The #30DayChristmasCardMakingChallenge is a global challenge hosted by UK Artisan Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, Martin Stone, and the challenge for Day 1 is “Shining Bright”.
I’ve taken today’s challenge very literally, creating a Night of Navy and Gold card that uses the Shining Brightly Specialty Designer Series Paper, Adhesive Backed star trinkets, Alphabet a la Mode dies and the Merry & Bright dies.
The ‘Shining Bright’ sentiment was die cut using an exciting new online only product, Silver & Gold 12″ x 12″ (30.5 x 30.5 cm) Adhesive-backed Glimmer Paper. As soon as I die cut the letters out they became repositionable stickers – what a game changer!
The stars were die cut from gold foil that had first been attached to an adhesive sheet. No mess and no fuss!
Instead of the letter ‘I’ in ‘Bright’ I die cut one of the Christmas light bulbs from gold foil, adding a Night of Navy filament.
Adhesive Backed star trinkets add dimension to all three gold stars.
I’ll be back tonight with a Granny apple Green card for our Art With Heart Colour Creations blog, then I have another card to share with you for Day 2 of the 30 Day Christmas Card Making Challenge.
Wherever you are in the world, keep on crafting xxx
Welcome to week twenty six of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop!
This week we are showcasing Gorgeous Grape, a vibrant purple colour that is now in the regals family, however I still consider it to be a bright! I’ve made a watercolour Christmas card that pairs Gorgeous Grape with Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky.
Watercolor backgrounds are so easy to make and even though they come out differently every time you really can’t make a mistake with watercolour. Well, that’s what I like to tell myself, anyway.
Adhere a torn strip of Stampin’ Up masking paper to the bottom section of a sheet of Fluid 100 watercolour paper and then use the widest water painter brush to cover the watercolour paper with water.
Once the paper is all wet, colour it in with Gorgeous Grape, Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky from top to bottom. Use a heat tool to dry the water coloured background.
Stamp trees from the Forever Forest stamp set in Starry Sky and splatter some Whisper White Craft Stampin’ Ink Refill (diluted with water) before carefully removing the masking paper to reveal the snowy landscape.
The ‘joy & peace’ sentiment is from the Night Divine stamp set and the moon and star images are from The Forever Forest stamp set, both stamped in Starry Sky.
Tiny white snowflakes from the Adhesive-Backed Snowflake Assortment complete the front of the card.
I stamped another tree on the left in Starry Sky once I trimmed the card front to fit on the card base – I forgot the watercolour paper is a lot wider than our metric card bases.
The Starry Sky cardstock layer behind the water coloured card front really makes the Gorgeous Grape water coloured section of the sky stand out.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Rachel Palmieri – 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 twenty five of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop!
This week we are showcasing Garden Green and I’ve made some cards using a stunning new online exclusive designer series paper called the Wandering Meadows DSP, which was hand drawn by one of the Stampin’ Up! artists using pastels. It will be available to order from 7 November.
My three cards are CASED on some gorgeous fancy folds that also use this new DSP, made by US demonstrator Patty Bennett.
I’ve altered Patty’s card dimensions to fit our A4 metric card base sizes and altered her designs to use another online exclusive product, the Heartfelt Hexagon Bundle.
Card one is a gatefold card that uses the Wandering Meadows DSP both on the outside and the inside of the card. The card base is half a sheet of Garden Green A4 cardstock, scored at 5.25 cm from each side and folded inwards.
The DSP panels on the front and the inside of the side flaps measure 14.4 x 4.9 cm and the white card insert measures 14.4 x 10 cm.
Card two is a side fold card that can be used vertically or horizontally depending on the orientation of the DSP. The card base is half a sheet of Garden Green A4 cardstock, scored and folded at 9cm. The DSP front panel is 8.7 x 14.4 cm and the DSP side panel is 2.7 x 14.4 cm.
The white card insert measures 9.5 x 14.4 cm.
Card three is a triptych card with a Highland Heather cardstock base. Half a sheet of A4 cardstock has been scored and folded at 10.5 cm and 15.7 cm. The three DSP panels and the inside white cardstock panel each measure 4.9 x 14.4 cm.
As well as the sentiment stamped inside the card, I’ve also staped a sentiment directly onto the DSP on the front panel. I love the subtle effect of stamping on DSP.
The card is secured shut with some Garden Green twine from the Three Twine Combo Pack – this is a retired product but currently available in the clearance rack.
I hope my fancy folds have helped to showcase the beauty of this DSP – you really don’t have to do much to these amazing scenes. Do you have a favourite card?
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Christine Blain – I can’t wait to see what Christine has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
Your Christmas countdown continues – it’s exactly 10 weeks today until Christmas Day!
I’ve been missing in action the past few weeks, so I’m super excited to be back this week with a couple of super quick and easy ‘no stamping’ cards that use the Beary Christmas Memories & More Card Pack.
At just $17.50 for 54 cards the Beary Christmas Memories & More Card Pack is a simple, affordable and easy way to get crafting this Christmas season!
Card one could not be simpler. I made two horizontal cuts across this adorable image of the polar bear family relaxing on ice platforms and icebergs.
