Botanical Notes and Anything But a Card

Good morning and happy weekend 😀

It's Saturday and the 18th of the month today, that means I actually have two projects to show you today! I know that doesn't happen often! Be prepared for a picture heavy post.

First up I am sharing my mid-month reminder card for Penny Black and More. Our theme this month is simply anything goes, as long as you follow our simple rules, which you can find on the challenge blog. I decided to use one of my newest stamps, I very recently got this one, just couldn't resist - Botanical Notes. Isn't it just beautiful!! I know I just said recently I wasn't going to buy new things anymore, but there is always going to be that "one thing" I will need :-) Like this stamp!

It's been stamped onto Winsor & Newton watercolor marker paper, and colored using Zig clean color brush pens. I find this paper the best for these pens. Unfortunately Blick art materials quit carrying it, and the only place I found it was Amazon. I tried Fabriano hot press, but these pens do not  work very well on that paper. Luckily bristol vellum is another card stock that works ok with the clean color pens, and that I can get anywhere. It's just not my favorite with these pens.

This is a rather large stamp, and I really didn't want to add too much to the card, because I wanted it to stand out. So I stamped the sentiment onto a strip of vellum paper using black stazon ink, and added a little bit of coordinating designer paper. I thought it needed something where the two designer papers met, so I added a little blue button and jute twine. The top of the watercolor paper has been torn and curled up on the corner, then layered onto matching yellow designer paper. Sorry I have no idea of the brands of the papers, I just grabbed them from my stash. 

A little close up below. I did add wink of stella glitter to the butterfly and flower center, but unfortunately it's so hard to see. 

Next up is my project for the new challenge at Allsorts. It's Susan's week to host and she would like to see anything but a card. I have to admit, those types of challenges always scare me a little bit, because  cards are pretty much all I ever seem to make, on rare occasions I made bookmarks or treat bags. So my first thought again was making a bookmark, but then I remembered that for the longest time I've been wanting to make a pretty tissue box cover to go with my current decorations. 

I found an easy to follow tutorial on splitcoaststampers.

Mine was even easier to make because I didn't use extra layers, instead I just used pretty designer paper for my base. This pretty vintage style paper is from a 12x12 inches double sided paper pack by K& Company. I've had it for a while and I thought it was perfect for this. 

After I completed creating the box, I simply added some adhesive lace and embellished with the flowers. I've been hoarding these flowers for a long time, I never use them on cards because I find them too bulky on cards, but they were perfect for this. 

Below is a little peek at the top.

It's hard to tell but I used one of the Nestabilties Label 4 dies to cut out the opening. I was able to fold the edges on the score lines in order to fit it through the die cutting machine. 

I really wanted to stamp a verse on the designer paper, but the thought only came after it was finished. I tried but it didn't stamp evenly, so I left it as is and covered up the partial stamping with another pretty flower. 

I left the other two sides blank, showing just the pretty paper, they will be facing the wall anyway. I thought about using a second ribbon and tying a bow, but my cats would probably  have too much fun with it, and I really like it how it is.  This cover will probably be in my living room up until Fall. I had so much fun making this, I might actually make another one for the Fall season and one for Winter.





This week I'd like to enter my card to the following challenges:
 The Flower Challenge #6 - Anything Goes
 

Stamping Sensations - Close to Nature 
 

Mixed Media Monthly -Buttons (hope one button is ok?)
 

The Artistic Stamper - Springtime
 

And that would be all for today. I hope you'll check out the Allsorts challenge blog and Penny Black and More to see what the rest of the teams made and come join us for a chance to win some fabulous prizes. At Allsorts our own team member Wendy is giving away a fun die, and at Penny Black and More we  have several prizes by Penny Black , Marianne Design ,
 Chalkola and Fantastic Ribbons.
  

Hope to see you there!!

Advents Wreath

Happy Saturday!

Hope you all had a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving, if you celebrated! I spent a nice day with my family, turkey turned out great too :-) 

Did you get any shopping done? I placed a few online orders and only went to Joann's to pick up a few things I still needed for my Advent's wreath. Not a fan of big crowds but by the time I went it wasn't that bad anymore. 

I spent most of the day yesterday finishing my Advent's wreath, and then did a little bit of Christmas decorating around the house.

This was the second wreath I've ever made, if you'd like to see my first one, click here. 

I used a pre-made wreath which I purchased from Lowe's. It came with a large red bow, but I removed that. I'm sure the wreaths they sell are meant to be hung up, but I turned mine into an Advent's wreath. The embellishments and candles were all purchased from Joann's. I wish they had prettier candles to choose from, but the ones that did look nicer were too wide to fit onto my holders (I bought those in Germany years ago.) 

 Side view.

Here is a top view. Love these colors!

This is probably my last wreath for some time, but who knows, maybe I'll make one for Valentine's Day :-)

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day!!

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Something completely different...

Ok, this is my first time ever making a wreath, so please be nice :-)

It's nowhere near perfect, but I am pretty impressed by how it turned out :-) I've been wanting to create a wreath for many years now, but never actually did. I was always overwhelmed by the amount of products you can buy, and never knew where to begin. This year I did a pinterest search for wreaths, and came across so many beautifully designed ones. And so it started.

I actually wanted to create a Fall wreath, but when I went shopping for supplies, all Fall items were on clearance and hardly anything left. So I decided to create a Christmas one instead, Christmas is only a few weeks away anyway.

My supplies came mainly from Joann Craft and Fabric, with a couple sprigs that I picked up from Walmart. The owls I found at Menards, they are actually ornaments, but I cut the hanging loops off.

After the hardest part was done - deciding what to purchase - it was fairly easy to put together. The next challenging part came when it was time to make and attach the bow, but I somehow managed thanks to a youtube bow-making video I watched. Now I just need to glue the owls on, they are still loose right now, and will be using my hot glue gun. 

This wreath will be hanging on my living room wall the day after Thanksgiving :-)

Hope you're having a nice and relaxing Sunday. The weather is beautiful here in my part of the world so I will be doing a little yard work before it gets dark outside. Lots of leaves were blown onto the corners of the house last week in the storm.