Welcome to the Heart of Christmas 2020 where the Art with Heart team share their Christmas inspiration with you on the third Monday of each month.
Today I’m sharing with you an advent calendar that I made for my 4 year old niece – it is the Christmas Countdown kit. Advent calendars are a tradition in our family, in fact last year my boys turned 18 and 21 and it was the first Christmas they didn’t have an advent calendar!
This advent calendar was so easy to make using the Christmas Countdown kit. All I needed was some adhesive because the kit includes the paper for the front of the drawers, the numbers and stickers to personalise each drawer.
The big decision with a refillable advent calendar is what to put inside the drawers. My boys would receive a gold coin and a chocolate coin each day. On Christmas Eve we would go shopping and they would use half their coins to buy a gift for their brother and then we would visit a local street renowned for their Christmas lights where my boys would donate the rest of their coins to a charity.
For my niece I’ve mixed things up a bit. She is just getting into LEGO so I bought a little LEGO set for her and split the pieces between 1/3 of the drawers, filling the other drawers with baubles to hang on her Christmas tree and of course some chocolate coins!
As this will be my niece’s first ever advent calendar and I won’t be there to explain the concept to her I made a matching card and envelope to go with the calendar. I used the left over stickers and paper drawer fronts to decorate my card and envelope.
The tree for the envelope and the card is made by adhering the stickers and paper to some card stock and then punching it out with the tree punch. I’ve also punched out the star from the die cuts included in the kit and used a red bow sticker, also included in the kit.
I don’t want my niece to lose her tiny LEGO pieces so I cut out the front of the LEGO box and stuck it to a mini Paper Pumpkin box. Inside the box I put the LEGO instructions and a ziplock bag to keep everything safe.
Here’s the inside of the card – the “no peeking” sentiment comes from the Itty bitty Christmas stamp set, as does the sentiment on the front of the card.
Once I’d written inside the card and explained the concept of an advent calendar to my niece, I placed the card on top of the mini Paper Pumpkin box and tied them together with the Mossy Meadow diagonal striped ribbon.
I’m so excited to be carrying on this Christmas tradition in our family with this beautiful Christmas advent calendar.
The lovely Judy May is hosting our Heart of Christmas showcase this year. To see the other Christmas creations go back to Judy’s post.
If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the August – December Mini catalogue (AKA the Holiday Catalogue), the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx
Click on the photos below to purchase the items to make this Advent Calendar and matching card.
Welcome to the Heart of Christmas 2020 where the Art with Heart team share their Christmas inspiration with you on the third Monday of each month.
Today I’m sharing with you three cards that feature a brand new suite of products that will be available to purchase from 3rd November: the Curvy Celebrations bundle.
You can purchase these products together as a bundle and get 10% off or you can purchase these products individually.
Quite Curvy Stamp Set
Curvy Dies
Curvy Christmas Stamp Set
Classic Christmas 6″ x 6″ (15.2 x 15.2 cm) Designer Series Paper
My first card is a simple folded card that uses one of the curvy dies to cut the card stock and the Classic Christmas 6″ x 6″ (15.2 x 15.2 cm) Designer Series Paper.
Here is it folded up.
Unfolded once.
And fully opened up.
Look at this beautiful Designer Series Paper and the detail in these Curvy Dies. I’ve used the Sahara Sand tree pattern DSP for this card because it matches the Curvy Tree Stamp – how cute is this line of trees!
I really love this DSP – it comes in Sahara Sand, Cherry Cobbler and Shaded Spruce, 48 sheets of double-sided patterned paper; with 4 each of 12 designs.
For my next card I used the sprig die to cut out Sahara Sand and Whisper White card stock sprigs to make a wreath.
My little red robin was coloured in using Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ blends and the bow was coloured in with Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ blends before fussy cutting out with my paper snips. Holiday Rhinestone Jewels add a touch of bling.
Lastly, for the square card I also used the Gold Hoop embellishments and the sprig dies.
There’s just so many possibilities with this amazing suite!
The lovely Judy May is hosting our Heart of Christmas showcase this year. To see the other Christmas creations go back to Judy’s post.
