long, drawn-out adventure

Seriously, this *one* card took more than two weeks to come together!  Let's have show-and-tell - I'll show it to you and then tell you about it:

stamp sets - Teeny Tiny Wishes, Warmth & Wonder (hostess); ink - Cherry Cobbler; card stock - Old Olive, Very Vanilla; designer series paper - Letters to Santa (retired - Blush Blossom stripe) and Love Letters (not sure about the name - retired - Close to Cocoa print); Dazzling Details - Cherry Cobbler; punches - 1-3/8" circle, 1-1/4" circle, Bird Builder; ribbon - Very Vanilla seam binding; Envelope Punch Board

 

Just over two weeks ago, some of my demonstrator friends were here for Card Buffet and we were talking about the new tools Stampin' Up!® is offering, including the Envelope Punch Board.  I mentioned those "file folder" style cards that are "everywhere", but Rhonda hadn't seen them.  Since she spends the winter in a much warmer state than Michigan, I thought I could send her one for Christmas.  

 

I don't really love file folder cards so I was having trouble deciding how to decorate one.  I mentioned my dilemma to my upline - we both love the Envelope Punch Board, but not so much the file folder cards.  She suggested it's because we use file folders at work every day, making them not very fun (for us). 

Meanwhile, Festive Friday asked for a wreath and Jingle Belles asked for creatures - I was pretty sure a bird on a wreath was something I could work with, but it wasn't quite enough.  Then 52 {Christmas Card Throwdown} posted this sketch which pretty much has a wreath right there:

I have a small stamp box full of Old Olive bird builder punched branches from a class project a couple of years ago, and I even found a lopsided ring punch in my shoebox full of "this may be useful someday" bits, so I glued down the branches and snipped out a little cardinal from Warmth & Wonder, but it still didn't quite come together.  I didn't know what else to put on there, or what other colors to add, and that banner in the bottom corner wasn't really working for me. 

When something isn't coming together for me, I leave it and do something else.  Yesterday, something else was sitting down at the computer to browse my favorite blogs and challenges.  I found some great color combinations, but there was no way I was making a wreath in any other color, since the Old Olive one was all glued together (and I still have branches - not going to punch that many more for a while).  Color Throwdown conveniently happened to be looking for Old Olive, but my Real Red cardinal wasn't really right, and I didn't keep my Close to Cocoa card stock or ink.  Hmmmmm.  It was time for bed, anyway.

Today I finally realized I could rotate the sketch so that the banner was in the upper left corner, right where the label on the file folder was! (duh!)  And, I remembered that one piece of Close to Cocoa dsp from the first package I ever bought.  So, after two weeks (more if you consider how long ago I punched those branches and bought that paper!) I have a file folder card.  It still needs an insert, though..