First decide on the size of your tree. This will determine how
much room will be left on the page for pictures. My tree was tall
and skinny--it took up almost the entire length of the page from
top to bottom, with plenty of room left on the sides for
photographs. You can cut out a pattern for the tree first, if you
want, but I just cut one out freehand. Trim around all the edges
of the tree with your decorative scissors.
Before you glue the tree on the page, use the embroidery thread
to sew the branches on the tree (see photo). I used a metallic
gold embroidery floss. You can freehand this step also. Just
start at the top of the tree and use your needle and thread to
create branches randomly down the tree. Branches can point upward
or downward, whichever you prefer. Now you're ready to glue the
tree to your page.
After the tree is firmly affixed to the patterned background
paper, glue some buttons on the tree as ornaments or holiday
lights.
You're now ready to work with the photographs. I decided I only
had room for four photographs on this page, two on each side. I
cut out two tall ones, one rectangular one, and one square one to
resemble Christmas packages. I then cut out pieces of solid
colored cardstock just a little bigger for the frames, out of the
same paper as the tree. Glue the photographs to the frames, and
then the frames to the page, wherever you think they look best.
Next cut several short lengths of the embroidery thread to tie
into bows for the packages. Tie the bows tightly and glue them
onto the packages, holding them down until the glue starts to
set.
For the page title, cut out a rectangle of the solid colored
cardstock, and a smaller rectangle out of white paper to glue in
the center. Write your caption on the white piece of paper.
Embellish the title with a couple more buttons.
That's it!
Photos of finished project:
http://www.crafty-moms.com/scrapbooking/sample_layouts_5.shtml
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom. For scrapbooking,
card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making
activities, visit
http://www.Crafty-Moms.com.