Heart Of Christmas Week 17

 Hi!

Welcome to the final Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop for 2023. I haven't been able to participate as often as I have in previous years, but I was determined that I wouldn't miss the final week. I've missed not hopping each week, but life had other things in store for me.

This week I've used the April 2022 Sheetload of Cards template for my cards. I was determined to fussy cut some of the animals from the Beary Christmas DSP, and the layout of the card was chosen to suit. I think that this polar bear and bunny are adorable!

The cards have a shortened front, so that the snowflake DSP does double duty. An economical way to decorate both the front and the inside of your card. As a bonus economy, the trimmed section from the card base was used to matt the sentiment panel on the front of the card.

Here's my two cards together. I used my Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiments. It's certainly been a favourite sentiment set for Christmas for me.

I hope that you've enjoyed this series of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops as much as I have. Sharon Davern has done a wonderful job of keeping us all organised along the way. Thanks, Sharon!

It's not quite over yet, though! Please keep on hopping around the blogs until you get back to your starting point. The next stop on the way is my lovely friend, Kathryn Mangelsdorf.

For one last time, if you run into issues with links tonight, jump on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She'll have a list of all tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 11

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for the eleventh week of the Heart Of Christmas blog hops. We are inching ever closer to Christmas! I'm enjoying the inspiration I get from doing the hops each week, and I hope that you are too.

Today I have a pair of cards for you, made using the August 2022 Sheetload Of Cards template. I wanted to use my Joy To You stamp set, and this was a template that I thought suited the large format of the sentiments.

I used a strip of the presents DSP from the Beary Christmas DSP pack on the inside of my card, and as I type my blog post, I notice that I've glued this one down upside down. Oops! Hopefully the recipient won't notice!

Here's my pair of cards together. I matted the sentiment on the more purple-ish of the Silver Foils, which looks quite blue against the blues in the papers. I like the subtle touch of shimmer.

My lovely friend, Kate Morgan, is bound to have something wonderful for you to see, so don't miss out. Just click the next button to jump over to her blog.

If you run into any issues, pop on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She's our wonderful hostess, and will have a list of all of tonight's hoppers to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 10

 Hi!

Thanks for joining me for another Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. We are up to Week 10, can you believe? We are creeping ever closer to Christmas. Hopefully you've been inspired to start your Christmas crafting along with us, so it's not such a rush at the end.

My card this week uses the June 2019 Sheetload Of Cards, which I think was the first one ever. I thought that it was a great way to show off the different papers from the Beary Christmas DSP pack.

I used my Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiments, and the coordinating Labels Aglow Dies on the front of the card.

I made two cards, and constructed both of them slightly differently. The sentiment placement was to suit the DSP on each card, as I didn't want to cover up the polar bears. The longer Real Red label on the right side card was because I was worried that the one on the left was too short. Which do you prefer?

Please continue your way around our Blog Hop tonight - there's lots more Christmassy inspiration to be found. My lovely friend, Judy May, makes gorgeous Christmas cards!

Hopefully all tonight's links are working as they should for you, but if you do run into a problem please pop on over to Sharon Davern's blog. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 9

 Hi!

Welcome to Week 9 of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I was a bit lacking in inspiration when I made my cards, so I once again looked to the Sheetload Of Cards templates to give me a boost. I chose to use the February 2022 sketch, as I thought that it was the one that suited my new stamp set the best.

More Wishes was near the top of my must-have list when I first saw the new Mini Catalogue. I love the two different fonts, although I've only used one on my card this time. I also love that the words in the stamp set can be mixed and matched.

I also love that it coordinates perfectly with Biggest Wish - but do you expect any different from Stampin' Up!? In this case, the word 'happy' was borrowed from Biggest Wish to make my sentiment for the inside of the card.

I made two cards again this week, to help boost my stash. The DSP is Beary Christmas, my favourite of this year's offerings. I also pulled out my Silver Metallic Enamel Effects. I just dotted it a few times on the front of each card.

That's all from me for tonight, but please keep making your way around all of the blogs. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Christine Blain.

As ever, the wonderful Sharon Davern keeps us all organised, so if you run into any issues with links, just pop on over to her blog. She'll have a list of all participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

Heart Of Christmas Week 7

 Hi!

Welcome to the seventh week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I finally have some new stuff, so I was excited to play along this week.

How gorgeous is the Beary Christmas DSP? It really doesn't need much else, so I used the May 2023 Sheetload Of Cards to show off as much of the paper as possible. I paired it with the new Joy To You stamp set for the sentiment.

As I used the More Dazzling paper on the front, I also used a small strip on the inside. I changed my stamp set to Brightest Glow, as I didn't want to put a big sentiment on the inside of the card.

I've decided to make only two cards each time using the Sheetload templates. I was in the enviable position of having too many cards last year, so I don't need to make as many this year. You can see hat I varied the position of the sentiment panel, mostly to try not to cover too many of the polar bears.

That's all from me for tonight, but please do keep going around the blog hop until you get back to where you started. The next stop along the way is my lovely friend, Kate Morgan.

If you run into any issues with links, just pop on over to the wonderful Sharon Davern's blog. She will have a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 22

 Hi!

Welcome back for the final Heart Of Christmas blog hop for 2022. I can't believe we are so close to Christmas! I've made 88 cards for the blog hops this year, just by using the Sheetload Of Cards templates to make four cards each week. It's a stress free way to quickly build a decent stash!