I attached the three strips onto a Memories and More card base, leaving a narrow space between strips and flipping the top panel over to create a sky full of snowflakes.
To add extra sparkle I added some Adhesive-Backed Glitter Sequins – these are my fave embellishments. This card was completed in a matter of minutes!
Card two uses the Beary Christmas Memories & More Card Pack as well as a brand new online exclusive product, the Heartfelt Hexagon Punch.
As soon as I received this punch I knew it would be the perfect shape to create an ornament card!
The centre of the card is a smaller Memories & More Card, with the reverse side of the same Memories & More Card attached to the top and the bottom of the card.
The “For you” sentiment is a sticker form the sticker sheets also included in the Memories & More Card.
I could have used several different ribbons to create the ornament hanger and bow, however I settled on the Night of Navy 3/8″ (1 cm) Bordered Ribbon, cut in half lengthways for the bow tied with the silver metallic Simply Elegant Trim as well.
I love this colour combination of different blues/silver/white, as well as how quick and easy these cards were to create!
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Theresa Gerrard I can’t wait to see what Theresa has made this week.
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants on Sharon Davern‘s blog. Sharon does an amazing job hosting our Christmas blog every year.
Welcome to week twenty four of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop! This week we are showcasing Fresh Freesia, one of my favourite Stampin’ Up! colours. Fresh Freesia was originally an In Colour, however this year it was added to the subtles family in the core colour range.
Did you take part in the World Card Making Day last Saturday? I was away for the weekend so I took some basic supplies with me so I could craft along at the event, adapting the card designs Stampin’ Up! supplied to make Fresh Freesia cards instead.
This is the first card design for the event, supplied by Stampin’ Up! It uses the brush tip end of the new Stampin’ Write Markers to create a striped background, and the Circle Sayings bundle with circle punch.
I stuck fairly close to the design of this card, swapping out the original colours for Fresh Freesia and Misty Moonlight instead.
My two-tone striped background was created using Fresh Freesia and Misty Moonlight Stampin’ Write Markers.
I also added a hand stamped and hand coloured inside layer to my card.
The second card created by Stampin’ up! uses the Earthen Elegance bundle, with elements of the card that needed to be die cut with a Cut & Emboss Machine.
Guess what? Although I packed my Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine, I actually hadn’t packed the clear die cutting plates. What I thought was a new set of die cutting plates turned out to only be the base plate and the embossing plates!
Luckily, I had packed the new Delightful Floral 12″ x 12″ (30.5 x 30.5 cm) Designer Series Paper, so I fussy cut flowers from the DSP to make my own version of the card.
For the long oval shaped sentiment and the two panels behind the flowers I traced around the large vase die with a pencil and then fussy cut it out to create the same layout as the original card.
The gorgoeus embellishments on both these cards are the Fresh Freesia and Misty Moonlight gems from the Tinsel Gems Three-Pack.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Kate Morgan – I can’t wait to see what Kate 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 twenty three of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop! This week we are showcasing Flirty Flamingo, a bright pink colour from the brights family.
I’ve taken my colour combination inspiration this week from this gorgeous sheet of Les Shoppes Designer Series Paper. The colours in this sheet of DSP are Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo, Night of Navy and Basic White.
A fancy fold is often a wonderful way to use Designer Series Paper so I’ve created an Interlocking Accordion Card, following a template created by Lisa Curico from the USA.
You can find the instructions on how to make this card on Lisa’s YouTube channel and she also has a template with all the measurements here. I’ve used Lisa’s measurements, but made a totally different looking card by using a different DSP, different colours, different dies and not having any stamping on my card.
Here’s a short video to show you how this fancy fold opens up – for some reason the video is upside down and it won’t flip around for me tonight no matter how hard I try, however as there is no stamping on this card it’s not really a big deal.
This card also stands up for display really well – here’s what it looks like opened up for display.
Apart from adding a couple of leftover Paper Florist die cuts, I’ve left the first and last inside panels blank to allow room to stamp a sentiment on the first one and write a message to the recipient on the last panel.
Here’s what it looks like from above so you can see the way the inner card folds into and interlocks with the outer card.
The Countryside Corners dies were used to decorate the front of the card as well as to cut out the holes in the outside card so that the smaller inside card can thread through.
To match the colours in the DSP, I’ve used both the Countryside Corners Dies and the Paper Florist dies to die cut Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo and Night of Navy cardstock and decorate the front of the card.
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 week twenty two of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop! This week we are showcasing Early Espresso, a a rich dark brown from the neutrals family.
Early Espresso is a wonderful neutral that really makes other colours pop. It’s also fabulous for wood and nature themed cards, like the Christmas card I’ve made for this week’s hop.
The bird and the branch stamp are from the “Perched in a Tree” stamp set, stamped in Early Espresso ink as is the “Let Heaven and Nature Sing ” sentiment. With this sentiment I just had to use the Merry Melody embossing folder too!
The bird and tree trunk were then die cut using the coordinating Aspen Tree Dies.
I coloured the bird and the tree branch using watercolour pencils, then blended the colouring in with a blender pen to make the colours smooth.
