The Heart of Christmas - Week 1

Hi there

Welcome to a new weekly inspiration all about Christmas, from the Art with Heart Stampin' Up! team. There are 27 weeks between now and the end of November 2017, to get your Christmas card stash ready. I'm hoping to share most weeks, so I can get my stash built up, as I got caught really short last year. The weeks just seem to fly by in the second half of the year (not sure where the first half has gone either, lol).  I hope you will be inspired to get crafty with your Christmas supplies too. We have lots of beautiful products in the new Annual Catalogue to use, plus there are lots of ways to use non-Christmas products for Christmas cards too. Enough chatting, let's get down to this week's project.

The layout of my card is in the form of a present. Doesn't this look like a wrapped gift from the top?

The base card is thick Very Vanilla card stock, which is quickly becoming a favourite and will be available in the new Catalogue from 1 June (just 1 sleep away!). I took a piece of Real Red card stock and overlaid the gold polka dot design from the Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate to create the background 'paper'. I wrapped some Natural Trim in gold around the centre horizontally and then added my embellishment of pine branches, cones and mistletoe in the centre before wrapping the ribbon vertically around the centre and tying the bow. I tucked in the flagged greeting and mounted the panel onto the base card.

 

I'm happy that the 'Christmas Pines' stamp set and coordinating Pretty Pines Thinlits dies carried over to the new Annual Catalogue as I didn't get nearly enough use from it last year. You can see some of the details more clearly in the next pic. I stamped the pine cones in Soft Suede onto Soft Suede card stock and then die cut the overlay also in Soft Suede card stock. The greeting is from the 'Star of Light' stamp set, which is another favourite carried over from last year's Holiday catalogue.

For the inside I have stamped off the pine fronds in Emerald Envy in the top right corner and added a stamped pine cone and a Gold Glimmer bow.  A narrow strip of Gold Foil at the base finishes it off.

All of the products I have used (except the thick Very Vanilla card stock) are available to purchase now from my Online Store or you can click on the product links below.

Project Details
Stamps	Christmas Pines, Star of Light
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla (thick), Real Red, Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate, Emerald Envy, Gold Foil, Soft Suede
Ink	Real Red, Emerald Envy, Soft Suede
Accessories	Natural Trim (Gold)
Tools	Pretty Pines Thinlits, Big Shot, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

I hope I've inspired you to make a start on your Christmas card stash. If you would like to see more Christmas inspiration, hop over to Claire's blog for details of the other team members who are participating this week.

Thanks for looking!

Product List

Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set [142049] $61.00	Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies [141851] $45.25	Star Of Light Photopolymer Stamp Set [142110] $45.00	Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate [141653] $21.00
Gold Foil Sheets [132622] $7.00	Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Natural Trim [141484] $12.25	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock [141420] $14.00	Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] $14.00
Soft Suede A4 Card Stock [119982] $14.00	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad [141396] $11.50	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949] $11.50	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad [126978] $11.50

Comments

[Caroline]

What a gorgeously, bright and happy card Judy. Love it! :)

[Kate Stockman]

Love your Christmas card, very nice.

[Sharon Davern]

I love your card Judy, what a fantastic idea to make it look like a gift! The inside is lovely too! just a gorgeous card!

[Rachel Woollard]

I love the present card Judy, great idea

[Christine Blain]

Oh, wow, this is beautiful, Judy! Great effect, overlaying the dotty acetate on Real Red card.

[Tina Gillespie]

If I received a gift wrapped like this, I wouldn't want to open it for fear of ruining the decorations. Love it!

[Mary Kelly]

Lovely idea Judy. Your "gift" looks super bright and cheerful.