Snowy Wreath

Hi everyone.  Second post for today!! :)  This card is for a couple of challenges ... SCS Queen for the Day (QFTD178 - initial S) ... I am honoring my friend, Susan (susanbri at SCS).  Susan makes many Christmas cards each year and I only learned recently that she has a sale of her cards in the fall with all proceeds going to charity!  You gotta love that!!  She is such a talented card-maker and she leaves the most lovely and supportive messages for other crafters.

Susan, I enjoyed looking through your beautiful gallery on SCS and I chose this gorgeous card to CASE.  I enjoy making Christmas cards too, and you have given me so many wonderful ideas - thank you!!

And this is also for the Jingle Belles Christmas Tic-Tac-Toe challenge - I did a diagonal line choosing dry embossing, red or green, die-cut or punch).

Here's a close-up:

It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the squares of red are dry embossed with a brick pattern.  It adds some extra texture and interest.  I built the wreath from a ring of green cardstock, covering it with pine branch die-cuts which I had painted with snow texture.  Just love how the wreath turned out.  I finished it off by adding a red and green jingle bell (from the $1 Store) tied with hemp twine.

I think I need to get a CD player for my art studio.  I was singing Christmas carols as I was making this card ... and it would have been nice to have the music to drown out my off-key singing :) ... I'm sure that's why hubby headed downstairs for the afternoon! :)


Stamps:  Handy Christmas Greetings (Amy R)
Paper:  White (C.C. Designs);  Gumball Green, Real Red (SU!)
Ink:  Gumball Green, Whisper White re-inker (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Wreath Strip die (Cheery Lynn), Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), 1 1/4" square punch, Brick embossing folder (Tim Holtz for Sizzix), Sparkle Texture Effect (Martha Stewart), paint brush, Stamp-a-ma-jig, hemp twine, jingle bells, glue, glue dot, adhesives, and dimensionals

FYI, I've had my Sparkle Texture Effects for about three years now - it's amazing how long it's lasted!  Anyways, it was starting to dry up a bit, so I took out what I thought I'd need for the wreath, added a few drops of Whisper White re-inker and a few drops of water and then stirred it all together ... worked like a charm!!