A Wonderful Wreath for Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge

This is my second post for today.  If you missed the first one, please check it out here once you’ve read through this one.

Because my card from two weeks ago was selected as a winner at Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge (see that card here), I have been asked to be a Guest Designer this week.   What a wonderful honor!  This week’s challenge is to create a card with a wreath.  Here’s my card:

Christmas Bauble, Making Spirits Bright, Hardwood, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, MM123And here’s the banner from this week’s Merry Monday Challenge:

merry mondays

Tips, Tricks and Reminders

  • Wreath.  The base of this wreath is cropped with Wonderful Wreath Framelits.  The Framelits coordinate with a stamp set (also called Wonderful Wreath), but I chose to let other elements on this card shine, so I simply cropped Garden Green card stock.
  • Holly.  My original idea was to cover this wreath form with snipped holly – tons and tons of snipped holly.  After snipping two bunches, I was content to the let the holly be an accent on the wreath.  I’m actually happy for this act of underachievement because I really like how it turned out.  The holly pieces are from a single stamp, Christmas Bauble, available in the Holiday Catalog (live August 28).  Here’s that stamp:Christmas Bauble, Stampin' Up!, Brian King
  • Background.  To create this background, I stamped Hardwood with VersaMark on Sahara Sand and heat embossed it with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder.  I then used an AquaPainter to paint Whisper White Craft Ink over the entire image.  I used paper towels to wipe off the craft ink to yield a white-washed look.  Here’s a better look at the texture on the panel:Christmas Bauble, Making Spirits Bright, Hardwood, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, MM

I hope you will pop over to the Merry Monday site to check out the wreath cards from the talented Design Team.

Stamp Sets:  Christmas Bauble, Making Spirits Bright, Hardwood  Papers:  Sahara Sand, Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Whisper White  Inks:  Real Red, Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, White Craft Ink  Accessories:  Wonderful Wreath Framelits, Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Thank you for stopping by today!

Brian

Shop Now

Awesome Promotions.  Stampin’ Up! is offering some really great promotions in August – from Big Shots to great bundles, check them all out here.

Product Shares and Designer Series Swatch Books.  Do you like the swatch books I shared above?  Yesterday I announced the 2014 Holiday Catalog Swatch Book and Product Shares.  Want to learn more?  CLICK HERE.

22 Comments

  1. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

  2. Love the white wash look. You are quite the Tom Sawyer. Now I want to white wash.

  3. Congrats on being a guest today. Your wreath is very nice. Love the holly accent. But the background is simply terrific. Looks like you could touch it.
    Beautiful.
    🙂

  4. Beeyoutiful Brian! No, not you, the card!

  5. What a great way to present that wood grain stamp. I really like the soft look of this card.

  6. Brian …… Your so smart , love it !!!
    Hugs frenchie !!!

  7. I love the white wash look of the background panel, I must try that, I think I don’t use my embossing powders enough. I think the detail of the Holy makes the impact you were after, very elegant indeed.

  8. The Merry Monday Challenge is great fun!

  9. Wow, this is great Brian. That textured background is great – love this card! So glad to have to as our Guest Designer this week!

  10. How clever to use just the holly from that stamp set. Love it

  11. It’s so good to have you on our team this week, Brian! Love this wreath and that background is awesome! Thanks for sharing how you did it!

  12. Nothing says Christmas better than wreaths and holly! What a beauty!

  13. Oh my, my! Love this technique – nice wow factor 🙂

  14. Love the clean design. And the background is stunning!

  15. Very pretty Brian. Love how you compbined part of the stamped images with the die-cut wreath. Neat idea.

  16. That background looks stunning and a perfect backdrop for that gorgeous wreath!

  17. Love the whitewashed background and the minimalist wreath – it really let’s the holly take centre stage. Great card!

  18. Love that woodgrain background, Brian! Makes that pretty wreath jump right out – way to go! Thanks for joining us at Guest Designer at MM this week! xoxox

  19. Wonderful card Brian, I love the woodgrain background and fabulous wreath with holly. So glad you could join us as a Guest Designer this week.

  20. Great wreath, Brian. I absolutely love your background though, sure makes the wreath stand out. So glad you could join us as a Guest Designer this week.

  21. Beautiful! Love your touch of holly!!!!!!!!!!

    Deanne 🙂

  22. What a great way to use the wreath die. Love the cardstock wreath! Thanks for adding to our card gallery as Guest Designer at Merry Monday!

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