Heart of Christmas - Country Birdhouse

Hi there

After a very hectic trip to Western Australia last week, it's great to be back for another week of Heart of Christmas. Each week, the talented ladies from the Art with Heart team will bring you inspiration for your holiday craft projects.

I've had a Christmas birdhouse card in my head since the Country Birdhouse Bundle was released and today is the day! As with all ideas it has morphed a little as a result of the upcoming products from the 2024 September - December Mini Catalogue. 

I started with a piece of Pool Party card stock and dry embossed it with the Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder and then rubbed the design over with an ink spot that I created with a Craft White reinker. Although hard to see in the photo, it really makes the design stand out on the coloured cardstock. You could do this with a full sized pad, but I find it easier to control with the ink spot and less likely to get the ink on the background. I adhered the panel to a Pool Party card base with a tiny border.

I decided on a gingerbread style bird house so I cropped the birdhouse from Pecan Pie card stock and inked the inside of the Timber 3D Embossing Folder with Pecan Pie ink before embossing, to give the timber look. In hindsight it would be best to die cut the opening before the embossing process, but it still works either way. I trimmed the bird house with red and white details to coordinate with the super cute Real Red & White Adhesive-Backed Peppermints which led me to decide on the gingerbread look. The peppermint embellishments are in the upcoming mini catalogue, available from 4 September. 

The flowers were cropped using the Country Birdhouse Dies and the foliage is cropped using the Golden Greenery Dies for the roundish Vellum leaves and the Winterly Treetops Dies for the Shaded Spruce foliage.  The sweet bird was coloured with Stampin' Blends Markers in tones to coordinate with Pecan Pie. The sentiment from the Greetings of the Season stamp set was heat embossed in white on Real Red and trimmed closely. The location isn't what I originally had in mind, but I needed to balance out the composition.

For the inside, I have a Real Red mat for the writing panel with a tiny border and I stamped another greeting from the Greetings of the Season stamp set (from Online Exclusives) in Shaded Spruce. In the corner, I have a little cluster of foliage and flowers and another coloured bird.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Country Birdhouse, Greetings of the Season
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Pecan Pie, Golden Greenery Vellum
Ink	Versamark, Shaded Spruce, Pecan Pie, Craft White
Accessories	Real Red & White Adhesive-Backed Peppermints
Tools	Country Birdhouse Dies, Golden Greenery Dies, Winterly Treetops Dies, Timber 3D EF, Snowflake Sky 3D EF, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Glue Dots, Tombow Glue, White EP, Heat Tool, Stampin' Blends Markers

 

Now it's time to hop along to see the project Claire has made for us this week.

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up, please click on the link for our host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

Thanks for visiting today!

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Take to the Sky for Father's Day

Hi there

In a few days it will be Father's Day here in Australia, so there is still time to create a handmade card for the special person in  your life. This is one of the cards we made at my August class using the Take to the Sky patterned paper. 

This is a great masculine paper with a travel/aeroplane theme. We have used the aeroplane design and Copper Clay check for this simple fancy fold card, but the layout would work well for any coordinating papers for any occasion. 

This is an Accordion Fold card, giving you a number of panels to decorate. To simplify the card I adhered the first narrow panel with the aeroplane design to the second panel so it would not need a belly band to keep it closed. I think it is less fussy for a masculine card. My husband told me that he doesn't like pieces that are separate to the card (like a belly band), so I took on board his feedback! The base card is cut from Misty Moonlight card stock which isn't a designated colour, but it blends really nicely with all the papers. The greeting from the (retired) Celebrating You stamp set was stamped in Copper Clay ink and cropped with a die from the Nested Essentials Dies. I popped it up on the next size die cut using Misty Moonlight card stock and finished with the Industrial Trinkets at each end.

On the inside of the 2nd panel, I have used another of designs to create a gift card holder at the bottom and the sentiment from the Attention Shoppers stamp set was heat embossed in white at the top. The 4th panel is for writing your message and I have stamped the greeting from the (retired) Inspired Thoughts stamp set in Copper Clay ink and the panel finishes with another strip of the areoplane design paper.

The card is also perfect for a masculine birthday and I've changed up the greeting in the image above, which is also from the (retired) Celebrating You stamp set and stamped with Copper Clay ink. I filled in the 'birthday' word with a Light Boho Blue Stampin' Blends marker.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Attention Shoppers, Celebrating You (retired), Inspired Thoughts (retired)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Misty Moonlight, Take to the Sky DSP
Ink	Copper Clay, Versamark
Accessories	Industrial Trinkets
Tools	Nested Essentials Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Tombow Glue, Glue Dots, 1 1/2" Circle Punch, White EP, Heat Tool, Light Boho Blue Stampin' Blends

 

Thanks for visiting today!

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Heart of Christmas 2024 - Reindeer Fun

Hi there

Welcome to the another week of Heart of Christmas for 2024. Each week, the talented ladies from the Art with Heart team will bring you inspiration for your holiday craft projects.

This week I am using the another new bundle from the upcoming 2024 September - December Mini Catalogue, called Reindeer Fun. I've created a simple card with the very cute reindeer that you create with the Reindeer Fun Dies.

I chose 2 designs from the Take a Bow Designer Paper, which is a 6" x 6" pack with small patterns in traditional red and green tones and separated them with a Basic White border and some of the new Natural Tones Linen Thread.

