quick christmas ideas: ribbon tree cards

here's a fun way to jazz up your holiday cards this year: adorn them with stitched-on ribbon trees!

ribbon tree cards

supplies you'll need:

blank cards
green grosgrain ribbon
a sewing machine

lay out a blank card and cut green ribbon at cascading lengths. i used three different types of american crafts grosgrain ribbon.



[i purchased all my supplies at the fantastic american crafts warehouse sale, but you can buy their products at just about any scrapbook store or, of course, use a different brand...but why would you want to? AC is the best.]

line up the ribbon in a tiered shape so it will look like a tree. place a small piece of tape at the end of each ribbon to hold it in place, then run a quick straight stitch down the middle with your sewing machine.



remove the tape, and you're done! or, at least, that's the martha stewart version, where i got this idea. but i decided to make it my own a bit more. i drew a star at the top of my tree with a gold paint pen, stamped a "happy holidays" greeting at the top, and added a strip of dear lizzy decorative tape along the bottom for a festive border.



and there you have it! a simple holiday card that is way more fun to send out than your average store-bought blank set -- and cheaper too! plus it's so fun to sew on paper...i always get excited when i get to pull out my sewing machine for a paper project. [i also sewed together a few gift tags this year, rather than gluing layers of paper together -- i straight-stitched them. fun!]

give your holiday cards a little extra flair this year, and don't forget to send me a picture if you do!

* find the rest of my quick christmas ideas here.