AWH Heart of Christmas #16

 Christmas with O Holy Night & Joy of Christmas

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the second to last Art with Heart Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2023. This series started early August. Where have the last 4 months gone???

My sincere apologies for not being a part of the Blog Hop last week. A family member has been in hospital & Rehabilitation for over 5 weeks now and I am helping with a range of things. Last week a number of things snowballed so I needed to focus elsewhere.  I don’t like missing sharing with you.

This week I am showcasing a couple of delightful suites, that is the O Holy Night and the Joy of Christmas Suites in Christmas cards and decorations. I designed these cards for a class where I was Guest Demonstrator. About once or twice a term I am invited to a Church Craft group to teach a lovely group of ladies. These cards incorporate Christmas decorations that can be removed from the card and hung on a tree.

Having seen the Christmas decorations displayed in the current Mini Catalogue and then a video with Sara Douglass, Stampin’ Up!s CEO and Cindy Schuster, an employee of Stampin’ Up! and SU Demonstrator, I was keen to create some decorations and decided to design a card with a detachable Christmas decoration which would act as the focal point for the card but could then be slipped away and used as a tree decoration. To give some choices at the class, I designed 3 cards - similar but different.

For cards 1 (Night of Navy card base with Boho Blue card front) and 2 (Boho Blue card base with Misty Moonlight card front; the the edges of the latter card front was lightly blended with Night of Navy ink and a Blending Brush), the card front was embossed with the Stars at Night 3D Embossing Folder. Both card fronts were splattered with White Craft ink as well as Wink of Stella.

The baubles were die cut with Deckled Circle dies, the larger circle being cut from the same colour card-stock as the card base. These circles had a slot punched out at the top using the Very Best Trio punch for the twine to tie through. Smaller circles were cut out of sky sections of the O Holy Night Designer Series Paper. A little piece of torn & die cut Crumb Cake card-stock was added to ground the figures. A card-stock circle was also die cut from card-stock to give the DSP added strength. The larger and smaller circles were joined with Dimensionals.

Simply Elegant Trim was threaded through the punched slot and was used to hang the decoration. A small piece of Night of Navy & Gold Glittered Ribbon was tied around the trim at the top of the decoration. This is such a gorgeous ribbon. Nativity figures from the O Holy Night set of dies cut Mary & Joseph or Shepherd and sheep from both Boho Blue card-stock and White Textured Shimmer paper. Stars from the Stars at Night dies were cut from the same card-stock/Shimmer Paper. The figures were added with Mini Dimensionals and the star glued directly to the DSP. The final touch of the decoration was the addition of an Adhesive-backed Star Trinket. They too are gorgeous, however, sadly, they have sold out. 

A sentiment from the Stars at Night stamp set was either white heat embossed on Night of Navy card-stock or stamped in Night of Navy Classic Stampin’ ink on Boho Blue card-stock. The sentiments were die cut with the label die from the Stars at Night dies. A strip of flagged Gold Foil was laid behind the label and the label was attached with Dimensionals, with the decoration’s trim sitting freely through the centre, so that it can be pulled out later. To give the card away, the trim can be wrapped around the label and tucked under the decoration. A few gold Festive Pearls were added around the sentiment.

A Basic White card inner was stamped with some little stars in 2nd generation Night of Navy ink as was the Basic White C6 envelope so that it simply coordinated with the card.

CARD 3:

This card is similar but different using different products. The colour combo is Basic White with Soft Sea Foam, Silver, Old Olive and touches of Real Red.

The Basic White card-stock card front was embossed with the Fern 3D Embossing Folder (from the Annual Catalogue). The Christmas decoration was created with Basic White card-stock and a leafy design from the Joy of Christmas DSP. A sentiment from the Christmas Classics stamp set was stamped in Old Olive ink and fussy cut. A holly leaf was die cut from Soft Sea Foam card-stock using the Christmas Classics dies. This die cut piece had a little Old Olive ink partially blended over. A pine frond was stamped in Old Olive ink and some Old Olive was added with the Light Old Olive Stampin’ Blend. A couple of Silver Foil die cut leafy twigs were also used.

The sentiment was popped up on Dimensionals and the other pieces for the decoration were tucked around with Glue Dots. The final touch was the addition of some red berries, that were created with Basic Rhinestone Jewels that had been coloured with the Dark Red Stampin’ Blend. The “Merry Christmas” sentiment from the Stars at Night stamps was stamped in Old Olive ink onto Soft Sea Foam card-stock. The label was die cut and adhered as described above, except Silver Foil was used. Some uncoloured rhinestones were sprinkled around the sentiment. 

The Basic White card inner and C6 envelope were stamped in Old Olive with the pine spray.

MORE DECORATIONS:

I wanted to try Cindy Schuster’s idea of using silver or gold macrame metal rings, so have created a couple more decorations. Here they are:

I had so many ideas for decorations, but time has gone.

Thank you so much for dropping in to check out my Christmas creations. I hope you find inspiration as you progress through the Blog Hop with my talented colleagues.

There is more Christmas creativity so to 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 everyone’s' projects - there is always so much inspiration.

I do hope to see you next week for the last blog hop of our Heart of Christmas 2023 Blog Hop series.

 
Also, many of us are also participating in the Colour Creations Blog Hop that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. It would be fantastic if you could join us then.

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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