Merry Garland

I was excited to see the new Christmas Kickstart Challenge posted - for #53 Jo and elf Hilary have a lovely and very detail-loaded inspiration photo! My eye went right to the garland hanging from the fireplace - here's my take on it:

Supplies: Paper - Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh in the Snow;

Doodlebug Friendly Forest (striped for letters);

Paper Studio; Hero Arts; Neenah 

Stamps - Penny Black Christmas Story;

Taylored Expressions Gifted Background

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 21 (retired);

Honey Bee Oval Thin Frames

QuicKutz Evergreen Punches (retired)

a retired alphabet I think was Taylored Expressions??

Other - Copic Markers & Doodlebug Sprinkles;

foam tape

A bunch of teal ornaments on the tree lead me to pick a teal card base. I thought the neutral bokeh was a nice background for the colorful toppings. Spotting the little pine trees, I went for some die cut ones. After die cutting the trees, I decided to stamp them with text using a PB background. I just inked it facing up and pressed my trees onto the stamp. A bit of a mess on the fingers, oh well... The tree die cuts a row of alternating styles so I used them that way, deciding to make the second and fourth ones 3d. I cut another couple trees, scored them vertically down the center and glued to the flat ones just along the score line. It gives lovely dimension and will flatten for mailing. 

In the inspiration photo the banner elements seem to be hanging from a white ribbon. I used two parts of a Honey Bee oval frame for mine. I didn't like the letters alone so decide to incorporate the white dots from the photo as circles behind. I raised them with foam tape. On the extra 2 dots, I added some striped presents like the ones under the tree in the inspiration photo. The space between the trees looked empty so I thought of adding circles, then found the rainbow enamel dots - so fun!!

That's it for today, crafty friends - hope you have a great week! Thanks for stopping!!