O Christmas Tree

It’s the last post of the month so it’s time for a Christmas make and this week’s cards were inspired by one of my current crochet WIPs, the Lapland Blanket CAL by West Yorkshire Spinners.  This is an overlay mosaic crochet pattern that, together with the chunky roving yarn, is creating a thick, warm blanket that is growing fast!  It looks complicated but it’s really not, it just requires a lot of counting.

I used Visible Image’s Christmas Tree Grunge and Grunge Christmas Words and started by making my backgrounds.  Using Distress Oxide ink pads, I rubbed them directly onto the 5¼” square panels, blended the ink out with a brush then added water splats.  I also inked up panels for the trees too.  Once dry, I used a regular ink pad in a similar colour to add the small elements from the tree stamp set.

I used Distress Oxides in Lumberjack Plaid, Twisted Citron, Weathered Wood and Mowed Lawn.

Once the panels were dry, I applied anti-static powder then stamped with Versamark onto one half of the panel, added white embossing powder and heat-set.  For ease, I did this using my Misti, then replaced the stamp to repeat the process on the other half of the panel.

Next, I stamped and white heat-embossed the Christmas tree and cut it out along the edge of the embossing.

I had thought that the trees would stand out against the backgrounds but they didn’t so I adhered each one onto foil or glitter card and fussy cut around the tree, leaving a small border.

Finally, I attached the trees onto the panels using thin foam tape then mounted the panels onto square card bases.

The grey panel wasn’t stamped properly to the edge so I trimmed that panel down to make a 4⅛” x 5¾” card.

Four more for my collection! How are your Christmas cards coming along?