The Old Olive cardstock foliage is created using one section of the Christmas Pinecone Dies and the final touches are a bow of linen thread and a few music notes from the Loose Holly Gems & Sequins.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Kate Morgan – I can’t wait to see what Kate has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
Your Christmas countdown continues – it’s exactly three months or 13 weeks today until Christmas Day!
This week’s Christmas card is a fancy fold card – I’m not 100% sure of the name, however think it could be called a peek a boo flap card? Here’s a short video to show you how it works.
As you probably know, I love monochromatic cards. I’ve taken the colour scheme for my card from the stunning gold and Very Vanilla Shining Brightly 12″ x 12″ (30.5 x 30.5 cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper I’ve used on the front of the card and also inside it too.
The gorgeous candle image and both sentiments are all from the Radiant Light stampset.
The gold heat embossed candle image and the gold glimmer circle layer behind it are both die cut using the new Decked Circle Dies.
The Silver & Gold 12″ x 12″ (30.5 x 30.5 cm) Adhesive-backed Glimmer Paper is self adhesive and it is a brand new online only release.
Here’s what the card looks like partially opened…
Here’s what the card looks like fully opened…
The Adhesive-Backed Star Trinkets on the front tag sentiment pick up the stars in the DSP – the perfect embellishment!
It’s so hard to photograph the glorious sparkly gold elements in my card so I also took a photograph outside in my garden.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Caroline Manwaring. I can’t wait to see what Caroline 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.
I’ll be back on Wednesday with the AWH Colour Creations blog where we will be showcasing Early Espresso – I’ve made another Christmas card for Wednesday night’s blog!
Welcome to week twenty one of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop! This week we are showcasing Daffodil Delight, a sunny yellow from the Brights family.
Have you seen any of the cards that use the Construction Zone stamp set, creating a “high vis” vibe by using strips of Daffodil Delight and Basic Black cardstock? Today I’ve stepped it up by creating a “high vis” card that is also a slider card.
Here is what the slider card looks like with the slider mechanism sitting inside the card…
And here it is with the slider pulled open…
The “You’re loads of fun” sentiment from the Construction Zone stamp set was the perfect size and shape to use as the sentiment for the slider reveal. The “Happy Birthday” sentiment is from the Wanted to Say dies, cut in half to create a horizontal sentiment.
To create the “high vis” vibe is relatively simple. I adhered adhesive sheets to Daffodil Delight and Basic Black cardstock before cutting the cardstock into 1cm wide strips.
These strips were then attached on a 45 degree angle to a piece of Basic White card stock to create the front layer.
The channel for the slider mechanism was then cut out of this front layer using the longest die from the Sending Dies.
Here’s a peek at the construction process – I made up the design of this card and the mechanism as I went along so I only took one (very messy) photo of the construction stage.
One important aspect of creating a slider card is to place the top layer over the front of the card (BEFORE adhering the top layer to the card front with foam strips) and trace the die-cut channel area onto the card. This shows you exactly where to stamp the slider reveal sentiment.
This photo also shows the reverse side of the slider strip sitting between the strips of foam that line the slider channel – line the slider strip up between theses foam strips to ensure it slides smoothly but is still snug BEFORE you attach the cement truck to the front slider strip using either foam strips or dimensionals.
This short video shows the slider card in action, as well as the back of the slider strip pull mechanism.
I’ve used the arrow stamp from the Construction Zone stamp set to indicate where to pull, using a bow of Black & White 1/4″ (6.4 mm) Gingham Ribbon adhered with a black Square Brad to the slider strip, which is 1.5cm wide.
On the inside of the card I had fun playing with the other stamps from the construction Zone stamp set.
I’ve coloured the inside images and the cement mixer on the front of the card with Daffodil Delight and Smoky Slate stampin blends.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Andrea Sargent – I can’t wait to see what Andrea 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 twenty of our Art With Heart 2023-24 Colour Creations blog hop!
Crushed Curry is such a rich golden yellow, the ideal shade of yellow to use for sunflowers! I bought a bunch of glorious sunflowers this morning to give to my friend Rachel for her birthday.
This week was the perfect opportunity to make a sunflower card using the Abundant Beauty Decorative masks. I had overlooked these masks until I started seeing so many gorgeous cards made with them!
You get seven masks in this pack – four masks to create the sunflowers, one snowflake mask, an autumn leaves mask and a “David Jones” argyle patterned mask. At only $18.50, this really has to be the best value product in the entire catalogue!
The beauty of masks is that they are so simple and versatile to use.
You can add colour and texture with Embossing Paste and Palette Knives, Classic Stampin’ Ink, Blending Brushes, Sponge Daubers or trace within the mask outlines with Stampin’ Write Markers or even Watercolour Pencils.
I’ve used large and small blending brushes to add colour from my Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze and Old Olive ink pads. Notches at the top of the masks make for easy alighnment.
Using the ink already on my blending brushes, I also added a couple of sunflowers to the envelope and to the inside of the card.
The “Thank you” sentiment on the front of the card was heat embossed in white onto Basic Black cardstock.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Di Furniss – I can’t wait to see what Di has made this week!
If at any time you find a broken link, you can find the complete list of all participants below.
