The Christmas Tree and The Holly Wreath.

For this last day of easy to make, cost conscious, Card-io Stamps Christmas cards, I wanted to make two cards which would be suitable for men.  So I pinned in mind two particular men and made cards which I thought  they might like – but I still stuck to my ‘rules’: –  they had to be simple;  with few adornments or embellishments; and they HAD to fit into a regular sized envelope – so that they’d be less costly to make and to post.

I decided upon a Holly Wreath, and a  ‘manly looking’  Christmas Tree. 

The Holly Wreath card, was made on a plain 6×6 scored and folded card, using a small selection of individual Card-io Stamps.   I stamped a circle of leaves, branches and fronds, randomly, but still with a nod to it being balanced.  I didn’t want it to be symmetrical, but instead sort of loose and flowing.  With a red, fine nibbed pen, I dotted little red berries into the wreath images, which gave it a little bit of interest.

With that same fine nib red pen, I wrote the flowing, red  ‘~noel~’  at the bottom on the card, as the ‘sentiment’.  Then came the fun bit.

I bought (some time ago) a couple of metres (or so) of teeny tiny holly leaves and red berries, bound onto some slim wire, (can’t remember where I bought mine from, but I know you can get it on Ebay for less than I paid, so do have a look there, but shop around on there as there are sellers who are selling it far cheaper than others).   I trimmed a short length (about 5 inches) off it,  made it into a circle, and then attached it to the card (using glue gel), directly on top of the stamped wreath so that it gave it life and movement and brought the whole card together making it more ‘special’.  I tied a little red satin bow, added it to the top of the wreath and VOILA!  Card finished.

I absolutely adored making this card.  It was easy, clean, pretty to look at and apart from waiting for the glue to dry, it was made in minutes.   AND … it fits inside a regular envelope!  YAY!  😀

Card 2

I wanted to make a ‘man card’  with a Christmas Tree on it – but I didn’t want to make that abundant tree with all the tinsel, baubles, lights and presents beneath it which you normally find on Christmas Cards.   I wanted something a little different, but which was still recognisable as a Christmas Tree.

I searched through my box of Card-io Stamps to find the tree I had in mind,  mounted it to an acrylic block and, using a dull brown colour of Memento Ink Pad, I stamped the tree in the middle of some craft cardstock.

Ok..  that turned out great … what next?

I really didn’t have a plan for this one.  I was just ‘winging it’… 

I looked around my craft room for something which would look like baubles … but not baubles.  I didn’t want brightly coloured things, I wanted something more … ‘organic’.   Something more in keeping with the masculine feel which I was trying to achieve.  My eyes came to rest of some bags of Craftwork Cards CANDI!  Yes!  The very thing!

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I chose a handful of  Candi in just the right colours and using some teeny tiny little double-sided sticky foam dots, I attached Candi to the tree.  Once they were all in place, I then felt that they needed a nod towards something twinkling.  So using a small nibbed glue pen, I ‘drew’ glue around the edges of the Candi and then sprinkled a little glitter over the glue.  The effect was exactly what I wanted.

I added some fine lines of glue along the branches, and sprinkled some fine white glitter dust over this to make it look like twinkling snow resting on the branches.  The finally …  using Pinflair Glitter Glue, I scribbled glue around the base of the tree and then added Pinflair Ice Diamond over the top, and sprinkled just a tiny bit of iridescent glitter over that, just to give it that eye-catching sparkle which freshly fallen snow seems to have.

I mounted this onto tartan paper, and then mounted it all, at a jaunty angle, onto a 6×6 scored and folded card.  I had to forcibly stop myself from adding ribbons, twinkly sparkles, sticky back pearls and all the other things which were all calling to me from their hanging hooks…  “Cobs.  Co-o-o-bs.  We’re here!  Come use us!”  Tsk tsk.  …  these embellishments are such flirts!

For readers who might not have come into contact with Candi before …  They’re ‘dots’ of paper type product, which are shaped into domes which look very much like brads.  You can either glue them flat (I’d use a glue gel for this, since they’re domed) or, like I did on this card, use teeny tiny sticky foam pads.  But … although they’re raised from the card and add dimension, they still remain quite ‘low’ in height, so they fit easily into a regular envelope and don’t add any depth to a card.  You can buy them in a huge variety of colours and designs.  They’re very lightweight and perfect for all sorts of things.  (You can even make flowers and leaves out of them!).

photo to show how Candi hardly adds any depth to a card.

Again, this card was so quick to make, but a very enjoyable make, and I really loved the end result.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing a few moments here with me.  I really do appreciate the time you share with me, and it means the world to me to know that you’re here.  Thank you.

Have a fabulous Friday.  May your day pass without any problems and I hope no gremlins get into the day at all!

Sending my love ~