joyful and berried

Having tons of fun with the wreath image from the Joyful stamp set from STAMPlorations today. One Christmas card, one non-Christmas card.

I had an idea for wreaths dangling on twine in front of a wood wall - this is what happened.

I tweaked the wreaths, stamping them and then die cutting them with a Spellbinders inverted scallop circle and a normal circle in the middle to make them fit my design better. Put them on a wood wall. And dangled a sentiment. Oh, and a couple of pine cones die cut from chocolate brown Add a Little Dazzle metal sheets for added interest.

I just love all the berries in the image. I colored some of them with a red Sharpie and a few with a gold metallic pen. Added a heat embossed sentiment in gold too. I love the pizazz the gold brings to the rustic card.

I'm hooking up at:

Stamping Sensations - Simply Christmas
Festive Friday #44

Now for the non-Christmas wreath. You may have seen this card. Well today's is a distant cousin. I'm going to use it as a November birthday card.

Started by stamping the wreath with Antique Linen Distress Ink and then filling it all in with watercolors. When I was happy with the oranges and yellows, I second-generation stamped the wreath with brown. Then I spritzed it with water/Perfect Pearls and tore it out. I didn't want the stark, neatly cut edges and thought tearing it while wet would yield softer ones. I like the result.

Then I die cut the PTI Art Deco frame and lightly stamped the wreath three times offset. Splattered with Heidi Swapp gold and adhered the frames to a kraft base, popping the middle panel and then the wreath on top of that. Added a gold embossed sentiment on vellum and "berried" it with a few gems.

Another example of how a few gold splatters can really add some pop to a generally rustic card.

I'm joining the fun at:
Time Out #18

Virginia's View - Metallic (both cards)

Thanks for looking. CU tomorrow. And heads up - next week the STAMPlorations DT is hopping using the stamp sets from the new release (graphic in my sidebar). Be sure to come back for that too. Fun stamps. Great prizes to be had as always. And there may even be a special guest to delight you...