An easy topic from the Bosses of Humbug Hall this week: Christmas Trees! First up is one using a template from WS Designs to make a fold back, gatefold card. It's cut from an A3 sheet cut in half lengthways (enough for two cards), the background panels are covered with a free paper from Making Cards and the two halves of the tree are covered in a contrasting paper. I made the pot by overlapping two pieces of red card, cutting up through one and down through the other at the mid points and interlocking them to keep the card closed. I added a strip of foam tape behind each half of the tree to raise it from the background.
Logically the next one should have been the first card, because before you can decorate your tree you have to go into the forest and cut it down, don't you! Well, that's what these snowmen have done....you can tell it's a Christmas tree because they already have a star on top, and I'm pretty sure they don't intend to cut it up for logs (snowmen don't like sitting in front of a fire).
I started by punching the scallop edge and little trees with the Tonic Border Punch System and as usual I was glad I practised on scrap paper first and got all my mistakes out of the way. I stamped the snowmen then masked them while stamping the trees. A strip of velvet paper on the lower edge, silver peel offs and a few touches of Promarkers completed a simple card which was fun to do. I will add a few touches of glitter later but couldn't wait for it to dry before scanning to send to Humbug Hall, so here it's in its naked state.
My final card is a free standing tree, made from three 6 inch squares of card.The second picture shows two faces, the third is the structure opened out flat to show how the squares are attached to each other. The fold lines are edged with narrow gold peel offs and these become the vertical edges when the tree is stood up. The last photo shows the outer panels folded under to fit into an envelope.The setiment is stamped on the inside. It's held together in its 3D shape solely by the loose outer corner being tucked into a slit cut in the opposite end panel. I have no idea where the design originated: a friend sent me a birthday card in this style three years ago and it's one I have made a few times. It's surprisingly quick and easy yet looks quite impressive.
This is my final week as Guest Designer for the Bah Humbug challenge and I thank Ann and Max very much for the opportunity. I've had great fun making my samples and now look forward to seeing what the new designers come up with. I hope they enjoy their time in the Hot Seat and wish them well.