For the centrepiece I have the cute reindeer that is constructed from 3 die cuts that you layer together. I've used Early Espresso, Very Vanilla and Pecan Pie and before adhering them together I ink blended some Pretty in Pink on his ears. He has a Garden Green wreath around his neck that has been sponged for a little depth and I add some (retired) Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels. You could colour the clear Rhinestones with the Real Red Stampin' Blends marker.

I popped up the reindeer onto a Real Red circle cropped with a die from the Spotlight on Nature Dies and added it to a Basic White circle cropped with Stylish Shapes Dies. The greeting from the Reindeer Fun stamp set was stamped in Real Red on Basic White and I flagged the ends.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Reindeer Fun
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Early Espresso, Garden Green, Real Red, Take A Bow DSP, Gold Foil
Ink	Real Red, Garden Green, Pretty in Pink
Accessories	Neutrals Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Natural Tones Linen Thread
Tools	Spotlight on Nature Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Reindeer Fun Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Glue Dots, Tombow Glue

 

Now it's time to hop along to see what amazing creation Sharon has made for you us this week.

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up, please click on the link for our host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

Heart of Christmas 2024 - Winterly Tree Tops

Hi there

Welcome to the another week of Heart of Christmas for 2024. Each week, the talented ladies from the Art with Heart team will bring you inspiration for your holiday craft projects.

This week I am using the Winterly Tree Tops Bundle which arrived in my craft room late  last week in my preorder from the 2024 September - December Mini Catalogue. This is a multi-occasion bundle, but I do think it lends itself very well to holiday cards with the pretty garland and bird with a berry sprig in its mouth.

I have a Thick Basic White card base and I dry embossed a card front-sized piece of Basic White with the Snowflake Sky 3D Embossing Folder and adhered it to the card base to add some delicate texture to the background.

The garland and bird images were stamped on Basic White cardstock using Memento Tuxedo ink. The garland was coloured in shades of red and green using Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce and Real Red Stampin' Blends alcohol markers. The bird was coloured in Crumb Cake with Pumpkin Pie for the beak and legs. The foliage sprigs at the bottom were stamped in Early Espresso ink and coloured with Light Copper Clay and I added some retired Dazzling Diamonds Glitter with a glue pen for a little sparkle. 

I have combined one of my favourite Christmas colour combos of Pool Party and Real Red to ground the images. The bold 'Christmas' greeting cropped from Gold Foil and the heat embossed 'MERRY' are from the Peaceful Season Bundle also new in the September and December Mini Catalogue. I added some new Gold Textured Adhesive-Backed Dots to finish.

For the inside I have a Pool Party mat for the writing panel and have stamped and coloured the bird again, with some ink blending in the background.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Peaceful Season
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Real Red, Pool Party, Balmy Blue, Shaded Spruce, Gold Foil, Subtles 6x6 Paper Stack
Ink	Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Early Espreso, Balmy Blue
Accessories	Baker's Twine Essentials Pack, Gold Textured Adhesive-Backed Dots
Tools	Peaceful Season, Winterly Tree Tops Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Glue Dots, Tombow Glue, White EP, Heat Tool, Stampin' Blends (Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Copper Clay), Blending Brush

 

Now it's time to hop along to see what amazing creation Sharon has made for you us this week.

If at any time you find a broken link and the next blog doesn’t come up, please click on the link for our host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Shake it Up!

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week. 

If you've come from visiting Courtney, then welcome!  If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today! You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the button at the bottom of the post. 

This week we are taking inspiration from a Shaker Card from the 2024-25 Annual Catalogue. Shaker cards are fun to make and very interactive for the receiver.  You can of course use the layout, colours or other attribute from the shaker card project to CASE as well.

I chose the project above for my inspiration. It is a simple shaker card using a cellophane bag to cover the entire front of the card and to hold your sprinkles. It is a little faster to create and you don't need to cut a shape from the card front to create your shaker component. I haven't made one in this style before, so decided to give it a try.

I have used the Lily Pond Lane Designer Series Paper to create a scene for a sweet baby card.  I have only used the designer paper for my card as I don't have the coordinating stamp and die bundle. However, there are lots of cute images that are easy to fussy cut. I chose the landscape background and popped up the fussy cut ducks. I made sure there were no gaps in the Dimensionals for the Loose Frosted Dots to get caught in. The greeting is from the retired  Charming Sentiments stamp set, stamped in Pretty Peacock ink. 

The background was added to a piece of Basic White with a tiny border and then to a piece of Balmy Blue cardstock. I added the little banners at the top with the white Baker's Twine bow, which with hindsight I probably wouldn't do again, as the dots move the tails around. I popped the panel into a Clear Medium Envelope and added the Loose Frosted Dots. I found it easiest to have the dots on a small piece of paper, which I could insert into the envelope so they could slide off and mostly stay the right side up. I closed the envelope and then adhered it to a Thick Basic White card base.

For the inside, I have a wide mat of Balmy Blue for the writing panel and I have added some Balmy Blue ink blending at the bottom and a border of lily pads for the fussy cut mama duck to rest in. The greeting from Charming Sentiments was stamped in Pretty Peacock ink.

This was fun to make, but extremely difficult to photograph! I hope you will give this style of shaker card a try. You can use any clear cellophane bag and fold it over if it is a little large. 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Charming Sentiments (retired)
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Balmy Blue, Lily Pond Lane DSP, Clear Medium Envelope
Ink	Pretty Peacock
Accessories	Loose Frosted Dots, Baker's Twine Essentials Pack
Tools	Stylish Shapes Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals

 

We would love to see your CASE of a Shaker Card from the 2024-25 Annual Catalogue this week. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

You can head over to Rebecca to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store