AWH Heart of Christmas Blog Hop #17

Christmas with the Season of Green and Gold

Hello. Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and the final Art with Heart Team Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. We started this series early August. Where oh where have the last 4 months gone. Thank you so so much for joining us this year as we have shared Christmas creativity with you.

I love sharing Christmas creations with you and was so disappointed to miss joining the Blog Hop last week. This week I am sharing a card with you using the elegant Season of Green & Gold Suite. It is an On-line exclusive and so gorgeous.

This fancy fold first shows one central panel surrounded by a gorgeous design with gold from the Season of Green & Gold Speciality Designer Series Paper. When the card is open, 2 central panels are seen, each coming in from a side panel. When the card folds up, one of the panels tucks underneath the other. A big thank you to Emma Goddard for the showing this double front panel fancy fold and for the dimensions. When Emma created this beautiful fold during one of her Card & Cuppa sessions I wanted to create one of my cards with it. I am so grateful for her dimensions. 

The colour scheme from the Season of Green & Gold SDSP was maintained throughout, with a Very Vanilla card-stock base with Mossy Meadows and Old Olive card-stocks for the central panels. Very Vanilla card-stock was used as the front panel on the focal panels. The 2 panels of Very Vanilla card-stock were dry embossed using the delightful Birch Wood 3D Embossing Folder. The panels were splattered lightly with a Mossy Meadows Stampin’ Write Marker.

As mentioned, the 2 front panels were decorated with one of the designs of Season of Green & Gold SDSP. The next panels in on each side were decorated with a different golden design from the same SDSP - one that is just Very Vanilla and gold. The tops of the panels were blended with Soft Sea Foam, Old Olive and Mossy Meadows Classic Stampin’ inks and Blending Brushes, creating an ombré blended coloured panel with the darkest shading at the top of both panels.

The central section was covered with the “B” side design from the SDSP. A Very Vanilla panel was added for writing a personal message. A sentiment from the coordinating sentiment stamp set - the Greetings of the Season stamps, was stamped in Mossy Meadows ink. While I had left it to dry before closing the card, the word “year” must have been extra juicy - so it has smudged a little - how annoying! A couple of fussy cut leaves from another design of the SDSP were added to the left bottom corner.

As referenced above, a couple of the SDSP designs consisted of different christmas-y leaves. Some can be cut out using the coordinating dies but others needed to be fussy cut. The coordinating dies also had some detailed dies to cut leafy shapes. The more heart shaped leafy sprig was cut from Gold Foil. The rounder shaped leafy die was used to cut the mottled white vellum from the Graceful Greenery Speciality Vellum.

The front central panel was decorated with the gold foil heart shaped leafy sprig with a pine sprig and a round Garden Green leaf sprig partially layered over each other. A piece of Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon was cut in half lengthwise and used to wrap around the panel, which had been mounted onto a slightly larger panel of Mossy Meadows card-stock. The ribbon was tied into a bow. A number of the Cherry Cobbler Adhesive-backed Berries were scattered around.

The right panel used the mottled White Vellum from the Graceful Greenery Speciality Vellum pack to die cut the rounder shaped leafy sprig spray. Two other sprays cut from the SDSP were layered over. A fussy cut set of golden bells were added on top. Some of the Twisted Gold Thread was used to tie a tiny triple bow that was added over the olive-y bow on top of the bells. A different sentiment from the Greetings of the Season stamps was gold heat embossed onto Very Vanilla card-stock and then fussy cut. More of the Cherry Cobbler Adhesive-Backed Berries were scattered around.

Here is the card stretched open. The photo below shows a decorated Basic White C6 Envelope that was stamped with the 2-step pine stamps using Old Olive and Soft Sea Foam inks.

Thank you so much for dropping in on your way around the final Heart of Christmas Blog Hop for 2024. I so appreciate you spending time with me.

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 a lovely lady, Kate Morgan. I always look forward to checking out Kate’s creation(s). I do love seeing everyones' projects - there is so much inspiration.

Also, many of us participate in the Colour Creations Blog Hop that goes live every Wednesday night where we showcase one of Stampin’ Up!s colours each week. We would love you to also 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.  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 new September-December 2024 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 this project or Stampin' Up!. 

