Christmas Dreams

Christmas will be here before we know it dear Crafting Friends,

Time to start making those cherished handmade Christmas cards for your friends and family. I love to add a bit of the unexpected to my cards and why should Christmas cards be any different.

Why are Christmas wreathes always made from boughs of holly or pine? I asked why not feathers? And I found that the feather stamps in the Catching Dreams stamp set would be the perfect ones to use in creating this years Christmas card.

I started by creating a rustic background for my card. I used the Barnwall background stamp created by Brutus Monroe and produced in conjuction with Unity stamps. (available at the Brutus Monroe website) This layer (5 1/2" sq) was colored in by blending several shades of brown ink from the Brutus Monroe surface ink collection. To increase the rustic vibe I frayed the edges of this layer before attaching it to a 6" square red card base.

Now for the wreath, I stamped many feathers onto gold paper using embossing ink. Using Brutus Monroe Guilded embossing powder I embossed the feathers and proceeded to fussy cutting them out. Next, I layered the feathers and attached them to the background (some feathers were attached using foam tape to give dimension to the wreath) creating the round wreath. The sentiment is a word die cut from the same gold paper and glued to a matching red fish tail banner.

Finally, I added some red colored acrylic bubbles to create the appearance of holly berries on the wreath. (clear bubbles can be colored by using Style File Markes or Copics)

Merry Christmas to all and please share your cards on Brutus Monroe Facebook Fan Page.

Enjoy!