green paper scraps in various shades
paper scraps in red and/or green
lace design border punch (ours is from Fiskars)
bare branch tree paper punch (we used one from EK Success)
adhesives (we used glue sticks and a Xyron machine)
small quilled paper bow (see related project links bleow for instructions)

For the Baby Card Pictured Only:
a narrow panel of Christmas print scrapbook paper to coordinate with your wreath and border pieces.

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Step 1. Photo 1 shows the paper supplies needed to make a card like the one on the right in the photo above. We used the same border punch for all the borders on both cards -- Fiskar's Lacy border punch. The red lace strips are the positive image, the green strips were made by using the same punch on a piece of green paper, but retaining the "negative" punch, " or the part of the paper that's punched away when you make the lace. We liked the look of these strips so much, they are all we used to adorn the card on the left (with the photo of my dog Zoey on it).

You will need to cut a paper circle for the wreath base. You can use whatever circle cutting tools you like. We used Fiskars Shape Cutter System to cut an inner circumference two sizes smaller that the outer border of the wreath (hint: cut the smaller inner circle first, then place your larger template around it, and cut out the larger perimeter). We used the template one size smaller than the outer wreath circle to cut out our circle photo.

Step 2. Use the EK Success bare branch tree punch and green paper scraps to punch a lot of trees. It's easier to punch with the punch upside down, as in the photo, so you can see exactly where you are punching. This allows you to punch closer together and get more punches out of your paper. For this particular project, you should punch some trees entirely, and some with the tree truck edge of the punch off the paper, so you end up with a tree without a trunk. This latter shape is good for the top layer of branches. How many punched trees you need will depend on the size of your card.

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Step 3. Apply adhesive to your card background and border elements -- we used a Xyron machine, but you could also spray the back of the elements with spray adhesives.

Step 4. Position the decorative elements and glue them down. Photo 4 shows the background for the card on the right in the photo above. For the dog car, all need is two small border strips, spaced apart towards the bottom of the card.

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Step 5. Begin to build the wreath by placing the punched out trees around the border. Continue working inward to fill in the entire wreath. To do so, apply a small drop of white glue or glue from a glue stick to the bottom part of the punched tree only. Keeping the top part of the punches free of adhesives will give your wreath a 3 dimensional look.

Step 6. Glue a small quilled paper bow at the center bottom of the wreath.

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Step 7. Position the wreath where you like on the background (you make either a vertical or horizontal card) and glue it down.

Step 8. Starting at the top of the tree and working your way down the outline of the triangle, begin applying the small punched trees to the card. To do so , apply a small drop of white glue or glue from a glue stick to the bottom part of the punched tree only. Keeping the top part of the punches free of adhesives will give your tree a 3 dimensional look.

Tip: You can give your tree even more dimension by using a pencil or even your fingers to slightly curl the branches of the punched trees before applying glue and sticking them to the card.

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Step 9. Continue placing tree on the card. To get a realistic look, place the punched trees at a slight upward angle. Outline the edges of the tree and fill in towards the center. Use some the punches without the bottom trunks to fill in the top layers of branches.

After you have filled all the branches, randomly glue the colored punched dots onto the tree for decorations.

Tip: For gluing tiny pieces, like the small dots or even the punched trees, try using your glue stick to "pick them up," thereby transferring some of the adhesive to the paper, while being able to move and place the piece.

Step 10. To make the base or trunk of the tree, fold a small piece of paper in half and freeform cut a small, flat topped triangle piece of paper. Open the fold and glue this to the base of the tree, hiding any ragged punch ends in the process.

Step 11. Glue a small quilled bow to the center of the base of the trunk using a glue dot or other adhesive.

Tip: For gluing tiny pieces, like the small dots or even the punched trees, try using your glue stick to "pick them up," thereby transferring some of the adhesive to the paper, while being able to move and place the piece.

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