#heartofchristmas  #heartofchristmas2024 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #artwithheartteam  #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #goldengreenery  #seasonofgreenandgold  #greetingsoftheseason   #gracefulgreenery

CASEing the Catty #476 CASE a Sketch - page

A Sketch from page 68 meets Season of Green & Gold

Hello, Welcome to Valley Inspirations with Andrea and #476 Challenge with CASEing the Catty.

You have probably hopped here from Monique Fielder's blog on your way around this week's Blog Hop. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's creations.

Challenge #476 is all about CASEing one of the layouts from page 68. As you know, CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything or Copy And Selectively Edit. When CASEing you may be inspired by a layout, a colour combination, a technique or even an embellishment. This week its a specific sketch:

I have combined this sketch with something I recently saw and wanted to try. Earlier this month I saw Cindy Schuster of The Crafty Carrot Co fame share a Gift Card Holder featuring the Attention Shoppers bundle. I was taken with her project and wanted to CASE it - so decided to do a double CASE, ie the sketch and Cindy’s Gift Card Holder. My project is a Christmas card with a gift card holder inside. The soon to be released Season of Green & Gold Suite (an online exclusive) has been featured in this special card.

The Season of Green & Gold Speciality Designer Series Paper is so so gorgeous. One of the designs has been used for the bottom panel. It has touches of gold running throughout the leafy design. The colours of this SDSP have been used as the colour combo for the project, ie Old Olive, Garden Green, Very Vanilla and gold.

Detailed die cuts from the Golden Greenery dies were cut from Very Vanilla card-stock and 2 of the bigger die cuts were coloured with either Old Olive or Garden Green Classic Stampin’ inks and Blending Brushes. The pine fronds were left uncoloured Very Vanilla card-stock. A stitched oval from the Greetings of the Season dies was also cut from Very Vanilla card-stock and then gold heat embossed using the Greetings of the Season stamp set. Some of the luscious Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon was trimmed lengthwise and tied into a bow through the little hole in the label. Some of the pearl berries from the Cherry Cobbler and Pearl Adhesive-backed Berries were added to give some subtle shimmer.

The top panel was embossed using the Fern 3D Embossing Folder. A belly band was cut from one of the other designs in the Season of Green & Gold SDSP and the die cut pieces were arranged over the front of the band with the oval label sitting on top on Dimensionals. Peaking out from beneath the label are 2 strips of Gold Foil. The ends of the foil were angled inwards to give a sense of the fishtailed label on the sketch. The sketch could be interpreted as a simple card with different layers and an angled cut, however, for this project the embossed top section will open when the belly band is removed - the edge has been angled.  The SDSP underneath is a full panel.

When the lower section is opened, a little shopping bag is revealed. This is where a gift card is to be placed (or a small gift could be added). Isn’t it cute. The same SDSP as the front panel was used for the internal shopping bag. Some gold trim from the On-line Exclusive Gold & Silver Trim Combo was used to create the bag handles.

The bottom panel was decorated with a detailed leafy die cut, a strip of the SDSP and another sentiment - this one from the Merriest Trees stamp set.  The sentiment was gold heat embossed and cut into a strip the width of the card - and was popped up on Dimensionals.

Thank you so much for spending time with me. I hope you like this different interpretation of the sketch for Challenge #476.

Don’t miss any of the inspiration from this talented Crew. The next blog in the hop is the lovely Kathryn Mangelsdorf. Just click on the "next" graphic below to be taken to her blog. I am sure her project will be wonderful.

Join In The Challenge: We would love you to share a project you have created that has been inspired by the new 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. To share, all you need to do for to the CASEing The Catty Challenge Group. If you aren't a member, its easy to request to join and then all you need to do is upload a photo of your project to the main section. You can click on the graphic below to be taken to the group on Facebook. We would love to see your creation.

#ctc469 #stampinup #stampinupaustralia #stampinupsouthpacific #stampinupdemo  #handmadecards #makeacardsendacard #stampinupdemonstrator #papercrafting #papercrafter  #valleyinspirations   #thecraftycarrotco   #goldengreenery  #greetingsoftheseason  #seasonofgreen&gold  #merriesttrees  #thecraftycarrotco