2010 Christmas Card Layout

Each year the last page in the kids' scrapbooks is our family Christmas card. This layout was created using my 3 favorite techniques that I learned in 2010 - ruffles, rosettes, and faux wood.

To create the ruffles, I cut 2 strips 3" wide, scored it every 1/4", and folded it to create the ruffle.  I attached both 12" lengths together prior to folding.  Then I stitched, using my sewing machine, down the center back and forth a few times.  I find it easier to stitch paper ruffles, than to use adhesive.

I saw the faux barn board technique on Split Coast Stampers a while ago, see their tutorial here.  But my favorite tutorial is from Tracey Mason, you can find her video tutorial here.  I started with a piece of bamboo textured cardstock, swiped it with my white daisy stamp pad, then used an old toothbrush to paint it with cocoa reinker.  After cutting the paper into 1" strips, I used a foam tool to distress the edges with cocoa reinker.  Once the planks were dry, I attached them to a piece of cocoa cardstock at random levels.  I placed the planks all the way across the width, then I used my paper trimmer, to cut off the lengths, then adhered them to the uncovered side of the cocoa cardstock.

To create the ribbon rosette, I stitched along the length of a few feet of cranberry grosgrain ribbon.  Then I pulled one of the threads from each side of the length of ribbon to gather it up.  After I gathered the whole length of ribbon, I hand-stitched it together, placing a stitch each 1/4" or so.  I folded another piece of ribbon back and forth, placing a glue dot in center between each layer.  Then I placed the rosette in the center of the stacked ribbon to create a faux bow and placed a large pearl in the center of the rosette.

I used paper from the Mistletoe paper pack and the brads are from the Mistletoe collection as well.

Happy Scrapping!
Jen Lee