Christmas Wreath

Good morning Bloggers, how's your day panning out ?  Here in my bit of Cornwall the day dawned dark and dismal, but it's a tad warmer than of late and at least it's dry - well not actually raining although it is damp.  I don't know about you but I find this type of weather very depressing, makes me want to turn on all the lights and do something nice like crafting or baking to fill the house with warm and delicious aromas !  What do you do on a dark and dismal day to cheer yourself up ? 

I'm still slogging away making Christmas cards and today I'm sharing another one of my designs with you (I am now getting close to having enough finished cards for my needs I think, must do a recount of my stock)

I have made a batch of cards using this design, however it is a small batch as the design has lots of elements and it quite time-consuming !  Made just 6 of this particular design, although I had planned to make 10. 

Firstly I cut out the twiggy circle using a Memory Box die, then cut out both the large and small Ivy corners using a set of Marianne's dies  - you can see these at top and bottom of the wreath.

I then created the poinsettias using a Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set and SU! Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green cardstock.  I built up the flowers with a green layer and two red layers, finishing off by adding a gold centre using a Waco Pearlmaker Pen.  These do require a longish period of drying time or the pearl centre squashes flat when stacked with other cards or mailed out.  This all added to the timescale for completing this particular batch of cards.

The fronds at each side of the flowers were punched from more of the Garden Green card and, sadly, whilst punching these out, my lovely (but very old) Martha Stewart punch broke into pieces Noooooo !  I use this particular punch a lot and just had to set about finding a replacement immediately.  After an online search I discovered one for sale on Ebay - unfortunately it is from the USA but the shipping costs weren't that bad.  Fingers crossed it will wing it's way to me quickly as I feel bereft without it !  Such a pity that I couldn't source one from a UK supplier as I do prefer to buy from British retailers whenever I can. 

Finally, the sentiment in the centre was created using a Little Claire's stamp and SU! Cherry Cobbler ink, then cut out using a nestie which is the perfect fit.  The Merry Christmas at the bottom was stamped using a stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Alterations Blueprint Snowman stamp and die set. 

Once again, a card with no Stickles on the design, however did that happen !! 

Thanks for dropping by today, hope you've enjoyed your visit and that you'll be back again real soon.