Pop Up Christmas Tree Card

By: Fabrizio Martellucci

Create this lovely Pop Up Christmas Tree Card from Fabrizio Martellucci. This greeting card has it all, a pop-out Christmas tree and red paper ribbon woven into its side.

Materials:

HOTP template Easy Stitches (#7328) for paper weaving
Colored Paper
A Tea Bag Folded Christmas Tree
Star Brad (HOTP)
lightweight cardstock (180gsm)
Pencil
Sharp craft knife
Pointed crafting tool
Glue

Instructions:

You'll need the HOTP template Easy Stitches (#7328).

You can see I selected three papers, again HOTP, and already created a Tea Bag folding Christmas Tree from What the Buzz is About blog. I covered a 7"X5" card with the green paper and edged the base card and various mats with a black inkpad.

Here's close up of the Tea Bag Folding Christmas tree I also got my Star Brad (HOTP) ready to trace around the stripe paper for later.

You need to cut strips of paper at 1/4 of an inch, since I only want to do one side of the mat I cut two strips (turned out I didn't need two but always cut more just in case).

Thin paper won't do on its own so you need to use some lightweight cardstock (180gsm) and adhere it to the paper as you'll be cutting into it.

One you stuck the paper on the cardstock just flip it and center the stitch I also follow the line as it's the right distance from the paper edge.

Using a pencil just trace as you would with any template.

You can see better on this picture how the edge of the paper match that line on the template.

Put the template away and now make an incision using a sharp craft knife, make sure your cuts are very straight.

Now you need to loosen those cuts using a pointed tool ( I use my pokey tool), just slide it in and move back and forth until you have enough space to thread paper through.

Glue the strip on the back and start weaving the paper through the slits.

Here are all my elements and the weaving finished, once you've reached the end of the weaving just glue the last bit at the back. Now I'm ready to assemble the card.

Just a close-up of the weaving effect. I always put some sticky foams on the mat where I weave as to not flatten the effect. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial !