Welcome to week nine of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop!
Sale-a-bration ends this Wednesday 31st of August so I’ve created four more Christmas cards that showcase the gorgeous Rings of Love DSP.
The first three “simple stamping” cards don’t require a die cutting machine or a punch.
My fourth Christmas card uses the dies from the Tree Rings Hybrid Embossing Folder and the Timber Embossing Folder (both free with a $90 order), paired with the coordinating Ringed With Nature bundle.
For the simple stamping cards the “Merry Christmas” sentiment stamp from the Ringed With Nature has been stamped in Crumb Cake to match the cardstock base.
The simplicity of this design lets the DSP really shine – all I’ve added for the embellishments is a bow of linen thread tied around the Basic White layer before it is adhered to the card base.
A large gold Adhesive-Backed Seasonal Sequin adds a tiny touch of bling for each of the cards.
The colour scheme for my fourth card comes from another sheet of the Rings of Love DSP. Poppy Parade and Mint Macaron are a lovely combination and a fresh take on the traditional red and green for Christmas.
I ran my Early Espresso ink pad inside the top of the Timber Embossing Folder (it has Stampin’ Up! logo on the outside) before embossing the Crumb Cake cardstock – I love the realistic effect this gives.
The little twigs and sprigs are die cut in Basic White before being coloured in using Soft Suede, Poppy Parade and Mint Macaron Stampin’ Blends.
The tree rings are die cut from the Rings of Love DSP using the Tree Rings Hybrid Embossing Folder.
The gorgeous heart is a stamp from the Ringed With Nature stamp set that I fussy cut out, as is the “Merry Christmas” sentiment, stamped in Soft Suede.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Sharon Davern who is also the host of our Heart of Christmas blog hop.
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants on Sharon’s blog.
Welcome to week seventeen of our Art With Heart 2022-23 Colour Creations blog hop!
This is a weekly blog hop where we showcase the stunning range of Stampin’ Up! colours in alphabetical order over 12 months and this week we are featuring Daffodil Delight, a sunny yellow in the brights family.
This week I really wanted to use the stunning Hues of Happiness DSP and so I decided to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) the cover of the Stampin’ Up! 2022-23 Annual Catalogue. I love this card on the cover!
Here’s the cover of the catalogue:
And here’s what my version looks like:
I’ve switched the card orientation from vertical to horizontal, used the “spiral bound” die from the Blossoming Happiness Dies to cut both edges of my Basic White layer, changed the colour of the flowers and used a different sentiment.
This gorgeous Hues of Happiness has 2 sheets full of floral images that can be die cut using the Blossoming Happiness Dies.
I cut the Daffodil Delight and Mango Melody rose as well as the leaves from this sheet below and the Pool Party rose from the other sheet.
Glossy Dots in Daffodil Delight adorn my card.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Rachel Woollard – I can’t wait to see what Rachel has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
Welcome to week eight of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop!
With only 8 days to go until the end of Sale-a-bration I just couldn’t resist creating another Christmas card using four of the gorgeous Sale-a-bration items: Rings of Love DSP, Silver Foil, Silver and gold DSP and my absolute fave, Tree Lot dies.
I’ve used some of the colours in the Rings of Love DSP as well as the Silver from the Silver DSP and the Silver Foil for my accordion fold card.
An accordian card fancy fold is a great card for display as it stands up really well without any support.
Accordion Fancy Fold Card Template
Night of Navy cardstock base 14 x 28 cm
Score at 4.5, 9, 13.5 and 18 cm
Adhere 4 x Rings Of Love DSP measuring 13.5 x 4 cm to the folded panels
Night of Navy cardstock 4 x 7.5, scored at 7.5
Adhere 2 x Silver spotted Silver and Gold DSP measuring 7×7 cm to the Night of Navy cardstock
Die cut caravan, embellishments and trees from scraps of Silver Foil, Mint Macaroon and Night of Navy cardstock
The front panel is decorated with the dotted Silver DSP, topped with a Mint Macaron, Silver foil and Night of Navy caravan, die cut using the Tree Lot dies.
In the caravan window I stamped the word “Merry” from the “Be Cool – Be Chill – Be Merry” sentiment from the Penguin Place stamp set. It was easy to ink up just the word “MERRY” using Night of Navy ink without any masking required as it is the last word in the sentiment.
The Middle panel of the accordian fold card has a Mint Macaron tree covered in Tree Lot dies silver stars.
Did you notice the silver pot under the Christmas tree? This pot is the negative piece left over from die cutting the bottom section of the caravan.
The “Christmas” sentiment on the inside of the card was stamped using the “Merry Christmas” sentiment from the Trees For Sale stamp set. The string of lights, stars and trees are all from this stamp set too.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Rachel Woollard – I can’t wait to see what Rachel has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants on Sharon’s blog. Sharon Davern is the host of our Heart of Christmas blog hop this year – thank you so much Sharon!!
