January Christmas cards: Upcycled tissue paper

I know we're three weeks into January, but happy new year! I hope 2023 is treating you well so far. For my first post of the new year I'm going to share my January Christmas cards.

I actually made these cards in December, a few days after last Christmas. I had received a Christmas gift packaged with pretty red and green color block tissue paper, and I knew I wanted to use it for Christmas cards. So I put it to use right away!

I started the cards by making the background panels. I determined what size I wanted to make the panels and then cut eight pieces of vanilla card stock to that size and eight pieces of tissue paper slightly larger. I crumpled each piece of tissue paper into a tight ball and then carefully opened them up. I lightly coated one piece of vanilla card stock with glue, placed a piece of tissue paper over it, and gently pressed it down to adhere it to the card stock. (I was careful not to smooth out the wrinkles so it created a nice texture.) I wrapped the edges around to the back and secured them with double-sided tape and then used the same process to complete the rest of the panels.

For the card bases I used dark red card stock splattered with gold paint. Using foam tape, I adhered the panels to the card bases. I wanted a focal image that didn't cover too much of the tissue paper, so I die cut two sprigs for each card: one gold and one green. I also die cut the word "merry" in gold for each card. I glued those pieces to the panels and added a red twine bow and three enamel dots in either gold or red.

These cards have a more "traditional" feel than the Christmas cards I usually make, but I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I'll definitely keep this technique in mind for any pretty tissue paper I get in the future. :)

Thanks for stopping by!