This week’s AWH Colour Creations challenge features Garden Green, a rich, classic Christmas green that pairs beautifully with reds, golds, and whites
Instead of reaching for my stamps, I decided to create three no-stamping Christmas cards that are quick, easy, and elegant.
Thanks to Stampin’ Up’s ephemera pieces, each card takes just minutes to assemble using basic crafting products, simply perfect for those last-minute cards or craft sessions when you just want to make something beautiful without bringing out the entire craft room!
Garden Green Christmas Colour Combination
My colour combination is inspired by the colours in the Christmas Tags & More 6″ × 6″ (15.2 × 15.2 cm) Mix & Match Specialty Designer Series Paper, pairing Garden Green with Soft Sea Foam, Real Red, Gold, Crumb Cake, and Basic White for a traditional yet fresh Christmas palette.
These are the products I’ve used to make my “fast and festive” Christmas cards.
Christmas Greetings Mix & Match Specialty Cards & Envelopes – The easiest starting point! These pre-printed card bases and coordinating envelopes give you instant polish. They come in a mixed pack of Crumb Cake and Garden Green. I’ve only used the Garden Green card bases.
Christmas Tags & More 6″ × 6″ (15.2 × 15.2 cm) Mix & Match Specialty Designer Series Paper – I love the ephemera pieces in this pack and the way everything coordinates so perfectly.
Greetings for You Mix & Match Ephemera Pack – These peel-and-stick greetings are printed in gorgeous gold foil, so your cards look elegant in seconds. You can either peel the backing off to use them as stickers or leave it on and adhere them with dimensionals, which is what I’ve done today.
Traditional Sparkling Sequins – A sprinkling of sparkle instantly turns “simple” into “special.” I used a mix of the gold and red tones to complement the Garden Green backgrounds.
Black & White & Gold Baker’s Twine – A little bow or wrap of twine adds texture and ties the whole design together (pun intended).
Foiled Frames & Labels Ephemera Pack – With a stunning gold border, the frames are a quick and easy way to add a touch of sophistication to cards.
Card One – Joy and Holly
Card 1 features the gold-foiled “Joy” sentiment, ephemera holly pieces and matching red sequins as the holly berries, creating a clean, classic Christmas look.
A frame from the Foiled Frames & Labels Ephemera Pack makes the “joy” sentiment really pop.
Card Two – Merry & Bright
This card uses an image of baubles, die cut from the Christmas Tags & More 6″ × 6″ (15.2 × 15.2 cm) Mix & Match Specialty Designer Series Paper. Precut bow images from the DSP adorn two of the baubles.
The “merry & bright” sentiment is layered onto a die cut strip from the same DSP. Red and gold sequins decorate the card.
Card Three – Mistletoe Joy
Once again, a frame from the Foiled Frames & Labels Ephemera Pack makes the decorative elements really pop, with a loose bow of the gold and white bakers twine and gold sequins finishing off the card.
The mistletoe bauble is a another precut image from the DSP, sitting behind the “joy” sentiment. It matches the mistletoe ephemera pieces.
Take a look at some more Garden Green inspiration on our Insta Hop!
Our blog hop is now an Instagram hop but the good news is that you don’t need to have an Instagram account to view all of the other projects!
Simply copy any of the Insta handles below into a new search engine window to follow the Instagram hop at any point.
Next in our Hop is Kate @craftwithkate. Be sure to check out her gorgeous project/s.
The full list of this week’s InstaHop is listed below:
Kate @craftwithkate
Kirsty @crafty.littlemiss
Andrea @andreaksargent
Sharon @sharondaverncreates
Rosa @hum.and.stamp
Helen @apaperparadise
Theresa @teegeeinspirations
Cathy @whatcathymade – you are here!
We’ll be back next Wednesday when we are showcasing Gorgeous Grape.
Looking for some more Christmas card inspiration?
Our Heart of Christmas blog hop goes live at 8pm (EAST) every Monday night with Christmas card inspiration. This hop is a traditional blog hop (not an Insta Hop) so you can see all of the team’s creations by reading my blog and clicking through to the next person .
Welcome to week 22 of the Art With Heart Team Colour Creations Blog Hop. This week we are featuring Fresh Freesia, a soft and versatile colour that works beautifully in both feminine and modern designs.
For my project, I’ve created a “Card in an Envelope” fancy fold card using the Floral Impressions 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper and the Impressions Abloom Dies. My colour combination is taken from the colours in the Floral Impressions DSP: Fresh Freesia, Misty Moonlight, Old Olive, Pool Party and Pretty in Pink.