Welcome to week sixteen of our Art With Heart 2022-23 Colour Creations blog hop! This is a weekly blog hop where we showcase the stunning range of Stampin’ Up! colours in alphabetical order over 12 months and this week we are featuring Crushed Curry, a rich deep yellow in the regal family.
I’ve taken the opportunity this week to make a Father’s Day card for my husband using the Brewed For You bundle and elements from the He’s the Man Suite.
The Brewed For You bundle was a must have purchase for me as my husband and both my sons are quite obsessed with and incredibly knowledgeable about craft beer!
Crushed Curry is such a bold yellow I’ve used it sparingly to colour the IPA beers using the two step stamps included in the Brewed For You stamp set, as well as to layer under the inside sentiment.
The “growler” contains a stout (some of it already poured into the glass on the far left), stamped and coloured with Soft Suede ink and Stampin’ Blends.
A full width easel card allows me to include as many beers as possible – this type of fancy fold is seriously one of the easiest but most effective fancy folds you can make!
Here’s what it looks like when the card is closed. At first glance it appears to be just a normal card.
But when you open it up it looks like this!
And this is what it looks like from the side. This is a great card for display.
Full Width Easel Card Instructions
Make a card base of any size – today I’ve used half an A4 sheet of cardstock, folded in half
Measure the halfway point of the front of the card base and score across this halfway point
Fold this score line and then decorate the card inside and out with DSP and cardstock
To make the “easel” stand, use dimensionals to attach a sentiment to the middle of the inside of the card
Creating Beer Froth
The froth on the beer is created using the Snowfall Accents puff paint. Make sure you use a heat tool to froth it up as it dries.
I only added froth to one beer glass because most craft beers don’t really have a “head” compared to the more mainstream beers.
I’ve used all of the different glass dies for the beers on this card as we have an entire shelf in the kitchen cupboard dedicated to different kinds of beer glasses! And yes, my wine fridge has also been turned into a beer fridge!
The sentiment on the front of the card is a die cut image from the He’s the Man DSP. I’ve also used a sheet of the He’s the Man DSP to decorate the front of the card – I love the vintage vibe of this DSP.
The sentiment inside that forms the easel mechanism is from the He’s All That Stamp Set, die cut using the Stitched Rectangles dies and mounted onto the card using dimensionals.
I’ve just added a shadow to the bottom of the beer glasses in this last photo, using the Ivory Stampin’ Blend. I think it really grounds the beer glasses onto the card.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Ros Davidson – I can’t wait to see what Ros has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
Welcome to week seven of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop!
Have you heard about the brand new Perfect Partners promotion?
From 1 -30 September 2022, Stampin’ Up! are releasing six sets of dies to coordinate with six stamp sets in the 2022–2023 Annual Catalogue and the July–December 2022 Mini Catalogue.
As an demonstrator I am able to preorder these dies during August and my card tonight uses the new Tree Trimming Dies that coordinate with the Trimming the Tree stamp set.
I’ve used just a few of these dies to create a very traditional style of Christmas card, stamping my tree with Garden Green and Pear Pizzazz. I’ve kept the rest of the colour palette very neutral, using Crumb Cake and Basic White with a touch of gold foil.
Wow, these Tree Trimming dies add so much texture! Can you see in this close up photo below how many of the tree branches pop up?
The large tree basket cuts and embosses at the same time. To highlight the texture of the basket weave on the tree basket die I used a sponge dauber to blend Crumb Cake ink over it.
I die cut the Basic White layer using the Deckled Rectangles Dies, which are actually sized to fit American imperial sized card bases.
However, there is an easily work around to make them for our A4 sized card stock and metric card bases. Simply trim 1 cm off the bottom of the card base and they work perfectly! I also use this trick when I’m die cutting with the stitched rectangle dies.
This photo was taken outside in the sun to show the gorgeous gold heat embossed “Peace & Joy” sentiment, die cut using one of the new label dies included in the Tree Trimmings dies.
I used the same largest Deckled Rectangle die I used on the front of the card for the inside of the card, stamped with another sentiment from the Trimming the Tree stamp set.
If you’d like to see these dies and other dies included in the Perfect Partners promotion, take a look at this video that also has some really lovely card design and layout ideas.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Rachel Woollard– I can’t wait to see what Rachel has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants on Sharon’s blog. Sharon Davern is the host of our Heart of Christmas blog hop this year – thank you so much Sharon!!
If you live in Australia, you can find and purchase these products in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store. The Tree Trimming dies will be available September 1.
Wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Today I attended the combined christening and first birthday party for my great niece, Tilly Anne, the first child in the generation under my children.