If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the August – December Mini catalogue (AKA the Holiday Catalogue), the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx
Welcome to the Heart of Christmas 2020 where the Art with Heart team share their Christmas inspiration with you on the third Monday of each month.
Today I’m sharing with you two cards that feature both the Sweetest Time bundle and the Peace & Joy Bundle from the Stampin’ Up! August – December mini catalogue.
I love large die images like these because they make for quick and easy cards that look super impressive, especially when you make them using a specialty paper like this stunning Balmy Blue glimmer paper! Isn’t this paper just the bomb!
Before cutting this paper with the largest of the Sweetest Borders dies and the smallest “joy” die from the Joy dies I attached a section of adhesive sheet to the back of my glimmer paper – it makes adhering the pieces to your card front a breeze.
To create my “Sending Joy” card, I began with a Whisper White card base (half of an A4 piece folded in half) topped with a 14.5 x 10 cm layer of Balmy Blue card stock.
I then used the large holly sprig die to cut both a piece of Whisper White card stock and a piece of Balmy Blue glimmer paper – make sure you save all of the Balmy Blue glimmer paper scraps when you remove the die cut paper from the die.
After adhering and trimming the die cut piece of Whisper White card stock to the Balmy Blue card stock layer I carefully filled in the negative gaps in the die cut image with my Balmy Blue Glimmer paper pieces. The angle of this photo shows you just how sparkly this paper is.
Before die cutting the smallest “joy” die from the Joy Dies I attached a section of adhesive sheet to the back of my glimmer paper – it really helps to keep the true shape of this thin word die. The sentiment is stamped in Balmy Blue from the Peace & Joy stamp set.
My Merry Christmas card was quickly created from the leftover Balmy Blue glimmer paper die cuts – it seemed such a shame to waste them!
Because there was so much white space on this card I thought it needed some subtle texture and once again the Dainty Diamonds embossing folder was just perfect for the job.
I trimmed the die cut Balmy Blue glimmer paper and re-arranged the pieces to get a central image I was happy with – this is so easy to do when it’s cut on an adhesive sheet. Extra dots were cut die cut from scraps of Balmy Blue glimmer paper and scattered around my card.
I love getting two cards from one die cut – I think I might be mass producing these two designs for my Christmas cards this year!
The lovely Judy May is hosting our Heart of Christmas showcase this year. To see the other Christmas creations go back to Judy’s post.
To purchase any of the products featured in today’s post, simply contact your Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, any of the ladies in the AWH Colour Creations Showcase or click on the product links below.
If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the August – December Mini catalogue (AKA the Holiday Catalogue), the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx
Welcome to the Heart of Christmas 2020 where the Art with Heart team share their Christmas inspiration with you on the third Monday of each month.
Today I’m sharing with you a card that features some adorable new products from the Stampin’ Up! August – December mini catalogue.
The Coming Home Bundle is part of the Trimming the Town Suite and one of my favourite items in the catalogue.
Last month I shared a blue, silver and white card I made using the Home Together dies, but this week I’ve used the same dies in a different way to create a double Z fold card.
A double Z fold card is one of the simplest and most versatile fancy folds you can make…and it always looks impressive!
Here are the measurements for the card base and band, although you can make the band what ever width you want and position it at any height you prefer depending on the type of effect you want.
Double Z fold card template
Once I’d cut and scored my base and band I used the long curved line die to die cut my band, creating a hilly base for my houses to sit on.
This is how I cut the 5 1/2 inch (14cm) front section of the band.
And this is how I cut the remaining two sections – I die cut them laying flat, not folded.
Before you attach your band to your card attach the DSP layer to the inside back of your card base. Attach the band and then work out exactly where you want the the little houses and trees to sit.
Did you realise the dies in this bundle cut out the trees and houses from the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper? I just love this for quick and easy card making – it’s this sheet that co-ordinates with the dies.
I decided to narrow my colour palette to just Early Espresso, Misty Moonlight, Pool Party and Old Olive for this card. I then lined up my die cut houses and trees to ensure they looked good both when the card is closed and when it is open.
