Wishing You Well Wreath

Hello, Crafters.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I received a message from Paula Gorry, UK Demonstrator Developement Manager (DDM) yesterday.  She said that the Thank You So Much note card I submitted as part of the Stampin’ Up! # simplestamping challenge has won a prize! Normally the prizes for something like this is a small product, maybe some ribbon, or trinkets, which is always gratefully received. But the big thrill is actually knowing one of my cards has been selected! If I remember correctly, this challenge is running for several months, so I can have another try!

The colours for today’s card have taken me well out of my comfort zone. I saw the ready stamped wreath sitting on top of a small pile of stamped images and die cuts, and decided to see what I could do with it. I reached for my box to get a Whisper White Cardstock (CS) top layer. When I put the wreath against it, I thought it looked very pale. I took a piece of Crumb Cake instead! At this stage I had a Crumb Cake layer and a Tranquil Tide wreath on Whisper White. Normally I would have gone for a Crumb Cake base, with a middle layer of Whisper White but yesterday I started looking at other options.

Do you remember the Colour Coach we used to sell? I still have mine and took it out to see if I could find some inspiration. Very surprisingly I chose Cajun Craze. I say surprisingly because in my book this colour comes under the heading of orange! I’m very pleased with the finished result, which tells me I should get out of my comfort zone more often. I embossed the top layer using the Pinewood Planks Dynamic Embossing Folder, to look like a door! I did toy with the idea of adding some furniture like hinges, but decided against it!

The bow has been stamped in Cajun Craze Ink and then fussy cut. The Cajun Craze flowers on the wreath are from the Detailed Deer Framelits Dies. I have layered the flowers with cut out petals, on top of the solid flowers, painted them with Wink of Stella Clear Glitter, and topped with a small pearl. The tiny bows are from the Farmhouse Framelits, and have also been painted with Wink of Stella. The stentiment is from Snowflake Sentiments Stamp Set. I used Tranquil Tide Ink, and stamped off once. Both the sentiment and the wreath have been adhered with Dimensionals.

To decorate inside, I used some leftover Cajun Craze bows plus some white ones I’d been experimenting with. As I said earlier, out of my comfort zone, but I’m not unhappy with the result. I’m off to the hairdressers this morning for a little bit of me time! I have a small amount of shopping I need to do, and then stop at the chemist. Then I’ll be back in the warmth again! I hope you have a lovely day, and I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, happy crafting.

JanB. xx

Products used: please click on any image to be taken to my 24/7 Online Stampin’ Up! shop.