This fold is such a fun way to surprise the recipient, as they open the normal mailing envelope to discover another envelope that contains a card with flowers that spill out of the interior envelope.
Inside the Fresh Freesia envelope there is a notecard that opens to reveal a sentiment (stamped in Misty Moonlight from the Impressions Abloom stamp set) and space to write a personal message.
How to make my Fresh Freesia “Card in an Envelope” card
The “Card in an Envelope” base is created by folding Fresh Freesia cardstock into an envelope shape, which holds the inner card. When you pull the card out, the envelope reveals a bouquet of dimensional flowers spilling over the edge.
Following the template below:
Cut 21 x 21 cm cardstock base.
Score and fold at 5.2cm in from the left and right hand side
Score and fold 6 cm from bottom side of cardstock
Measure and mark other lines in pencil
Cut away shaded areas
Once you’ve created the cardstock base, add DSP to decorate the inside back of the card and the front flaps that are folded and glued, as per the photos below. I’ve used the striped Old Olive DSP and the Fresh Freesia patterned DSP from the Floral Impressions 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper.
If you don’t already own the Impressions Abloom Dies, now is the perfect time to pick them up from the Last Chance section before they retire!
Take a look at some more Fresh Freesia inspiration on our Insta Hop!
Our blog hop is now an Instagram hop but the good news is that you don’t need to have an Instagram account to view all of the other projects!
Simply copy any of the Insta handles below into a new search engine window to follow the Instagram hop at any point.
Next in our Hop is Kirsty @crafty.littlemiss. Be sure to check out her gorgeous project/s.
The full list of this week’s InstaHop is listed below:
Kirsty @crafty.littlemiss
Helen @apaperparadise
Kate @craftwithkate
Andrea @andreaksargent
Rachel @rachelpalmieristampin
Leanne @createwithleanne2
Sharon @sharondaverncreates
Cathy @whatcathymade – you are here!
We’ll be back next Wednesday when we are showcasing Garden Green.
Looking for some Christmas card inspiration?
Our Heart of Christmas blog hop goes live at 8pm (EAST) every Monday night with Christmas card inspiration. This hop is a traditional blog hop (not an Insta Hop) so you can see all of the team’s creations by reading my blog and clicking through to the next person .
For week five of the 2025 Heart of Christmas blog hop I’ve made three more cards using products from the gorgeous gold foiled Traditions of Christmas Suite.
All three cards are a simple fancy fold created by cutting a sheet of A4 cardstock in half lengthways, trimming each piece of cardstock to 10.5 cm x 28cm. I scored and folded each card base at 14 cm and 21 cm.
The three different colours I’ve used for the cardstock bases all come from colours in the Traditions of Christmas Specialty DSP.
Card One – Real Red and Bubble Bath
I’ve used Bubble Bath cardstock to pick up the pink in the Traditions of Christmas Specialty DSP, die cut using the Christmas Greenery Dies, part of the Traditions of Christmas Suite Collection.
Here’s what the card looks like when opened up. I’ve used the Traditional Labels dies to stamp and die cut the sentiment. There is a white panel on the back of the card for writing a message.
Card Two – Pool Party and Secret Sea
Card two picks up the two blues in the flower bouquet and the all over floral pattern DSP. Just like the first card, I’ve used embellishments from the Traditional Sparkling Sequins.
Card Three – Old Olive and Real Red
As the Old Olive DSP on the right hand side of the card is “less busy” and the all over floral design on the first two cards, I’ve moved the bunch of flowers to the other side of this card.
For all three cards I’ve lined up the position of the front sentiment label to cover the inside sentiment label. Do you have a favourite colour/design?
Take a look at some more Christmas Card inspiration on our Heart of Christmas blog hop!
Now it’s time to hop in over to our next participant, the lovely Judy May. I can’t wait to see what Judy has made this week!
If the next button link is not working or you’d like to see the entire list of participants go to Sharon Davern‘s blog. Sharon does an amazing job of hosting our Heart of Christmas blog every Monday.
Our AWH team will be back on Wednesday night, showcasing Fresh Freesia on our Insta Hop. I hope you can join us then!
This week the Art With Heart team is showcasing Flirty Flamingo and I’ve made a feminine birthday card.
My card features a beautiful floral detail, created with the Extraordinary Flora Bundle (includes the Extraordinary Flora Stamp Set and coordinating dies) along with the Extraordinary Flora Washi Tape.
