I've been having a lot of fun today making multiple cards from one single die - other than some scraps of different shades of green card and patterned paper and two sentiment stamps, all I used to create these 4 cards is the new Christmas Tree Background Die from the new release by A Pocket Full of Happiness which arrived last week.
Although it's designed as a background die, it can do a whole lot more so you get a lot of bang for your buck with this one!
Style One - Full Background
I started with a card using the die as a full background - although not the full square shape of the die. I cut it from a soft sage green and applied that layer to my base card - trimming the panel to 4 trees wide (some rows have 3 full and 2 half trees) and 4 trees tall. [Top Tip - leave the card in the die, and adhere a sheet of card behind to ease getting it all out in one sheet]
Then I hit my scrap box and ran the die through again with lots of different shades of green including a glitter and a foiled patterned paper. I snipped some apart and took the solid trees and created a random pattern with them laying them directly on top of the sage trees in the background layer. The sentiment comes from Concord and 9th's Holiday Home simply stamped in black onto a strip of red card for contrast and to add to the traditional Christmas colours.
Style Two - Quilt Blocks
If you want to make a lot of Christmas cards with this die, then you might not want to go for the full background every time as it will take a minute to do multiples - so here's a quicker but still effective option. I snipped out 1 block from 4 different colours from my leftover pile (even after these 4 cards I have enough leftovers to make at least another 6 cards) and added them equidistant on a rose gold rectangle (a hint of metallic/glittler adds Christmas spirit to a card I think) and then added a different coloured tree to each. I added a little patterned paper behind and used the same sentiment in a tree-green to finish.
Style Three - Ribbon Border
I thought a border style would be a fun look too so picked one of the greens and selected 5 blocks from it and added them to a strip of red card that was just a little wider than the blocks. I added another green tree layer on top for dimension and then the foiled patterned paper on top.
I needed a larger "top to bottom" sentiment to balance this design so opted for my favourite sentiment set of the year (sorry if you're bored of it!) - Treasured Greetings from Pinkfresh Studio.
Style Four - Scenery Style
Finally, I wanted to abandon the quilt block feel and just use the trees for a scenery style card - really quick but effective. I added a strip of very pale blue card and arranged a selection of trees, slightly overlapping them - starting in the middle to keep the design balanced and working my way out. I used all the different colours but decided to duplicate the foiled ones on the edges to add bling and balance to the glitter in the middle. I added a strip of completely different patterned paper underneath for "ground"
I went back to Concord and 9th's Holiday Home for the sentiment simply stamped in black directly beneath the scene to complete the card.
Hopefully that gives you some ideas on different ways to use a background die - if like me you love a Christmas tree die then trust me - this one is tree-mendous fun!!!
Happy Crafting!
Tara
