"Jesus is the Reason for the Season" Stampin' Up! Christmas Tree

There is a Decorated Christmas Tree competition happening in Paeroa at the moment and this is my entry in the "Spirit of Christmas" category.  The competition is being run by Paeroa Christmas Lights Show and the Paeroa Skate and Leisure Centre.  I'm also entering this in this weeks Just Add Ink inspiration challenge.  I have made another tree in the "Peace" category which I will share soon.

"The Tree"
I started off with some manilla paper which comes in the Stampin' Up boxes, along with a frame made from the actual box.

 

I stamped all over it using the big flourish stamp from Baroque Motifs with White Craft Ink.  I tried using the flourish from Creative Elements but felt it looked better with the bolder flourish.

I then made a cylinder with the paper and placed over the frame.  I didn't attach the paper to the frame as it sat there just fine.

" The Leaves"
I cut out approx 200 leaves using Leaves #2 die (retired but there is a similar current one called Autumn Accents in the catalogue).  I think I used about 7 pieces of 12x12 Whisper White cardstock.

They were embossed using Manhattan Flower embossing folder:

Then I applied glue stick over the raised area and blinged them up using Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.  This was the most time consuming part.  I took about 30mins to process one piece of 12x12 cardstock into leaves that I could stick on the tree, and that was only 32 leaves!

Then starting from the bottom, I stuck leaves on the tree with 1-2 glue dots.  I didn't want heaps of adhesive on them as I wanted them to stick out from the tree.  I also wanted the background to peep through too.

 "The Lazy Susan"
I needed a platform to manage the tree by this stage as I was getting glitter everywhere trying to stick leaves on the tree  :) so had a go at making a Lazy Susan using chipboard and Basic Black cardstock.

This was my first attempt at doing the "ball-bearing" part, unfortunately I accidently deleted the photo from my better second attempt.  I used pearls threaded with cotton thread and attached as you see in this photo.  The sellotape wasn't a strong enough adhesive to hold cotton thread so in the second attempt I placed sticky tape (double-sided) under crochet thread with sellotape on top which held it much better.

 

 Parts put together with a nice long brad.

 And voila!

I didn't end up putting feet on it (was thinking about using buttons) as it is sitting nice and flat on the brad head.

"The Star"
Using the Lattice die I cut out 2 each of silver and champagne glimmer paper with a vellum cardstock square.

 Using glue dots I stuck them all together alternating silver and champagne on each side.

 "Putting it all Together"
The story I wanted to tell on the tree was that of the baby Jesus being born, his ministry, his gift of salvation through his death on the cross, rising from the dead and how people can accept his gift of eternal life (www.needgod.com).  I found images on google which supported these themes and used My Digital Studio to made them the right size for printing.  They were then cut out using Labels Collection Framelits Dies framed on Real Red cardstock.  I printed out bible verses to correspond with each picture and cut them out with the Ovals Collection Framelits.

I used sticky strip to attach the tree frame to the lazy susan, with the cylinder sitting on top.  Then the verses and pictures were all attached to Real Red ribbon using sticky strip (glue dots didn't have enough stick).  Then with sticky strip along the back of the ribbon, starting at the top I wound the ribbon around the tree leaving extra ribbon to wind around the base.

As a final note, I have to say that I never truly realised how beautiful Stampin' Up's Dazzling Diamonds glitter is.  It's colourless but when light shines on it, a rainbow shines back!

This project took me about 2 days to complete and stands 65cm high.  Hope you enjoy!

Sympathy Card for a Friend

My dear friend Tina lost her Mum recently so I made this card for her.  She just loved the card and wanted to know all about how I made it as she is getting into cardmaking more and more.  I cased this card on Pinterest for inspiration.

Stamps: Sassy Salutations, God's Blessings, Creative Elements
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Crisp Cantaloupe
Ink: Soft Suede, Crisp Cantaloupe
Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice Bigz Die, Labels Collection Framelits Dies, Boho Blossoms Punch, Spritzer Tool, Basic Pearls

JAI Scrap Challenge #10 - Just Add Bright Colours

 

A real quick post to pop this on today as I have to rush back to school soon for Pet Day after being there for most of the morning for the Flower Day part.

Stamps: Lovely Letters Alphabet, Inspired by Nature
Cardstock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice Die, Scallop Square/Oval Punches, Ribbon, Designer Frames Embossing Folders Set, Rhinestone Brad