My boys have 15 cousins in total and Tilly is the daughter of their oldest cousin – it feels so bizzare to have a one-year-old great niece when my two youngest nieces are only 6 and 3!
I don’t have any stamps or sentiments that are specifically for christening or baptism so I decided to use masking paper to make a cross that I could stamp around.
Mark the centre of the card front and adhere a 1 inch strip of masking paper down the middle.
Cur another strip of masking paper across the middle line.
I used the Lovely You stamp set to stamp around my cross, using mainly soft colours: So Saffron, Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Sahara Sand, Balmy Blue and Soft Succulent.
After I gently removed the masking paper to reveal the cross, I mounted the image onto a layer of gold foil and heat embossed the “Congratulations” sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set.
Adhesive-Backed Seasonal Sequins add a touch of dimension and sparkle.
I’ll be back tomorrow night with the Heart of Christmas blog hop and then on Wednesday night with AWH Colour Creations team where we will be showcasing Crushed Curry.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm…and keep on crafting xxx
Welcome to week fifteen of our Art With Heart 2022-23 Colour Creations blog hop! This is a weekly blog hop where we showcase the stunning range of Stampin’ Up! colours in alphabetical order over 12 months and this week we are featuring one of my very favourite colours – Crumb Cake.
I love Crumb Cake so much because it is such a wonderful neutral that works with every single colour. I wanted to make it the feature colour on this card by only adding Basic White and just a touch of Real Red, but I might have added too much red!.
My card is actually CASED from this incredible card created last year by UK demonstrator and former Artisan designer, Emma Goddard. Isn’t this card simply stunning?
I loved the loved the colour combination of Real Red and Crumb Cake, as well as the effect she created by heat embossing a large word stamp, then dry embossing it with an embossing folder and then, finally, blending Crumb Cake ink over the top to make the word pop out and highlight the texture of the embossing folder.
As many of these products are now retired, I had to get creative and CASE this design with current Stampin’ up! products.
The “Sending” stamp is from the Sending Smiles stamp set
The “Christmas Wishes” is from the Leaves of Holly Stamp set
The dry embossing is created with the “Wintry” embossing folder
The double bow is created using the Bakers Twine Essentials and the Real Red & Garden Green 3/8″ (1 cm) Ribbon Combo Pack
The white heat embossed word is invisible until you blend the Crumb Cake ink over it with a blending brush.
The “Christmas wishes” sentiment was also heat embossed in white onto Basic White Cardstock and then I rubbed Real Red ink over the top and cut the sentiment in half.
To achieve the white border of Emma’s “Merry and” reverse stamps I mounted the Christmas wishes sentiment onto some Basic White card stock before attaching to the card.
The Real Red Ribbon was cut in half lengthways before tying into a bow and the top bow is Crumb Cake bakers twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack, however you could use Linen Thread as well.
Red Rhinestone jewels popped into the middle of the snowflakes complete the card.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Michele Taylor – I can’t wait to see what Michele has made this week!
Welcome to week six of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop!
Ten more products have just been added to Sale-a-bration, so I’ve paired two of these new Sale-a-bration items – the gold foil from the Brushed Metallic cardstock pack and silver foil from the Silver Foil Specialty pack – with the existing Sale-a-bration Gold and Silver DSP for my two modern Christmas cards.
NOTE: If you would like to redeem your Sale-a-bration credits for these new items, make sure you use the codes below, instead of the original product codes they have in the catalogue they appear in.
My “non-traditional” Christmas cards were inspired by a video where Stampin’ Up used the Rays of Light Stamp set to stamp on the Silver & Gold DSP.
TOP TIP – use your Stamparatus to stamp large background stamps like this one.
This sparkly Silver & Gold DSP works really well with the gorgeous sentiment stamp I’ve used from the “Very Best Occasions” stamp set. I love this sentiment – bring on the sparkle and banish the stress of Christmas, I say!
I’ve used two of the new 2022-24 In Colours for my cards today – Parakeet Party paired with silver foil and Sweet Sorbet paired with gold foil.
I used a paper trimmer to cut out the gold embossed sentiment, adding red rhinestones as holly berries to the sentiment.
The gold frame is created using the largest and third largest stitched rectangle dies, with the stamped DSP die cut out with the second largest stitched rectangle die.
While I layered the gold frame behind the DSP for the Sweet Sorbet card, I decided to place the silver frame over the top of the stamped DSP for the Parakeet Party card.
The sentiment for the Parakeet Party card was die cut using layering circle dies and Rhinestone Basic Jewels embellish the sentiment.
I know which card I like the best, but I’m curious to find out which variation you prefer? Do you think this design is too modern and graphic for Christmas cards?
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Rachel Woollard – I can’t wait to see what Rachel has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants on Sharon‘s blog. Sharon Davern is the host of our Heart of Christmas blog hop this year – thank you so much Sharon!!
