I'm reminded when looking upon this wreath of sweet, delicious candies tucked away in stockings for the morning after following Santa's arrival. The wreath's color palette alone must to be to blame for this as it's far from traditional compared to other Christmas color arrangements. I love working with bright, saturated color, especially around the holidays. If you feel the same, then this wreath is going to be right up your alley! I'll have oodles of it to share in the next couple of weeks along with a host of savoring scrapbook techniques for you to try out on your very own holiday projects. If you'd like to re-create this wreath for yourself, well, I welcome you to do so! Even though this semi-tutorial will not include step-by-step instructions for each of the cards mentioned here, they're relatively easy to copy. For quick and easy reference, print out an image of each card and store them away in a folder or binder. Feel free to print out the suggested techniques as well! Most importantly, enjoy the presentation...it's my present to you! Happy Holidays!
The basics for creating the wreath are simple. First, find a stash of various size journaling/note cards to use as the backing for the "mini layouts" or "photo notes" you'll be adding to your wreath. Make sure to mix-it-up a little! Go big and small here! I put together a small sampling of some of the cards I'll be using on my project - peek above!
Speaking of cards, Elle's Studio is one of my prime sources for purchasing beautifully crafted card packs. The cards themselves are of a substantial weight and are available in a host of different sizes and styles. Her Christmas collections always amaze me! She recently released a bunch of new items for the upcoming season - find them here. The Elle's Studio cards I own are from last year's (note above) holiday release, though similar ones are still readily available!
After you've selected a nice size pile of cards, take a moment to rummage through the thousands (Is this an adequate guess?) of small paper/chipboard embellishments you more than likely have on hand and select and set aside those that coordinate with the color palette of your wreath. I have this cute lil' bowl sitting on my desk which is stocked heavily with misc. embellishments. I plan to add more to it in the very near future..you can never have too many embellishments as far as I'm concerned!
Hint: For practical purposes, consider storing small misc. embellishments like this in drawers coordinated by color. Keep the drawers on top your work surface and within reach. I routinely seek out small size items when working on my projects - they're absolutely necessary in my accomplishing detailed layouts.
And lastly, coordinate a nice selection of regular embellishments, pattern papers and cardstock. Just so I'm able to find them quickly, I tuck away Christmas themed scrapbook supplies in large 12"x 12"x 4" containers that are then kept under the bed during most the year. I pull them out around November when I know I'm going to use the product. Because of this, my wreath is constructed predominantly of Christmas themed items!
In not really realizing where I was going with the project after having begun it, I hadn't taken many photos while making this first card. So, with this post, I'll focus mostly on introductory stuff folks! My plan is to summarize some of my favorite features of the card and then explain in greater detail how I went about creating them!
The true highlight of this first official card resulted from a Christmas present I bought for myself not too long ago. Remember my mentioning being without a die-cut machine? Well, I ran out and bought one at the local scrapbook store a few weeks ago!! I'm finally the proud owner of a Big Shot - gosh, I sound like a newbie, don't I?! Actually, when it comes to die-cut machines, I still have much to learn. It's an industry all it's own and I know little about it! Thankfully, the machine is super easy to orchestrate and sure enough, I went out and bought a sizable selection of die-cuts as well following the "big purchase". With the help of a Spellbinder's Floral die-cut, I carefully pieced together a multi-layered flower for adding to my card. Here's what it entails:
One Large and Small Size Mint Green Felt Flower
Trimmed with Spellbinders "Blossom" Nestabilities
A Green/Gold Circle Journaling Spot
(K & Company - Retired Product)
A Large Size Silver Snowflake
(Anna Griffin - Retired Product)
A Petite Yellow Floral
(SEI "Moonrise" Gleaming Pearl Die-Cut Accents)
Two Hand-Trimmed Layered Circles
(Red/Vanilla)
Berries and Leaves Sticker
(We R Memory Keepers "Merry & Bright" Embossed Stickers)
A significant portion of the flower is adhered together with Scotch Quick Dry Tacky Adhesive. The last addition (berry sticker) is adhered via pop dots. Here's a look at the flower from it's side:
What makes this flower remarkably fun for me is the wool felt! I'm not normally inclined to mix paper and wool felt together on a single blossom. Turns out, the two are nearly best friends! The flower takes on a whole different feel when combined with the felt's soft and organic texture! It becomes it's own "little art project", really! I'm definitely wanting to work with this material again in the near future!
Besides the flower, there are other details worth noting about the card, including this sweet lil' epoxy snowflake below:
It never fails, I can't go without an epoxy sticker or two when scrapbooking. I love the extra "sheen" they provide and also, the thickness of the material in which they're made from. They have sort of a roundish, clear dome that magnifies the image beneath it. I typically layer epoxy stickers with other things because they're predictably small - mostly with cardstock, buttons, stickers, etc. This one I just added on top a "fresh yellow mint" sticker (We R Memory Keepers "Merry & Bright") w/pop dots and a layer Hot Pink cardstock.
How about it, do you think you'll be able to master today's card? Just incase you're thinking about it and are curious what the background paper might be, note that it's from the ever-popular October Afternoon's release, "Modern Homemaker". Cute stuff, isn't it?! The phrase "December" is of Echo Park's latest Christmas collection, "Everybody Loves Christmas". And lastly, Mr. Green/White button is vintage - he's not for sale folks, though you'll find an ample availability of vintage buttons on Ebay at major bargain prices!! Check them out there if you haven't already!
Thank-you for joining me in this first rate holiday adventure everyone! I appreciate you following along! The second "Splendid Christmas Note" installment has been assigned to this Friday. The photos are nearly ready and I have a brand new technique idea to go along with them! Think stripes!
