Tea Bag Folding Christmas Tree Card

Hello, Crafters.

Today’s card is yet another project that has been inspired by one of my Dortmund swaps! I received a Tea Bag Folding Christmas Tree made by Gilly Hunt, who made it as a hanging decoration to go on a Christmas tree. Gilly chose three different designs from the Garden Lane Designer Series Paper (DSP) which is an all-green pack which uses five different greens. She also added some Mint Macaroon Ribbon as the hanger, and a gold strip for the trunk.

Two or three years ago I received a Christmas card from one of the ladies in my team, which had a tree like this. I still remember the WOW when I opened the envelope and saw it! I chose one of the green designs from the Most Wonderful Time DSP. Although you can’t tell from the card, the DSP design shows Christmas trees in various shades and styles, with a mix of gold highlights. I decided there was sufficient variation in the design, that I’d use just that one design!

I also decided to make four sections, instead of the regular three. Years ago, tea bag folding was one of my favourite techniques along with iris-folding, so I found it quite easy to work out how to do the folds without having to pull my swap apart! I couldn’t decide whether to use Pear Pizzazz Cardstock (CS) or Old Olive CS as my top layer and card base – Old Olive CS won. Now that the card is finished, it was a good decision!

I’d used Black Shimmer Embossing Powder on yesterday’s card, and I wanted to use the White Shimmer Embossing Powder on today’s card but it didn’t work out! It appeared to go well until I heat-bossed the powder, and some of the small stars looked silver rather than sparkly white! I turned the Olive Green CS layer over, and re-did my stamping in Versamark, and heat-embossed in white. I love the result! The stamp is from the Most Wonderful Time Stamp Set.

To create the decoration inside the card, I used the same stamp with the “right-angle” of the corner stamp pointing upwards (downwards at the top of the layer!). It’s unusual for me not to use Whisper White CS or Very Vanilla CS as my top layer inside a card. Personally, I’ll be quite happy to write my greeting on the Olive Green CS layer.

Although I’m pleased how my tree has turned out, I know how to improve on it. I’m not being too hard on myself as this is my first tree, but if I’d thought about it at the time, I should have made sure the front opening on each section should line up with each other. I’m sure it’ll be quite easy to do. When hubby saw this card he said “That has to be a video!” so watch out for this coming soon!

The gold stars I’ve used to decorate my tree are from the Most Wonderful Time Product Medley. The final touch I added to my card is the Gold Glimmer Paper Bow that’s sitting on the top of the tree, I used a die from the Bouquet Bunch Dies, which co-ordinates with the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set. Unfortunately these two items aren’t available as a bundle anymore!

That’s about it from me today. No doubt, my visit to tea bag folding has been a walk down memory lane for a great number of you! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have! I look forward to being back with you tomorrow, and in the meantime, happy crafting.

JanB. xx

Products used for this project: please click on any link to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. November Hostess Code is G3944GAH Thank you. xx