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...

joyful and stuffed

Back with more fun using the Joyful stamp set from STAMPlorations. This time I played with the stocking image.

I absolutely loved hanging a stocking by the fireplace as a kid. And teen. And college student home on break. Yep. I would save it for last on Christmas morning, take it off its hook, sit on the floor and carefully inspect what was inside. "Santa" wrapped all the little goodies individually. And there was always a gorgeous apple and orange. I know now, that that was probably a leftover from the European heritage. (We here celebrate St. Nicholas  on December 6. Kids leave clean boots by the door the night before and get oranges and nuts and chocolates in them, if they were good,  then next morning.) Or it was a good way to fill a lot of space in the stocking for little money (speaking now as an experienced Mom ;) Tangent.

How about a card? Let me start by saying I took  Colour Q #266 as an inspiration. I think it's pretty obvious.

Creme cardbase with a strip of embossed brick wall, cuz, well, our fireplace was brick! A slew of stockings strung, cuz, well, I always wished for brothers and sisters. And polka dots stamped onto the center portions, cuz, well, who doesn't love polka dots?!?! Decided to string up my sentiment too after stamping it in multi tones.

And now for something completely different. And my Dad would say "it's not a Christmas card", but hey, I was inspired by this photo from Crazy for CAS #57. Notice the poufs.

Oh Blogger, how thou doth ruin photos...

I was obviously smitten with the yellow fabric. I liked the pink and a touch of blue so wanted to carry that out on my card. And the frames are a nod to the prints hanging on the wall. Even stamped a floral BG onto the pink frame in a nod to the middle sofa pillow.

I heat embossed the stocking, partially masked and polka-dotted it before masking it and the square to heat emboss the trellis pattern. Watercolored both. The thin pink frame is stamped, the other die cut. The neon fragments on the one pom pom could have should have been done without ;) And I should have included a pooch somewhere, maybe peeking out of the stocking!

I'm hooking up at:

Stamping Sensations - Christmas Stamping

Case this Sketch #99

AAA Cards - Watercolor

Hope you enjoyed. CU tomorrow.

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