Heartfelt Creations New Release!

Inspiration

The Heartfelt Creations Christmas Cheer Collection is SO beautiful and will put you into the Christmas spirit right away! There are 14 new sets of beautiful Christmas-themed stamps, and a new exclusive Heartfelt Creations die, manufactured by Spellbinders. Many of the stamps coordinate with new 2011 Spellbinders dies, too! The design team has outdone themselves - you will be ready to haul out the holly and start playing carols when you see all their creations.

And there's a WOW giveaway - Leave a comment on the Heartfelt Creations blog by September 20 for a chance to win the entire release valued at $240.00.

My first creation is a wreath, wrapped in fabric and ribbon, then decorated with the largest ornament image, and the stacked poinsettias and leaves ~ all in all a pretty quick project that creates an elegant decoration. I'll post cards tomorrow and Friday.

Ingredients

Note: This wreath is about 10" across

Paper

Cherry Cobbler (SU!)

Handsome Hunter (SU!)

Very Vanilla (SU!)

Inks

Versamark

Stamps

HCPC 3415: Petite Poinsettia PreCut Set (Heartfelt Creations)

HCPC 3416: Poinsettia Ornament 1 PreCut Set (Heartfelt Creations)

Accessories

Gold Ice embossing powder (Creations Unlimited)

Heat gun

Styrofoam wreath (Joann's)

Muslin fabric (Joann's)

Tulle fabric (Joann's)

Ribbon (Joann's)

Straight pins with flat heads (Joann's)

Quilting pins with round heads (Joann's)

Gold Metallic paint pen (Sharpie)

Zip-Dry

Scissors

Instructions

FLOWERS and LEAVES

Stamp 18 poinsettia leaves on green paper in embossing ink, and emboss with glittery gold embossing powder. Cut them out. The poinsettias are made in 4 layers - stamp 5 sets of 4 layers on red paper, and emboss with the same gold powder. Trim them closely.Stamp the large ornament image on vanilla paper, and emboss with gold powder. Cut this out, too.Stamp just the flower part once on green paper, and once on red, and emboss. Cut the entire flower out of green image, and the center petals out of the red. If your quilt pins don't have gold heads (mine didn't), paint the heads gold with the Sharpie paint pen and let them dry.

WRAPPING THE WREATH

Cut strips of muslin about 2 1/2" wide, enough to cover the wreath - about 5 yards. I sewed the strips together into a single strip, but it's not really necessary. Using straight pins, anchor the muslin onto the wreath and wrap the muslin around the wreath until it is completely covered. If you don't use a single strip, just anchor the end of a strip and the beginning of the next with more pins.

Loosely gather some tulle and anchor with pins, and wrap around the wreath - this wrap is much looser than the muslin.Now wrap anchor the holiday ribbon with pins, and wrap it around the wreath, too. Finally, wrap some ribbon around the top of the wreath to create a loop for hanging, and tie a bow for decoration at the base of the loop.

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Now, arrange the elements around the wreath. I found it easiest to start with the large ornament first - I used straight pins to attach it on the right side of the wreath - one in the top, and one in the middle of the flower on the ornament. Glue the green flower onto the matching pattern of the ornament to cover the pin, and then the red flower on top of that.Stack the poinsettias and put a gold-headed pin through the center of each one. Use these pins to attach the flowers to the wreath. Finish by adding the leaves with straight pins around the flowers and the ornament.

Final Note

If you are going to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in San Marcos, Texas this Friday & Saturday, be sure to stop by the HC booth! I'm going to be there assisting with the demo, and I'd love to say hello. And don't forget to leave a comment on the Heartfelt Creations blog by September 20 for a chance to win the entire Christmas Cheer release!

Thanks for stopping by!