The Heart of Christmas – Week 6

Hi there

Welcome to week 6 of Christmas inspiration from the Art with Heart Stampin' Up! team. This has been a topsy-turvy week and the card I have to share with you was originally made for Sunday's CASE-ing the Catty 'Holidays' section. However, before I could take the photos and finalise the post I had an unexpected stay in hospital and it didn't happen.  It is now Tuesday and I'm thankfully back home resting and able to write this post and share the Christmas card I made.

As you would expect then, my card is inspired by one in the new Annual Catalogue (top of page 112), but I've changed it up from a snowy looking daytime scene to a night sky with lots of sparkly bling. I generally pair black and gold with white, but this time I've gone with Vanilla. I like the soft and elegant feel it lends to my card.

To start, I cut the top frame in thick Very Vanilla using the largest of the square framelits from the Layering Squares. The black background was cut the same size as the top frame and I stamped the stars from the 'Christmas Pines' set  in Versamark and then embossed them in gold. I added 1/8" foam strips around the edge of the black background and then arranged 3 die cut ovals from the Stitched Shapes Framelits in Gold Glimmer, Gold Foil and Very Vanilla within the frame, to create the hills. The tree from the 'Merry Mistletoe' stamp set was stamped multiple times in Garden Green onto Wild Wasabi card stock and then fussy cut. I played around with the positioning of the trees; some are popped up and others popped behind the hills. I added more of the foam strips around the inside edges of the opening on the Vanilla frame so that it has the look of a shadow box and stays firm and doesn't collapse. You can see more of the details in this closeup.

Once the shadow box was finished, I added the lovely vanilla and gold Metallic-Edge ribbon and then mounted the panel on the Gold Foil covered Very Vanilla base card.  The greeting on the front is from the 'Star of Light' stamp set and I heat embossed it in gold, added a frame of  Gold Foil and mounted it to the front of the card. I added some small gold metallic enamel dots to finish the greeting label and a gold star to the tree at the front.

For the inside I have gold embossed the greeting from the 'Merry Mistletoe' stamp set in the centre. At the base I have stamped a tree directly onto the writing panel before adding more of the vanilla and gold Metallic-Edge ribbon and popping up a stamped and fussy cut tree nearby.

Finally, here is a view from the top, but it doesn't do the gold bling justice.

All of the products used in this card are now available in my Online Store. Click on the product links below.

Project Details
Stamps	Merry Mistletoe, Star of Light, Christmas Pines
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, Gold Glimmer, Gold Foil
Ink	Garden Green, Versamark
Accessories	Vanilla & gold Metallic-Edge ribbon, Metallic Enamel Shapes
Tools	Layering Squares Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Big Shot, Gold EP, Heat gun, Dimensionals,Glue dots

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 visiting today and remember to make the most of every moment!

Product List

Merry Mistletoe Clear-Mount Stamp Set [143655] $33.00	Star Of Light Photopolymer Stamp Set [142110] $45.00	Christmas Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set [142049] $61.00
Layering Squares Framelits Dies [141708] $58.00	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] $50.00	Gold Foil Sheets [132622] $7.00
Gold Glimmer Paper [133719] $8.75	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock [144238] $12.25	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock [111850] $14.00
Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $14.00	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder [109129] $8.75	Versamark Pad [102283] $15.00
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [126973] $11.50	Metallic Enamel Shapes [141678] $12.25	Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Metallic-Edge Ribbon [144146] $12.25