How to make my Flirty Flamingo birthday card
The card base is half an A4 sheet of Flirty Flamingo cardstock, layered with patterned paper from the Floral Impressions 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper, which features Pretty in Pink and Strawberry Slush tones. I love the way these two pinks look alongside Flirty Flamingo!
The other colours in my colour combination are drawn from the colours in the Extraordinary Flora Washi Tape: Flirty Flamingo, Pretty in Pink, Strawberry Slush, Old Olive and Basic White.
On the front, I’ve used the Party Banner Dies to cut the main panel, layered with Old Olive cardstock for contrast. The crisp white banner creates the perfect space to showcase the sentiment and floral clusters.
For the main greeting, I stamped “Happy Birthday” in Old Olive ink, using the With You in Mind Stamp Set.
To add a touch of sparkle, I embellished the card front with Basic Rhinestones, coloured with a Dark Flirty Flamingo Stampin’ Blend to perfectly coordinate with the colour palette.
On the inside of the card, I paired more washi tape florals with the sentiment “With Love” from the Extraordinary Flora Stamp Set. This ties the inside and outside of the card together beautifully.
Take a look at some more Flirty Flamingo inspiration on our Insta Hop!
Our blog hop is now an Instagram hop but the good news is that you don’t need to have an Instagram account to view all of the other projects!
Simply copy any of the Insta handles below into a new search engine window to follow the Instagram hop at any point.
Next in our Hop is Kirsty @crafty.littlemiss. Be sure to check out her gorgeous project/s.
The full list of this week’s InstaHop is listed below:
Kirsty @crafty.littlemiss
Leanne @createwithleanne2
Andrea @andreaksargent
Rachel @rachelpalmieristampin
Helen @apaperparadise
Sharon @sharondaverncreates
Theresa @teegeeinspirations
Kate @craftwithkate
Cathy @whatcathymade – you are here!
We’ll be back next Wednesday when we are showcasing Fresh Freesia.
Looking for some more Christmas card inspiration?
Our Heart of Christmas blog hop is back for 2025 and we will go live at 8pm (EAST) every Monday night with Christmas card inspiration. This hop is a traditional blog hop (not an Insta Hop) so you can see all of the team’s creations by reading my blog and clicking through to the next person .
It’s week four of the 2025 Heart of Christmas blog hop and just over 13 weeks until Christmas. Have you started making your Christmas cards yet?
For this week’s card I wanted to create a card that highlighted the gorgeous variety of patterns in the Christmas Tags & More DSP while also making the sentiment as the star of the card.
The “strip technique” (I’m not sure of its official name, but this is what I call it!) is great for mass production of cards as it really maximises your DSP and is so quick and easy to create. I cut strips approximately 2 cm wide and lined them up across a panel of Basic White cardstock on a Real Red cardstock base.
The two strips on either end are pre-cut strips from the Christmas Tags & More DSP.
The word joy is stamped in Real Red using the Jolly Holly Bundle and cut out with the matching die.
To give the sentiment extra dimension, I used a blending brush to add Soft Sea Foam ink to a scrap of Basic White cardstock. I then flipped the cardstock over, traced around the joy die on the reverse side of the cardstock, and fussy cut it out by hand. This creates a soft backing layer that makes the word pop against the patterned background.
This backing layer makes the word “joy” pop against the patterned background. I also added a white heat embossed greeting “Wishing You & Yours” stamped onto Basic Black cardstock, layered onto a strip of Basic White cardstock for extra detail.
The holly and foliage were stamped in Memento Black Ink and coloured with Stampin’ Blends in Real Red and Soft Sea Foam Stampin’ Blends.
Since there isn’t a Stampin’ Blend in Garden Green, I used a Garden GreenWatercolour Pencil add some of the darker Christmas green. The leaves and berries were then cut with the coordinating Jolly Holly dies and arranged around the sentiment for balance.
Inside the card I’ve stamped another sentiment from the Jolly Holly stamp set and added two more holly leaves coloured in to match the holly on the front of the card.
To finish the card, I adhered a few red Traditional Sparkling Sequins, the perfect way to add a little shimmer and bling without overwhelming the design.
Take a look at some more Christmas Card inspiration on our Heart of Christmas blog hop!
Now it’s time to hop in over to our next participant, the lovely Sharon Davern. I can’t wait to see what Sharon has made this week!
If the next button link is not working or you’d like to see the entire list of participants go to Sharon Davern‘s blog. Sharon does an amazing job of hosting our Heart of Christmas blog every Monday.
Our AWH team will be back on Wednesday night, showcasing Flirty Flamingo on our Insta Hop. I hope you can join us then!
