Scrappy Christmas Tree

I have LOTS of scraps of the rhinestone sticker sheets from The Buckle Boutique from all of the projects I have made over the years, and they are just too pretty to throw out.  Many of these scraps are too small to cut a shape out of, so today I wanted to try and use up some of those scraps on some Christmas cards.

My inspiration came from the scrap Christmas tree cards I have seen on Pinterest.  Most of these use up scraps of cardstock, but I wanted to apply the same idea using the rhinestone sticker sheets.

I started by pulling out my pile of scraps.  Then I grabbed the kraft corrugated paper roll from Little B.  I thought the texture of this paper roll would be perfect for the trunk of the tree on the cards.

Then I just started to cut strips of the rhinestone sticker sheets in random lengths and stack them on top of each other.  This starts to build a tree shape.

Then I added the corrugated paper for the tree trunk.  I hit the edges of the piece with a dark brown marker to give it even more depth and make the texture pop.

When I got to the top I stamped a little star and colored it in with a yellow glitter marker.

I forgot to mention . . . the back of the corrugated paper already has adhesive on it.  Just peel off the backing and stick . . . EASY!

So, I had to experiment to find the right placement and layout for the card.  This one I think I did not make the difference between the yellow and light green dramatic enough and I ended up needing 7 layers to make my tree shape.  By the time I got to the top there was no room for the star.

So I played around with the layers and colors and here are the variations that I ended up with . . . 

The one with too many layers, so it did not have a star . . . 

This one had room for the star and uses a different color for every layer . . . 

Then I decided to just use two colors

Pink and Lime Green

Yellow and Tiffany Blue

My favorite part about these cards is the way those rhinestones sparkle!

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The Evolution of a Christmas Card

Sometimes you start a project with one idea in your head, and then as you work on the project it evolves into something you were not planning on.  I love these types of projects because it allows you to just work with the products and see what happens.  That is exactly what happened with this Christmas card I was making.

Supplies for this project include:

Bright green cardstock - 8 1/2" x 11" size

Bright green glitter

Tree stamp - I used the one from the Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest stamp set

Dimensional Magic

To start off I cut the green cardstock in half and folded it in half.  This way I can make my cards 2 at a time.  When I stared off, the original plan was to just stamp the tree on the card, add some accents with the Dimensional Magic and glitter and be done with them fast . . . watch how that evolved.

After I stamped the images I noticed one card had a smudge.  I had black ink on my finger and I must have touched the card.  No worries . . . this is just going to make an opportunity for embellishment later on in the project.  

Back to the tree.  The original plan was to just stamp the tree on the green paper and add Dimensional Magic and glitter for accents.  In the photo below you can see how I added the Dimensional Magic to just a few tips of the tree.

Once added the glitter I felt like it needed more color.  You will see the final look at the end of the post.  So for the next card I stamped the tree and then colored it in.  This helped the tree to pop off of the card base.

I added the Dimensional Magic to the colored tree . . . 

added glitter and left it to dry

After it had dried for a while you could see the color change a little where the Dimensional Magic and glitter combination was, and you could really start to see the depth from the Dimensional Magic start to pop off the page.

Oh, and remember that smudge of black ink?  I decided to cover it with a snowflake sticker.  Add a few additional snowflake stickers and now it looks like I was planning to use the stickers all along, and not that they were there to hide a mistake.

Once I finished the card I liked the addition of the snowflakes, which were not planned for the original project, but I did not have enough stickers to do the large number of cards I wanted to make.  I guess I could have die cut more snowflakes . . . but I really did not want to do a lot of die cutting for this card.

I decided to stamp more trees on white cardstock.  Now I just had to sit a color them.  This is a nice activity to do while you are watching television.  

I still wanted the look of snowflakes without the work of die cutting all of those shapes, so I embossed some white cardstock to be the background for the trees.  I used my snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder for this.

It is so much fun to take a plain old piece of paper and emboss it.  It adds so much interest, depth and texture instantly! 

Back to the trees.

