With Christmas nearly a month ago you’d think that wreath designs were a thing of the past (at least for a while). Well to be honest so did I. For today’s card project I intended to create something spring-like with flowers and leaves, and I did. However when I pulled out the Beautiful Shapes Dies things took on a life of their own. By the time I was finished my card still had the planned flowers and leaves, but the die-cut hexagon shapes had morphed them into a modern-style wreath.

SWEET STRAWBERRY IMAGES

So my project started out simply enough. From the Sweet Strawberry Stamp Set I took the small 5-petal flower and single leaf images. Then I stamped them onto a strip of Thick Very Vanilla Card, using Magenta Madness ink for the flowers and Granny Apple Green for the leaves.

Next I decided to add a little colour to the images with the help of a Blender Pen. To do this I touched the tip of the pen to the edge of the ink pad. Then I wiped the pen on some scrap paper to remove a little of the ink before gently colouring in the image. After finishing with one colour, I cleaned the tip of the pen by scribbling onto scrap paper until no more colour could be seen. Then I repeated the colouring process with the second colour.

Once all the images were done I just needed to cut them out. For this I turned to the coordinating Strawberry Builder Punch. Then I set flowers and leaves aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

Using my Paper Trimmer I cut and scored some Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. I also cut a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card ready to add to the inside of the card base.

First though I wanted to add a coordinating feature, and I settled on that simple flower image. Using Magenta Madness ink once again I stamped the flower in the centre of the flap on a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. After reinking the stamp I added the flower to the Very Vanilla Card layer, in the middle near the top. Then I coloured both flowers as before using the Blender Pen.

After that I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix the layer inside the card. That just left the card front to do.

BEAUTIFUL SHAPES

It was only now that I started looking for something to anchor the flowers and leaves within my design. The Beautiful Shapes Dies is a fairly recent addition to my collection and I wondered if there was something in there I could use.

I was drawn to the four nesting hexagon shapes in the set. I thought they’d make a nice change from the usual circle or square layers. So without any real purpose I placed all four dies together onto some Basic Black Card and ran them through my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.

I wasn’t sure about the black so decided to try the same thing with Copper Foil Sheet. That would give me another option to consider.

It was only when I looked at the pile of hexagonal frames on my desk that an idea popped into my head. Picking up the largest of the copper and black frames I kind of tucked one inside the other. Suddenly the shapes made sense and I knew exactly how to finish off the card.

From the Sweet Strawberry Stamp Set I chose the “That was so sweet of you” sentiment, and stamped it in the centre of the card front with Tuxedo Black ink.

Then using liquid glue I attached the intertwined pieces to the card front around the sentiment. Next I glued on the leaves and all but one of the flowers onto the left side of the hexagons. Finally, using a single Mini Stampin’ Dimensional I added the remaining flower to the arrangement.

Without meaning to I’d discovered a way to make a modern wreath and I love it. For me, that’s the fun of papercrafting, I can never be sure where my projects will end up. What do you think?

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Sweet Strawberry Stamp Set and coordinating Strawberry Builder Punch using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. Also available as part of a discounted bundle is the Beautiful Shapes Dies. Although I didn’t use the coordinating Hello Beautiful Stamp Set today I’ve also included a link to the bundle in case you want to explore this option.