Heart of Christmas

Hi there

Welcome to the Heart of Christmas showcase for September. The year is rapidly disappearing, so it is definitely time to get your holiday gifts and cards happening!  I'm hosting the talented ladies from the Art with Heart team who have fabulous projects to get you inspired. Make sure you follow the links at the bottom of the post to see what they have created and give them some comment love.

I've got something a little bit different this month with a 'slimline' card. These cards are tall and narrow and are quite 'in vogue' at the moment. You can make them any size you like, but mine is a standard DL size (9.9cm x 21cm or 3 7/8" x 8 1/4") to fit into a DL size envelope (11cm x 22cm). These are the same size as a standard business envelope in Australia and don't incur any extra postage. 

I have chosen a very traditional colour combo of Shaded Spruce, Real Red and Brushed Metallics. I started by dry embossing the Real Red panel with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder and adhering to a Brushed Gold mat, leaving a narrow border. The panel was then adhered to a Shaded Spruce card base, leaving a wide border to help balance out the red.  

I die cut lots of leaves from Shaded Spruce and Just Jade card stock and the different sizes of bells from Brushed Gold and Brushed Copper foil. These are all from the Sounds Of The Season Dies. These dies a very reasonably priced at $37.00AUD and while there is the coordinating Cherish The Season stamp set, the dies can definitely stand alone. You can see in this photo, all of the lovely embossed and die cut details in the bells. You can pop out the holly leaves and berries to colour them with Stampin' Blends alcohol markers or replace them with the same pieces cut from card stock. I decided to leave mine as is for this card, but either way, you will need to place some tape behind the die cuts so the pieces don't fall out. I stamped the lovely greeting from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set in Shaded Spruce ink onto Very Vanilla card stock to create the flagged banner. You can see that I have used a bone folder to give some extra dimension to the banner, rather than leaving it flat. My chief critic preferred a Shaded Spruce banner with the greeting heat embossed in white, but I thought the vanilla gave it more pop and worked better with the bow.

For the inside, I have the same size border as the front and a Real Red mat for my Very Vanilla writing panel. I have stamped the greeting from the Wrapped in Christmas stamp set in Shaded Spruce ink and finished with a couple of the smaller bells in the corner.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Poinsettia Petals, Wrapped in Christmas
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Shaded Spruce, Real Red, Just Jade, Brushed Metallics Foil
Ink	Shaded Spruce
Accessories	Vanilla/Gold Metallic Edge ribbon, Gold Glitter Enamel Dots
Tools	Sounds of the Season Die, Subtle 3D EF,  Big Shot, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Tombow Glue

 

Here are the links for the ladies participating this month. I can't wait to see their lovely creations and I'm sure you will find them all very inspiring.

Catherine Proctor

Rachel Woollard

Tina Gillespie

Sue Madex

Kate Morgan

Rachel Palmieri

Theresa Gerrard

Michele Taylor

Kimberley Hern

Christine Blain

Vicki Boucher

Diane Furniss

Sharon Davern

Caroline Manwaring

Andrea Sargent

Thanks for visiting me today!