Wreath card

Hi Everyone!



When I woke up this morning I realized that the cold/sinus infection/ear infection that lingered in my body for weeks has finally left town. Hooray! Just in time too because I have a very busy schedule this week.


Some of you know that my daughter Marie works as an activities assistant in a nursing home. We sit together about once a week and plan her activities. It fascinates me that many of the activities that work the best with the seniors are the same activities that work the best in an early childhood classroom. Happily for Marie I have TONS of resource books, music, craft supplies, etc. that she can use.

Last night as Marie flipped through some old craft books she spotted a wreath that she decided she would make with the seniors. The wreath form was created out of a paper plate that had the middle cut out of it. The instructions suggested that you cut the colorful parts of old Christmas cards into different size circles and glue them onto the wreath. Instead of using old Christmas cards, Marie and I used some of my paper crafting punches and punched circles from scraps of patterned paper. Then Marie glued the circles onto a paper plate wreath form. She was pleased with the results and so was I.


I was laying in bed this morning thinking about that wreath when I had an idea. Why not use that same concept to create a card! I jumped out of bed, grabbed some scraps of paper from the SEI Kris Kringle collection and a half inch and one inch circle punch. I quickly punched lots of circles out of my scraps.


I cut a piece of layering paper to 4" x 5.25" and traced a 3.25" circle onto it. Then I glued the one inch circles I had punched onto that circle. Then I glued the half inch circles onto different parts of the larger circles.


I wanted a wreath for my bow, but didn't want to use ribbon. I am making cards for my sister Pam to send out to her friends and co-workers and don't want her to have to worry about extra postage for bulky cards so I decided to make a paper bow.

I used a Martha Stewart bow punch and punched out a bow. It was too small for my wreath. I put the punched out bow on my scanner, enlarged it at 175%, and printed a pattern. I used the pattern to cut the bow out of some green scrapbook tag. I attached the bow to the wreath with a brad. I stamped "Happy Holidays" onto another scrap of SEI paper, mounted it on a scrap of green tag, and attached the message to my card. Love it! It was quick and easy to create and helped me use some of my scraps.


So....if you give a mouse a cookie...as I sit here looking at this card I am thinking...hearts...different size punched hearts...but that's for another time!


Have a great day!
Carol