Once I had them colored and cut out I added the Dimensional Magic and glitter.  Since you have to let the trees sit and dry, once you do a batch of trees you can go and work on another project, do some housework or take a nap.  

Here is a tip for cleaning up the glitter.  Use a piece of cardboard that has a fold/crease in it when you glitter up your trees.  That way when you shake the excess off you can tap it into the crease and then hold that over the glitter container to funnel it all back into the container. 

Thank you to my husband for taking the photo of me getting the glitter back in the container.  It is kind of hard to photograph the process when you need both hands free for cleaning up glitter!

So now you have seen all of the steps.  Now it is time to show you the finished project, and see the evolution of this card.

First the card that was the original plan . . . stamped tree, Dimensional Magic and glitter . . . and snowflakes added to hide the ink smudge.

I think we can all agree it is not the best card I have ever made.

Okay, the next step in the evolution . . . add color to the tree, and still use the snowflake stickers since I did like that addition.

This card is better, and if I was only going to make two cards I might have stopped here and been fine with it.  Since I am sending out more than two holiday cards and I did not have enough snowflake stickers we move on the the next step in the evolution of this card . . . 

I did a closer photo so you can see the embossing and the glitter even better.

Now this is a card I can be proud of, and it was easy to produce several of them.  Each one is a little different since I applied the Dimensional Magic and glitter to different areas or in a different amount on each tree.

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Reindeer Christmas Tag

I decided to make some cute Christmas tags for the gifts we are giving to our nieces and nephews.  I think I was inspired by the deer tag that I made for my daughter the other day.  If you did not see that post, you can click HERE to check it out.  Also, I am trying to challenge myself to use my stamps more, and these little tags seemed like the perfect way to do that.

I also wanted to challenge myself to use papers I already had in my craft room.  Who says you have to run out and buy new Christmas themed paper for a holiday craft!  Why not use what you have!

I cut the white tag from the Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge at 4 1/2".

Next I stamped the reindeer from the Lawn Fawn Critters in the Snow stamp set on to the tag.

I colored in the reindeer with markers, and did some shading around them with blue pencils that I then blended together with a blender pen.

I added some Dimensional Magic to the tip of the nose to give it dimension and shine.

I cut a blue tag from paper with a journal print on it from Bo Bunny.  I used the same Plantin Schoolbook image on a shadow cut for this since I only wanted a hint of the blue showing behind the tag.  The other great part about using this paper with the journal lines on it is that I can easily write the To and From information on the back of the tag.

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Oh Deer what a cute Christmas card

I absolutely LOVE the way that this card turned out, and it was so simple to make.  I started with some white cardstock and my Lawn Fawn Into the Woods stamp set.  I stamped the deer onto a scrap of white cardstock and then cut him out.



Then I torn down the length of the paper.  I am going to use this as a mask on the card.



On a plain white card I placed the torn piece of paper down, and then put the deer that I cut out in white layered over that.  Now I began to use my blue ink pad to softly add some blue in a circular motion.  You can see some of the blue got on the deers legs.  Not a problem . . . this one was just a mask and not the final deer on the card.



When I removed the torn paper and the deer that were masking the card, it looked like the sky meeting a snow drift, and you can see the space where the deer will stand.



Then I stamped the deer on to the card and colored him in.



I had some small round red rhinestones, and I applied on to his nose so he would look like Rudolph.

I stamped the inside with a simple Merry Christmas.  This card was quick and easy,  Tomorrow I will share another variation on this idea that I created.  Make sure to stop back!

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12 Days of Christmas

Cricut is having a promotion called the 12 Days of Christmas

Each day there is a new deal!  Make sure to check back daily and follow the link by clicking on the image above to find out what the deal for the day will be!

Also, make sure to get the December Cricut Mystery Box while supplies last!  Just click HERE.

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Cricut Cyber Monday Deals!

Now that you are all rested up after the holiday weekend, and the mad rush at the stores for the official start of the holiday shopping season, it is time to sit back and enjoy the Cyber Monday deals from Cricut!  Just click on the link below.

Check out the Cyber Monday Deals at Cricut!

Happy shopping, and happy crafting!

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