Welcome to week fourteen of our Art With Heart 2022-23 Colour Creations blog hop! This is a weekly blog hop where we showcase the stunning range of Stampin’ Up! colours in alphabetical order over 12 months and this week we are featuring Coastal Cabana.
A special friend deserves a special card, especially if they are a crafter. My special friend, Jenny, celebrates her birthday this week and guess what? She owns a vintage caravan, has two dogs and lives by the sea.
Sadly, her corporate job does not allow much time for Jen to craft anymore, but I know she will enjoy receiving this side step birthday card that includes and celebrates many of her favourite things!
Coastal Cabana is also one of Jenny’s favourite colours and it features on her caravan, so I used the Tree Lot Dies to recreate Sylvia, her vintage caravan, in silver foil, Coastal Cabana and Basic Black, decorated with a Bermuda Bay bunting!
If you’re still thinking about getting these free (with any order over $180), adorable Sale-a-bration dies, run, don’t walk! They have already sold out in other countries and there’s only 4 weeks left of sale-a-bration!
There are 24 dies in total in the Tree Lots Die set, and yes, I’m including a set of these dies as part of Jen’s birthday present. Hopefully they will inspire her to craft again as I really miss crafting with her!
The sky background has been created using Tahitian Tide ink applied with a blending brush – the clouds are from the “Give it a Whirl” Dies.
The sand hills are cut with the Basic Borders dies, while the palm trees, grass and the sun are all die cut using the Palms Dies.
Why didn’t I use Sahara Sand for the sandhills? Fun fact – the beach where Jenny lives actually has a dark and coarse sand that it is closer in colour to Crumb Cake than it is to Sahara Sand.
If you’d like to create a side step card yourself, here is the step-by-step metric template I designed last year to minimise waste so you can make two side step cards per A4 sheet of cardstock.
Side Step card template
Please note – for tonight’s card I have changed one of the measurements on my template below.
Instead of measuring in 8 cm from one side, I measured in 10 cm to allow enough room for my caravan and palm trees. All of the other measurements are the same as below.
Measure in 10 cm from the left (or 8 cm as per the template above) on the 14.8 cm side of your card base and draw a pencil line from top to bottom.
Along this pencil line, measure down 4.5cm from the top of the card stock and measure up 2.5 cm from the base of the card stock. The solid line in between these 2 measurements is your only cutting line for this card – I’ve marked this as a solid black line in my template.
Cut along this solid line, being very careful not to cut above or below this line.
All the other dotted lines are fold lines – measure and score these with your paper trimmer.
Once you’ve scored these lines, rub out the pencil mark along your cut line and fold the score lines. Your card base is now ready to decorate.
Here’s another look what my vintage caravan side step card looks like from the side. It folds flat to fit into a standard C6 Envelope for posting.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Tina Gillespie – I can’t wait to see what Tina has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
Welcome to Bronwyn’s fifth Birthday Blog hop! You might have come to my blog from Nikki Spencer.
We’re a group of stamping friends who are celebrating Bron’s 60th Birthday in 2022 with six blog hops, over six months, with six fun themes! Tonight we are sharing fancy folds, a style of cardamking which Bronwyn specialises in!
My card tonight is a very simple fancy fold, but it was just perfect for the stamp set I am using – the “Vintage Tools” stamp set. I made this card for my father’s birthday last month.
My dad is an incredible woodworker and craftsman and when my parents downsized homes I was lucky enough to inherit some of his vintage tools – many of these tools originally belonged to my grandfather.
So you can see why I decided to make a pop-up tool bench.
I got the idea for the paper shavings on the front of the card from an overseas Stampin ‘Up Demonstrator called Robin Broome, whose husband is a professional woodworker.
These paper curls are so cool and I love how they make the front of the card 3D too!
The textured wood on the front of the card is created by wiping the top inside section of the Timber Embossing Folder with Early Espresso ink before using it to emboss Crumb Cake cardstock. Once the cardstock is embossed, run the embossing folder under water to clean.
The pegboard is created using the Dots & Spots Die, aged with some Soft Suede ink blended onto the Basic White card stock with a blending brush.
All of the tools, both inside and out, have been coloured using Soft Suede Stampin’ Blends and then fussy cut with paper snips.
To reinforce the legs of the tool bench I added an extra strip of cardstock under the legs.
The tool bench drawer is die cut with the Stitched Rectangle die and the handles are Matte Black dots.
Here’s what it looks like from above when popped up!
I love creating very personalised cards for my family and friends.
Next up on Bronwyn’s Birthday Blog hop is my friend Andrea Sargent. I can’t wait to see what Andrea has created today! If you get lost or a link is broken, the birthday girl, Bronwyn, has a list of all the participants on her blog.
