Asian Wreath Card

Hi bloggers!  Another wreath card from me (do you get the sense that I like these? LOL)  The first look at the new cherry blossom die set just had me thinking wreath among other things.  I started this card by embossing the background with the letterpress technique.  I inked my embossing folder on the negative side with Antique Linen.  I made sure that the ink did not go on to the edge of the folder where there is no design as I wanted to increase the size of my background and that would have left a line.  I placed my milk coloured card in the folder against the opposite side and carefully closed the folder and ran it through the machine.  I inked the folder a second time in the same way and extended the pattern.  I was using the "twig" side of the Tweets and Twig folder, which doesn't actually line up exactly, but it is busy enough that it isn't noticeable, especially with the wreath on top.  Next I cut four borders from the Asian die set out of our new gold card.  I don't know how to describe it, but it is a very subtle gold, you almost have to move it to pick up the gold.  I am not a real big fan of the metallics because I think they can overwhelm a card sometimes, but I LOVE this because of it softness.  I glued the four borders to the edge of my embossed background except in the very corners.  I cut them diagonally in the corners to get a mitred look, then glued them there.  Using the branches from the Cherry Blossom set, I cut out a bunch of them in my gold card.  A bunch is probably defined as 6 of each, but I did forget to count them, sorry.  I trimmed them down a bit and used the natural curve to form the base of my wreath and glued them in place.  Then I layered the more lacier looking branch on top and glued it in place going around.  Just keep adding until you are happy with the final shape.  I cut several of the small flowers in red to add randomly to my wreath.  I put tiny flatback pearls in the centres of the larger ones.  I stamped my sentiment on milk card, but I curved it just slightly before adding it to my acrylic black that I had a strip of sticky tape on.  The tape will hold it in place nicely while you stamp it.  I cut it out with one of the inside dies from the large ribbon banners, but it was still a bit too long, so I put the extra bit back in the die to just cut that side of it.  You could easily do this with scissors though.  I added this piece with mounting foam across the centre of my wreath.  I pierced the edges to complete the card.  I think this one could easily be turned into a nice Christmas card too with a change of sentiment, what do you think?  All for now, Sue x