies from the Frosted Flurry dies over snowflakes from a non-coordinating stamp set. The dies only cut part of the snowflake card-stock. It doesn't cut out the whole snowflake but cuts in such a way that segments can be lifted to give added dimension. The photo below endeavours to capture the partial die cut effect. 

A sentiment from the Joyful Flurry stamp set was gold heat embossed on Very Vanilla card-stock. It was cut with the Stampin' Trimmer and then the word "wonder" was fussy cut. I wanted to alter the sentiment. The sentiment was added with Mini Dimensionals. Iridescent Rhinestone Basic Jewels were added at the centre of larger snowflakes. The pink and yellow tones of the rhinestones go brilliantly on this panel.

A Very Vanilla card-stock belly band was wrapped around the closed card and overlapped at the front, knowing that the snowflake embellishment would hide the seam. Polished Pink Open Weave ribbon was wrapped around the centre of the belly band and then the Gold Elegant Trim was wrapped over the Polished Pink Ribbon. The largest snowflake from the Christmas Lights stamp set was gold heat embossed and then die cut with one of the Frosted Flurry dies to give it added dimension. The snowflake was cut out with the coordinating Twinkling Lights dies, however, some of the edge section fell off - I guess as I was mixing 2 different die sets to prepare the large snowflake there is likely to be some “issues”. I had already cut an extra blank snowflake so I was able to adhere the snowflake pieces onto the blank one. Even with that issue, I am impressed at the ability to use the dies with gold embossed snowflakes from a completely different stamp set. More Iridescent Rhinestones were added to this focal snowflake. A bow, tied with the ribbon and trim, was added at the side of the belly band.

Lifting up the inner flap shows the panel for writing ones personal message. This panel was stamped with garlands from the Christmas Lights stamp set using Blushing Bride, Polished Pink and heat embossed gold. A thin left over strip of the SDSP was added at the base and "Happy Christmas" from the Joyful Flurry stamps was gold heat embossed at the top. A C6 Very Vanilla envelope was gold heat embossed with the largest snowflake from the Christmas Lights stamps.

Thank you so much for dropping in and spending some time with me. I do so appreciate it.

It is always a delight to see everyone's creations and I am sure there will be 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 Kate Morgan. I always look forward to checking out Kate's creations together with 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 until the end of November 2022.

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 this project or Stampin' Up!. 

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