Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 4

Day 4 of my Twelve Days of Christmas event brings a totally different look. This card is entitled Patchwork Christmas Tree and it has more of a shabby chic feel about it.

I've used up some offcuts to make this card - the lolly pink, pastel green and cream cardstock are all relics from my very early stamping days but they coordinate really well with some more recent purchases like the scrapbook paper from Scrapbooking Australia (Berry Cherry Christmas collection) and the Prima flowers. It's fun to be able to combine old stuff with new.... it gives it a totally new look!

Here's a few things I learned along the way with this one:

• Use a stamp positioner to place the image in exactly the same place on each card
• Place the 3 pieces of cardstock in a stack so that the cut deckle-edges will all be aligned perfectly
  
• Make sure the stack doesn't skew as you cut it
• Once you reassemble the 3 different colours into one piece, tape them together on the back and then cut it into a tree shape.
  

I sponged the edges of the tree with crimson ink and that softened the starkness of the coloured cardstock - it also helped to tie the elements of the card together. The stripes on the gold cardstock are lengths of pink satin ribbon attached with double sided tape and I added a few rhinestones to the flowers for some bling.

When I look at this card, I keep thinking of the line "while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads" from the poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It must be the cherries from the scrapbook paper, or maybe it's the softer colours or the pink strips - I'm not sure but it keeps reminding me of that poem..... what do you think?