15 Minute Project ... Pretties in Less Than 1/4 of an Hour

I get lots of emails from you ... not necessarily YOU you, but someone else kinda sorta like you ... asking for more 15 Minute card projects that don't require ink and stamps.

Using speciality paper from K & Company's "Smitten" collection, a pair of decorative-edge scissors, and a couple-three punches, I came up with this 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" side-folded, no-stamps, no-ink, card.

The base was created from Bazzill Basics textured cardstock, my favorite card-making card stock. I used one side of this beautiful double-sided speciality paper to create my tree. I hope you can see the shimmery pink foil hearts sprinkled throughout the pattern!

I sketched my trunk on the backside of my paper and cut it out -- no need to be particularly careful here, all trees look a little different. Next, I used two sizes of spiral punches to create the branches. Some spirals were trimmed a bit and others were left as is.

My mat was created using the reverse side of the paper; on it, I laid out my trunk and branches in a pleasing design. You can make as many, or as few branches as you like ... I created several branches as my heart embellishments were smallish; only 3/8" tall.

Then using slivers of regular scotch tape, I pieced my branches together and adhered them to the trunk. If you wanted to adapt this tree concept for larger embellies, such as felt birds, paper flowers, or rubber stamped images, you'd use less branches leaving more space for your decorative elements.

After my branches were adhered to the back of the tree and I was happy with the layout, I used Scrap Fusion adhesive over the entire backside, then glued the tree in place on my mat. From the same paper, I punched out two key tags and folded them over the edge of the mat, then adhered everything to my card stock.

Finally, I applied red, self-adhesive 3/8" hearts and 1/8" faux gemstones to the branches. From the same sheet of paper, I cut a 4 1/4" strip using 'Big-Cuts, Jagged Edge' scissors and applied it over the bottom edge of the mat, including the base of the 'tree.'

This particular card would make a great Valentine or anniversary card, but what I love about this design is it's adaptability! By swapping out your embellishments, you can use this design to create an Easter tree, a birthday tree, a new baby tree, a wedding tree, even a Halloween tree!

Even better, created in 15 Minutes using nothing but card stock, designer paper, punches, and some cute embellishments!

Ingredients:

• ~Textured Card Stock: Bazzill Basics "Monochromatics"
• ~Patterned Paper: 'Smitten' Speciality Papers (K & Company)
• ~Stamps: None
• ~Ink: None
• ~Adhesives: Tape Runner (Tombow Mono); Scrap Fusion glue (Ivy Hollow); Transparent Tape (3M); ATG #714 (Scotch)
• ~Accessories: Rhinestone Self-Adhesive Stickers (Darice)
• ~Tools: Key Tag punch (Stampin' Up!); Large spiral punch (McGill); Small spiral punch (EK Success); Big-Cuts Jagged Edge Scissors #34-0041 (Provo Craft) Scor-it Board (Hammond)

Thanks so much for sharing part of your day with me!

~Hugs, Deb