The Twelve Days of Christmas (Cards) - Day 9

If you're still here, thanks for sticking with me! Welcome to day 9. Today I made what I think actually will be a make and take at Friday's workshop. I wanted to make a card that is just stamps, ink and paper (SIP) - not as easy as it sounds, at least not for me! But I like what I came up with. The sketch is (loosely) Mercy Kerin's latest - I made it vertical and simplified it a little.

You may have seen this wreath technique before - it was demoed at our regional in Portland and I'd seen it even before that. This was my first time trying it out. The stamp is from Autumn Days, and I made it by first stamping the image in a square in always artichoke, then doing the same with old olive and certainly celery but just offsetting the image each time. The cardstock is naturals ivory, and I added bravo burgundy berries and a flower (both from Berry Christmas) to bring in a bit more color. I stamped the sentiment (from Four the Holidays) in burgundy on a scrap of celery, then cut it out to look like ribbon and added the stitching with a burgundy marker. Before I assembled the card I sponged all the edges with more burgundy ink.

My plan for the workshop is to stamp the wreath and the sentiment, put it all together with those basic elements, and then show how to step it up by adding the flower, the sponging, and the faux stitching. I hope they like it - tell me what you think! And don't forget to leave me a comment to enter for the Christmas blog candy that's hidden somewhere in my Twelve Days challenge!