Hello, friends! Nicole checking back in with an out of the box way to create some holiday/Christmas cards this year. (Plus, a couple extra ideas as well!) Can you believe we’re just a couple of days away from December first? This year has cruised by! Wasn’t I just creating last year’s cards?
In case you missed them, I made these fun tree cards using stencils and a gel plate last year:
I really enjoy making cards to send for holidays and coming up with a new idea for each year. Back in October, I created some fun fall décor using the Autumn Leaves stencil. As I was cutting out all the leaves, I realized how perfect the shapes were for Christmas trees! I just had to use this stencil again, but instead of the “as-designed” leaves, I’m making trees!
Like my last tutorial, I knew I wanted to stencil on vintage papers. Thankfully, I already had a pile leftover, so I didn’t need to make more. I also had a sheet music page leftover from another project that I thought would add a festive feel to the trees.
If you’ve never lightly gessoed vintage papers before, it’s really easy. Simply add watered-down gesso to some old book and ledger pages. This does a couple things. It adds some integrity to the sometimes-brittle pages and allows for a better surface to paint on. Since I don’t want to cover up the text and I don’t need a thick layer of gesso, I water it down. You can also use clear gesso. Since I didn't create any this time, here are couple pictures from my wildflower greeting cards post:
To make the trees, I grabbed shades of green paint, an applicator and began to play. This is a fun, simple process but does require some patience. The Autumn Leaves stencil is a bit more delicate, so sometimes you have to hold down parts of it while you stencil.
For my first trees, I created an ombre design using white. First by adding a green, then using the white and blending back with the green and even white again if needed.
I thought I’d use a different green and design in each tree (leaf) style, but as I began to play, I decided to keep the same greens in each tree. Don’t worry, I’ll use these first leaves in a different way.
For all the trees, I simply blended a different green or three.
Tree One:
I filled the entire shape with a lighter green and then went back and added some dark green in spots to give the tree some dimension.
Tree Two:
I stenciled with the lighter green on the top and darker on the bottom.
Tree Three:
I used one color in the center and the other color on top and bottom.
After they dried, I cut them out of the vintage paper and grabbed some green card stock to give them a border. I chose a different green for each design and stuck them down with matte medium, front and back, and then also added another layer on top for extra protection.
When the matte medium was dry, I grabbed some brown paint and went over the leaf stems to make them into brown tree trunks.
I also I added some red berries to one design with the end of my paint brush.
Then, once they dried, I had to cut them out again.
Look at all those trees! Now, let’s turn them into cards! I used a ruler to make sure the middle tree was centered and then used some dimensional adhesive to pop it up from the card. For the other two trees, I just used a tape runner to stick them down.
After all the trees were added to the fronts, I spattered watered-down gesso to the fronts for some snow.
I also added it to both sides of the envelopes.
There are so many other fun things you could add to the front of these trees! A star on top, pinecones, different colored dots for lights, ornaments or even a little bird. I decided to keep mine simple. I might add a sentiment on the front closer to sending them out. Last year I typed “Merry Christmas” on my typewriter.
After all those cards, I have a few leftover trees including the first ones I stenciled. Here are a few more ideas to use up any extra trees or have an excuse to make more!
Make Gift Tags
Punch a hole in the tree and grab some bakers twine or ribbon to loop inside for a tie. You can tie it on a package or gift bag. All you have to do is write your to and from on the back, and you’re ready for gifting season.
Ornaments
Created just like the gift tags above, but hang them on a tree, evergreen garland or wreath.
Create a garland
Grab some bakers twine or thin jute and string them up! All you have to do is punch a couple of holes in each leaf and add them to the string of choice. Check out my October post to see the fall version of this idea.
Make a mobile or wall-hanger
Similar to the garland, string some to dangle from a branch, old paint brush, vintage wooden spoon, or anything you can think of! You could add some beads or other winter/holiday-themed items. I made one back in October with the leaves that still hangs in my husband’s office!
You can watch how I made the cards in the video below:
-Nicole
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Supplies for the trees:
- Gesso
- Vintage book and ledger papers
- Matte medium
- Green, White, Brown, Red acrylic paint (I used Golden's SoFlat)
- Scissors
- Card stock
- Palette paper
- Round applicator
- 5x7 cards & envelopes
- Adhesive of choice (tape runner or glue stick)
- Foam tape or adhesive squares
- Bakers twine or another string of choice
- Hole punch
