AWH Heart of Christmas #12

Christmas with Snow Crystal

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

This week I am showcasing the Snow Crystal stamp set and have created a couple of Christmas cards to share with you. This stamp has carried over from last year and can be found in the Annual Catalogue. It is easy to be carried away with the wonderful products in the Mini Catalogue and forget the treasures in Stampin’ Up!s Annual Catalogue.  I had numerous ideas to show this beautiful image, but daily hospital visiting sapped so much time. Perhaps I will be able to showcase this stamp again before we finish for the coming season. Here are my cards:

CARD 1

The first card has a blended background with Boho Blue Classic Stampin’ ink in the centre blending into Starry Sky and then into Night of Navy inks. A piece of Basic White card-stock was the base and the colours were blended over with Blending Brushes. Some water was sprinkled over the panel to give that delightful bleaching effect.

The Snow Crystal stamp was silver heat embossed with Versamark ink, Silver Emboss Powder, the Embossing Additions Tool kit and a Heat Tool. More splattering was added using White Craft ink, a tad of water and a Water Painter. Some Wink of Stella was added to give some Christmas sparkle.

The coloured and stamped panel was mounted to a slightly larger piece of Silver Foil (from the Silver Foil pack available as an On-line Exclusive from my Stampin’ Up! shop). A piece of Basic White card-stock was mounted onto a Foam Adhesive Sheet and the Alphabet A La Mode dies were used to cut out letters to spell “Joyful”. The foam self adhesive letters were laid onto a strip of Vellum card-stock before the strip being wrapped around the mounted snowflake panel. The card front was then directly adhered to a Night of Navy card base.

A sentiment from the Joy To You stamp set was White heat embossed onto Starry Sky card-stock and then the word “Christmas” was cut away using the Stampin’ Trimmer. This second part of the sentiment was laid over some of the die cut letters. The final touch of extra sparkle was added with the oh so gorgeous Adhesive-backed Glitter Sequins.

A Basic White card-stock panel had a couple of thin strips that had been trimmed off the blended background were adhered to one edge. A sentiment from the Festive & Fun stamp set was still sitting on my work-station and it seemed perfect for the inside of this card so it was stamped in Starry Sky Classic Stampin’ ink. Also on my table were 2 left over glittery snowflakes that were die cut with Chic dies from Silver Glitter paper (Gold and Silver Glitter Speciality Paper pack is available as an Online Only Exclusive.) A C6 Basic White envelope was partially stamped in Starry Sky ink and the Snow Crystal stamp.

CARD 2

The second card has some Loose Water-colouring. I love this technique as it seems to have a relaxed feel. The Snow Crystal stamp was inked with Starry Sky Classic ink and added to a piece of Fluid 100 Water-color Paper. The broad flat bushed Water Painter was used to spread the colour of the stamped image. To add interest and life some Azure Afternoon ink was dabbed around. The water-coloured panel was left to dry naturally. 

With the blue snow crystal panel fully dry, it was silver heat embossed with another stamping of the Snow Crystal stamp. A splattering of Wink of Stella was added. This panel was trimmed down and the top and bottom edges torn around the snow crystal. It was adhered directly to a Boho Blue card front.

Silver and White Sheer Ribbon was cut in half lengthwise and wrapped around the card front before being tied into a bow. The card front was adhered directly to a Starry Sky card base. A delightful sentiment from the Magical Meadow stamp set was white heat embossed onto some Starry Sky card-stock, then fussy cut and added with Mini Dimensionals.

The Boho Blue layer needed something so some White Craft ink was splattered over the exposed sections. The scattering of a number of silver-ish Adhesive-backed Glittered Sequins finished the card front. 

An off-cut of Boho Blue card-stock was torn and added to the bottom of a Basic White card inner. When heat embossing sentiments I often double up on preparing the sentiment in case one doesn’t come out well.  I had this sentiment left over from crafting the other card, so trimmed it down and adhered it directly inside the card.

As with the first card, the Snow Crystal was stamped in Starry Sky ink onto a Basic White C6 envelope. As you know, I love to ensure the envelope links to the card that it will carry.

Thank you so much for calling in to check out my Snow Crystal Christmas cards. I know we don’t have much snow in Australia, and certainly not at Christmas time, but I do love snowflake images and the cards will be perfect for my northern hemisphere friends.

There is more Christmas creativity so do continue with the blog hop. Just click the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Kate Morgan. I am looking forward to checking out Kate’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyones' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

I hope to see you next week as we continue the weekly Heart of Christmas 2023 Blog Hop series. Also, many of us will be part of the Colour Creations Blog Hop which will be going live in a couple of days, that is, this coming Wednesday evening. We would love you to join us for our Gorgeous Grape creations.

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

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 wonderful Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  She is a special lady. 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 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December 2023 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact with any other queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

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