Welcome Wreath Tag - by Alison

Hello all, Alison here from Words and Pictures.  For anyone who's a follower of mine today's post will come as something of a surprise!  My favourite Christmas colour palettes are either neutral or blue/brown but for once I've been indulging in the traditional red, green and gold.

It's all because of the fabulous Calico Craft Parts wreath which came as part of my order last month.  The moment I saw it I knew I needed to create a door for it to hang on, so I did.  This is the Seasonal Fruit Wreath Style 6, but there's a variety of designs to choose from.

I do like starting with a tag full of odds and ends that don't look like they'll amount to much.  For this one it's a couple of coffee stirrers, a pediment die-cut from Grunge Board, and some offcuts from die-cutting the window frame on my recent "window box".

I used a brick stencil around the edges, applying DecoArt Texture Sand Paste along with some regular texture paste and then adding layers of paint, ink and embossing powder until I was happy with the brickwork.

I worked out I needed a step at the bottom, and for that I used the window box from the window die, turned upside-down to make a nice elegant doorstep.  I painted all those elements white and also gave them a coat of DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze so that the door would have a nice look of gloss paint.

I did add some shading to the panels and other door elements - it just gives it a more lived-in look.

The wreath itself was a joy to paint.  I meant to take pictures at each stage, but I was enjoying myself so much blending the various colours of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics that I only managed the first one (a touch of Titan Buff for the pears).

Paints?  Well, lots of greens - Green Gold, Viridian, Sap Green - plus Diarylide Yellow, Yellow Iron Oxide, Pyrrole Red, Primary Magenta, Quinacridone Gold.  I think that's about it.

Once I was happy with the colours, I added a touch of the Triple Thick Gloss Glaze to most of the fruits - you get dimension plus a lovely glossy finish.

For the ribbon, I used the Media Fluid Acrylic in Metallic Gold to get a festive shimmer, though I warmed it up with a wash of Quinacridone Gold over the top.

And so that it would look like the same ribbon, I've used those same colours (as well as the Pyrrole Red plus Primary Magenta to do the stripes) on my banners for the words.  Ah yes, the words... they come from one of my favourite pieces of Christmas music, the Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten.  Wolcum Yole is the first song after the Introit or entrance music.  This particular phrase, which is in Middle English (in use from around 1066 until about 1500), simply means "Welcome, Yule", welcoming the Christmas season, so it seemed perfect for a garlanded doorway, ready to welcome you in.

I used the Mini Alphabet Letters Copperplate Gothic to "write" the words, giving them the same paint and gloss treatment as the fruit on the wreath.

There's an Idea-ology door knob (I don't think these are intended as door knobs, but I find it hard to think of them as anything else, right from my very earliest crafting days!).

And since I'd covered up the hole in the tag with my pediment, I couldn't resist a bit of rusty wire to hang the whole thing up by.

I hope that's helping to get you in the festive mood.  If you're in a shopping mood, you can click on the product links in the text to make your way to the right bit of the Calico Craft Parts store... and watch out, there's a lot of tempting stuff there!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Alison xx
Words and Pictures