Tonight's cards are made using the October 2019 Sheetload Of Cards template. The front of the card is folded back on itself to make a nice and easy fancy fold. The red Spruced Up Outlines bauble is a left over from another set of cards. I had planned to heat emboss the sentiment in white on the front, but I got lazy. I was just about to stamp directly on the first bauble, when I noticed that the baubles on the DSP had a circle feature. Bingo!

Speaking of the DSP, it's from the gorgeous Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack. I've used it so much this year - I especially love the black design that I've used on the inside of my cards. The colourful Christmassy images really pop against the black.

The sentiments are from Brightest Glow. I chose scripty fonts so that I didn't have to worry too much about stamping straight - they look perfectly fine on a slight angle!

Thanks again for joining us for the blog hops this year. I hope that you've found lots of Christmas inspiration and have made a good head start on your stash of cards. The next stop in our final blog hop is my lovely friend, Michele Taylor. I wonder if she'll have another of her gorgeous wreath cards for us?

If you run into any problems with links as you hop your way around the blogs tonight, please pop on over to the wonderful Sharon Davern's blog. She deserves a huge thanks for all she's done to organise the hops and keep them running smoothly. Thanks, Sharon!

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 21

 Hi!

Welcome back to the 21st, and second last, week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. I'm still a little in disbelief that Christmas is so close, but at least I have more than enough cards ready to write on and send out. If only I was so organised with my Christmas shopping!

This week's Sheetload Of Cards template is from January 2020. I was looking for a super quick and easy sketch for tonight's cards. I had two half hour windows today in which to get them made, and I was successful in my aims. 

I was really pleased with this inside of my cards. I liked just the antlers as a hint of what was stamped on the front of the card. Usually I'd stamp the whole penguin, but just a tease is nice, too.

I was going for a snowy look to the card. Hopefully the paper on the bottom, from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP, looks like snowy hills for the penguins to frolic amongst. Either way, it's a super-cute set of cards.

Thanks again for joining me, and I hop to see you again next week for the final blog hop. In the meantime though, there's plenty more inspiration to be seen on tonight's blog hop, so please jump on over to Christine Blain's blog, where she's no doubt made a gorgeous card for us to see.

As always, the lovely Sharon Davern has done a wonderful job of keeping all of the HOC hoppers organised. If you run into any issues with links, please jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants with the correct links.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 20

 Hi!

Yay! It's time for the new Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. Week 20 of the hops means that I've made 80 cards ready for sending in December. Woo hoo!

This week, I used the December 2021 Sheetload Of Cards template. I simplified it a little, by leaving off a second layer that went under the main panel. I thought that this allowed the simple Lights Aglow DSP that frames the sentiment to shine.

I used the coordinating Brightest Glow stamp set for the sentiments on my card.

I've made good use of my Lights Aglow SDSP, so sometimes it's a struggle to find four matching pieces of DSP left in the pack. Both these patterns are Evening Evergreen/Soft Succulent papers, which provide a lovely, soft Christmas card. I think I prefer the sparkly paper over the bokeh version. How about you?

The next stop on tonight's blog hop is my lovely friend, Catherine Proctor. She's bound to have some Christmas gorgeousness for us to see!

A big thanks to Sharon Davern for keeping us all organised each week. She can help you too, if you run into a problem with any links. Just pop on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of tonight's participants to help get you back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 19

 Hi!

Welcome back to a new Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop. we are definitely on the home stretch now! The latest Sheetload Of Cards template was released a week ago, so that's what I decided to use for my cards this week.

I haven't used the gorgeous Lights Aglow SDSP for a while, so it was well past time to pull it back our for my cards this week. The Sheetload template was for a split front card, and with some clever cutting I was able to use just three sheets of DSP to create my four cards.

Here's a little tip for making sure that the decorated parts of the inside are hidden behind the joining piece of the front - I laid the outline of the bauble from the Spruced Up Outlines dies face down on the joining section, after first removing the lining sheet from the Adhesive sheet. If you forget to use the Adhesive sheet, be sure to add some glue. Then close the card so that the outline adheres to the inside of the card. Done!

I stamped my sentiment, from the coordinating Brightest Glow stamp set, inside the bauble to ensure that it can't be seen when the card is closed.

Don't the Gold Glimmer baubles on the fronts of the cards look fantastic? I used some retired Mint Macaron Glimmer paper for the tops of the baubles. If you squint a bit, it looks like Soft Succulent!

Thanks for joining me, but please keep hopping around to the rest of the team, starting with my lovely friend, Christine Blain.

As ever, the wonderful Sharon Davern keeps us all organised for the blog hops, so please head on over to her blog is you run into any issues with tonight's links. She'll have a list of all participants on her blog.

Bye for now,

Tina

HOC Week 18

 Hi!

Welcome back for another week of the Heart Of Christmas Blog Hops. We are up to Week 18, can you believe? Tomorrow it will be November!

I used the March 2021 Sheetload Of Cards template this week. I liked the simple design and thought that it would work well with the tree paper from the Celebrate Everything Host DSP pack.

I liked the rounded corners on the front of the card, and couldn't resist carrying it over to the inside of my card. The outline portion of the tree was also used - I can't bear to waste the extra bits, especially when they can be put to good use on the inside.

The circle dies from the Stylish Shapes pack were the perfect choice to frame the Christmas To Remember sentiment. There's another four cards added to the stash!

That's me finished for tonight, but please do continue your way around our blog hop. There's plenty more Christmas inspiration to be seen, starting with the fabulous Cathy Proctor.

As she does every week, Sharon Davern has done a marvellous job keeping us all organised this week. If you run into any problems with links, just jump on over to her blog, where you'll find a list of all of this week's participants to help you get back on track.

Bye for now,

Tina