AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #9

Christmas with Jolly Holly & Delicate Pines

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the ninth Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2025. We are sharing Christmas inspiration each Monday evening until the end of November. I do hope you will check us out as often as you can.

I have two cards to share this week. Both were created with another end in mind but then I thought they weren’t right so left them on my desk. As I was wondering what to create for this blog hop and realising that I was extremely short on time given other demands, I saw one card and then the other. I fiddled a bit with the second card to improve it but quite liked the first card so here they are. What do you think?

CARD 1:

I created a few cards for an Artisan Assignment a few months ago and this one missed being included. It was created to feature the Jolly Holly bundle.

The background card is Pretty Peacock card-stock and the background layer is Lost Lagoon Two-tone card-stock, that was embossed with the Jolly Holly Embossing Folder and lightly sanded to expose a little of the white core.

The middle layer was water-coloured in Soft Sea Foam Classic ink and embossed with the same Jolly Holly Embossing Folder. When dry, it was mounted on Lost Lagoon card-stock. The top layer is Pretty Peacock and Basic White card-stocks - die cut with label dies from the Jolly Holly dies.

The Joy sentiment is one of the die in the set and was used to cut the sentiment from Basic White card-stock that had been layered on Adhesive Dimensional sheet. Some Berry Burst ink was blended over in an ombré fashion, then a Gold Foil die cut was layered beneath to give a gold shadow effect. The flowers were stamped in Berry Burst and die cut using the Jolly Holly bundle. The holly leaves were stamped in Soft Sea Foam. Berry Burst gems from the Purple Fine Shimmer Gems were added to the flower centres plus a couple extra.

To coordinate, a C6 Basic White Envelope was stamped with Holly Leaves in Soft Sea Foam ink. The card inner was decorated with some left over flowers and other left over bits and pieces.

CARD 2:

This second card was created for a Colour Inkspiration Challenge but at the time I didn’t like it. I have changed it a little bit today - what do you think???

This is a fancy fold, the design of the fold was created by Susan Campfield for one of Susan’s recent Crafternoon’s. When I saw it I thought it would display one of the beautiful stamped Delicate Pines snowflakes. The photo below provides a top down view.

The Colour Inkspiration Challenge was to use Shy Shamrock, Summer Splash, Gray Granite and Early Expresso as shown in the image below.

I created 2 pieces of blended card-stock that had been flicked with water droplets. One piece of card-stock was blended with Shy Shamrock and Summer Splash; the other with Gray Granite and Early Expresso. Some snowflakes from the Delicate Pines stamp set was were gold heat embossed onto the green blended panel and then die cut with coordinating dies. Pine cones were Clear Heat embossed with the small pinecones. They show the detail better in real life.

The background decorative panels were embossed with the Peace on Earth Embossing Folder to provide subtle texture. Some Summer Splash Designer Series Paper was stamped and white heat embossed to add to some of the background panels. The sentiment from the coordinating stamp set was gold heat embossed and fussy cut. Some die cut white pine sprays were tucked here and there.

A personal message can be written on the back central panel and then it will fit into a standard C6 Basic White envelope.

Thank you so much for dropping in to check out my Christmas cards. I hope you have found some inspiration for Christmas creating.

There is more Christmas creativity, so do continue with this blog hop. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to the blog of the lovely Sharon Davern. I always look forward to checking out Sharon’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyone’s' projects - there is so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations InstaHop that goes live every Wednesday night on Instagram where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would love you to check in on us for more creative inspiration.

Stay well, stay safe and be kind to yourself.

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 amazing Art With Heart Team Heart of Christmas Coordinator.  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 2025-2026 Annual Catalogue and or the September-December 2025 Mini Catalogue, then let me know and I will be delighted to send them to you.  Please don't hesitate to make contact regarding any queries about these projects or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2025 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #artisandesignteam  #artisandesignteam2025  #delicatepines  #jollyholly