Here’s how it looks closed.
Standing up…
And fully open…
The sentiment inside and the little trees are stamped from the Coming Home stamp set but the cute “Happy Holidays” sentiment on the front of the card is cut from this sheet of DSP in the the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper.
This DSP has sentiments in other languages too, which is great for overseas relatives!
I wanted to make a special envelope for this special card and try my hand at some snail mail art, also known as mail art or envelope art. This is where you decorate an envelope to match a card and it’s so much fun!
I used a C6 Whisper White envelope, which is the perfect size for my Double Z Fold card.
The address panel was created by using an Early Espresso marker to trace around the largest house die. The dotted lines for the address are in the Ornamental envelope Stamp set.
I also stamped and coloured in some tress from the Coming Home stamp set using my Old Olive bends.
The postage stamp was created using the Festive Post stamp set and matching Rectangular Festive Postage Stamp Punch.
Pool Party was sponged around the outside of the postage stamp to give a vintage look.
The inside of my envelope has been lined using matching DSP, die cut with the Envelope dies that coordinate with the Ornamental Envelopes Stamp set.
The C6 envelope takes the widest envelope liner die – cut a strip of DSP 15cm wide and then line up the die at the top of your insert.
Here it is being cut out on my new Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine – I love how well this machine cuts! It will be available to purchase from September.
Fold your insert so it lines up with the fold of the envelope and then all you need to do is trim the length to fit inside the envelope and glue the top flaps together.
You glue on the reverse pattern of your DSP lining.
The final touch was to embellish the outside back flap of my envelope to match the front of the envelope and the card.
I’ve had so much fun creating this fancy fold card and creating some snail mail envelope art!
The lovely Judy May is hosting our Heart of Christmas showcase this year. To see the other Christmas creations go back to Judy’s post.
To purchase any of the products featured in today’s post, simply contact your Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, any of the ladies in the AWH Colour Creations Showcase or click on the product links below.
If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the August – December Mini catalogue (AKA the Holiday Catalogue), the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx
Welcome to the Heart of Christmas 2020 where the Art with Heart team share their Christmas inspiration with you on the third Monday of each month.
Today I’m sharing with you a card that features some exciting new products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! August – December mini catalogue. These products will be able to be purchased from August 4th 2020.
The Coming Home Bundle is part of the Trimming the Town Suite, perfect for Christmas Cards, Welcome to Your New Home Cards, male cards, teenage cards…and even congratulations on getting your licence/buying your first car cards with that adorable little car and its matching die cut. Here’s what you get in this bundle.
For my card today I’ve just used the Home Together dies, along with the gorgeous “Lots of love at Christmas” stamp from the Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set.
I thought this sentiment really suited the card design for two reasons: the curvy shape of the sentiment mirrors the curves of the long horizontal die cuts and the “love at Christmas” references the little Night of Navy house with its silver heart.
I love silver with Night of Navy but Stampin’ Up! doesn’t have a narrow silver ribbon in this current catalogue so I had to get creative! To make my ribbon I cut a narrow strip of silver foil and used the bow die from the “Wreath Builder” dies to cut a bow from silver foil.
The White dot in the centre of my bow is a new embellishment from the Trimming the Town suite – All the Trimmings Embellishments.
Do you recognise the tiny stars, snowflakes and silver circles that embellish my card? They are the Snowflakes Sequins embellishments from last year’s August – December mini and they we be coming back from August 4 in this year’s catalogue too.
My colour combination for this card is very simple but timeless and a real favourite of mine. You can never go wrong with Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Whisper White and Silver foil.
The lovely Judy May is hosting our Heart of Christmas showcase this year. To see the other Christmas creations go back to Judy’s post.
To purchase any of the products featured in today’s post, simply contact your Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, any of the ladies in the AWH Colour Creations Showcase or click on the product links below.
If you’d like me to post you your very own copy of the 2020-21 Stampin Up! Annual Catalogue, the 2020-21 Beginners Brochure, or to simply find out about more about Stampin’ Up! contact me.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx
