Rustic Wreath

Good morning friends.  Back with a Christmas card today that I made for the Festive Friday Challenge (#20).  This time around it is an element challenge, and they are asking us to use a wreath somewhere on our card.

It is no secret to anyone that knows me how much I LOVE the "Wreath for All Season's" stamp set by PTI!  You will need to look close to see any part of that stamp set on my card, but it was definitely the starting point!  Take a look and see if you can see any part of the grapevine wreath from that stamp set:

You may need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see my starting point.  I wanted to make my wreath out of a Martha Stewart branch punch I've had for years, but wanted a circle to use as a placement guide for my punched out branches...hence the grapevine wreath to get me started.  I stamped it in SU!'s Soft Suede ink and then used Soft Suede cs to punch out the branches to give a more 3D look.  I then decorated my wreath with lots of stars die cut from red and gold glitter paper and gold cs.  The stars were cut out with a PTI die that when I ordered it, it wasn't what I thought it was.  I was thinking it was more of a border die and bigger and these stars are all smaller and come out as single stars.  At the time I remember thinking what will I ever use this die for...these are SO tiny!  They were absolutely perfect for this wreath and I couldn't be happier with this die now! :0)  I also added an inlaid die cut off centered towards the bottom of my card with PTI's "Peace" die.  I cut it out of my cream colored cs layer first, and then die cut another with the Soft Suede cs, which I also embossed with PTI's Herringbone texture plate.  Because the card had so much "space" around the wreath and sentiment, I scored around the edges to give a bit more definition to this layer.  My last step was to pop dot this layer onto the card base, and then I also added a few of the extra stars randomly on the card.  Not really traditional Christmas colors, but I really like the rustic and warm feel of this card! :0)  I am also going to enter this card into PTI's Make it Monday (#138) challenge where Betsy showed how to use "Inlaid Die - cuts".

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Wednesday!  I'll be back tomorrow with some Halloween treats I made for my youngest and her college roomies!