Moxie Fab Holiday Card/ Navy Tuesday Trigger & WPlus9 Mood Board #18

Okay, this will probably be a long post.  My husband can attest to the fact that when I'm really excited about something I want to talk and talk and talk about it, explaining every little detail so nothing is missed and my excitement can be fully appreciated and hopefully shared.  And I'm excited about this card, so here it goes.  I little while back I won a prize at Moxie Fab World, and much to my surprise the oh-so-generous Cath sent me a BOX full of goodies including the Roma stamp by Hero Arts/Studio Calico.  I was so excited - it's my very first map themed item.  I guess it's all the Christmas cards I've seen, but every time I looked at my new stamp I thought it would be a great background on a Christmas card with an image of the wisemen, but I couldn't quite bring myself to make a Christmas card when it's been so hot outside.  But then I saw Moxie Fab's Holiday Card Challenge and this week's Tuesday Trigger: I'm Craving Navy.

The blue dresser, striped armchair, and kraft colored rug and window caught my attention, and I knew the colors would make a beautiful Christmas card.  Soooo I gave in and decided to entertain the idea of making a Christmas card using navy for the focal point with kraft accents.  Then it was like the stars aligned and I saw WPlus9's Monday Mood Board.

The monogrammed anchor card in the front immediately jumped out at me.  Not only did it use the same navy/kraft combo but it had the perfect layout for the idea I had mulling around in my head to have wisemen with a map background because you see, the images in PTI's Star of Wonder Set are all round.

Everything was going great.  Map background in kraft..check.  Navy blue wisemen...check.  Then I ran into a problem: the wisemen image was too small in scale for my card.  I scanned my new WPlus9 stamps and my eyes rested on a curved leaf image in Fresh Cut Florals.  Could it be made into a wreath I wondered?  And as you can see, yes, yes it can.  To make the wreath, I placed a 1 3/4" punched circle on my paper, stamped the leaves all around it overlapping them just slightly, and cut everything out.  It was just the added size I needed to frame my focal point.  I embossed the panel with PTI's Linen and Canvas Impression Plate and it adds such a great texture to the card.  Oh, and in the end I snuck in a stripe on either side of the card because stripes had been a dominant element in both inspiration photos and I just couldn't leave them out.  Phew.  That's all.  Thanks for sticking with me!  I was so thrilled with how the card tuned out that I had to share...everything. :)  Just wish it hadn't been rainy today so the pictures could have captured it a bit better.  Oh, well.  I guess something had to be tricky.

ETA: With the encouragement of Kim, I'm also linking this up to the Map It Recipe Swap at the Catered Crop. I so admire Kim's work and appreciate her for not only letting me know about the challenge, but also encouraging me to submit this card there.  Thanks again, Kim!

Linking up at:
Moxie Fab World - Tuesday Trigger: I'm Craving Navy
Moxie Fab World - Holiday Cards & More Week: The Holiday Card Challenge
WPlus: Monday Mood Board #18
ETA: Catered Crop: Map It Recipe Swap

Supplies
Stamps: Hero Arts/Studio Calico (Roma), PTI (Star of Wonder), WPlus9 (Fresh Cut Florals)
Ink: CTMH (Outdoor Denim), PTI (kraft, tea dye duo)
Cardstock: PTI (Rustic White), navy
Other: (Hobby Lobby) 1 3/4" punch, PTI (Linen & Canvas Impression Plate)