Season's Greetings

  

The October technique challenge theme at Christmas Card Throwdown is "Fancy Folds." I decided to make a cascade card for my entry.

 

I found a tutorial by Beccy Muir through Pinterest for how to do this sort of card. I used a heavyweight cream cardstock for the card base, and patterned papers from The Paper Studio's "Happy Holidays" letter-size pad to decorate.

For my focal image, I die cut a circle from more of the cream cardstock. I stamped & die cut images from Lawn Fawn's "Deck the Halls" set, and glued them around the perimeter of the circle. I also used a holly leaf from WPlus9's "Be Merry Florals" (discontinued) & the bow from "Holiday Style" by Sunny Studio.

My initial idea was to have the greeting stamped directly on the circle base piece in the middle of the wreath. But I messed up the stamping, so I had to figure out another option. I used the "Season's Greetings" from Hero Arts' "Vintage Christmas Post" stamp set (discontinued) and one of the "Build a Banner" stamps by Avery Elle (discontinued). I first stamped the banner, then curved the greeting stamp to fit the curve of the banner & stamped it. Finally, I die cut the banner with the coordinating die.

I used an old Fiskars border punch to punch strips of blue cardstock. I figured the present theme of the punch went well for a holiday card. I trimmed the punched strips with my paper trimmer, leaving a 1/8" edge along the bottom. I glued each to the backs of my card folds, adding the glue to the front of the unpunched edge of the strips. I added one more strip along the bottom of the front, as per the tutorial instructions, and glued my wreath in place. I will add a panel to the back for the "inside" sentiment. This card was really easy to put together, thanks to Beccy's excellent tutorial!