The Three Trees Christmas Card

The card I'm posting today is a Christmas card based on the story of the three trees. This is a very cool story to share. Here it is followed by the card.

The Three Trees

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: "I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!" The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on it's way to the ocean. "I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world! The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. I don't want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they'll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.

Years, passed. The rain came, the sun shone and the little trees grew tall. One day three wood cutters climbed the mountain. The first wood cutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the first tree fell. "Now I shall make a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!" the first tree said.

The second wood cutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It's perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. "I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!"

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last wood cutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the wood cutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me." He muttered. With a swoop of his shining ax, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the wood cutter brought her to a carpenter's shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, or treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals. The second tree smiled when the wood cutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the once strong tree was hammered and awed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even a river, instead she was taken to a little lake. The third tree was confused when the wood cutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" The once tall tree wondered. "All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God..."

Many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box. "I wish I could make a cradle for him." Her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. "This manger is beautiful." She said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and a thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and the rain. The tired man awoke. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten wood pile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hands to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree feel strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God’s love for them. THAT even was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

Card supplies:
Paper: White and light blue stamped with snowflakes cardstock paper.

Stamp: Merry Christmas (Stampabillities)
Ink: Red
Embellishment: pine trees die-cut, glitter (Winter Wonderland), colored pencil (for snowy ground)

Thank you for stopping by. Blessings unto you.

Vanias Reed    

Magnet Thanksgiving Tree

For those who live in places with cold weather fall is probably just a reminder that winter is coming. But for us who live in a very warm climate and in a place where the trees don't change color, fall is a precious time. The weather starts to cool down, the humidity goes away and we can enjoy the outdoors. So, it's anticipating the autumn that I started doing some projects related to this beautiful season. One of them is the one I'm posting today, which  I call the Thanksgiving Tree. I made this tree for my seven-year-old son. Each day he will write on a leaf something he is thankful for and "hang" the leaf on the tree. I did one as an example for him. We'll start doing it in the beginning of November and go all the way to Thanksgiving, so on Thanksgiving Day the tree will have all the leaves (28 this year).

The tree, the leaves and the sign above the tree are magnets.

Supplies needed

Tree template (you'll find the one I made below)
Paper: Rusty, green and mustard (the Paper Studio)
Tools: Computer and printer, fine marker, magnetic tacky tape
Embellishments: 'fall' leaves - I used foam leaves at the beginning, but it's not easy for a child to write on them, so I used them as a pattern and cut my leaves out of card stock paper.
I made the sign 'Give Thanks' using Word and printed it. The magnetic tape I bought is about 1/2" wide, so I had to cut it in small pieces. 
 

This is the foam sticker leaf  (Fall Crafts) I wrote on.

All the leaves will be at the bottom of the tree in the beginning.

We are using this on our refrigerator door.
Here is the template for the tree. Just right click on it, save to your computer and print it the size you'd like. I suggest 8"x10" at least.

 Please let me know in a comment if you'd like to have a template for the leaves too.

Thank you for stopping by, and may God give us a thankful heart.

Vanias Reed         

Birthday

I believe that my love language is gift giving because I take great pleasure in making things to give away. The reaction on people's face when they get something handmade is priceless. For instance, yesterday was my neighbor's birthday and I could not let it pass without giving her a handmade card and a little gift. That made her day.  Today is your turn, and I'm posting that card for you here.

 Supplies used
Paper: Red, black and white cardstock (the Paper Studios).
Stamp: Happy Birthday (Stampabillities) and Little roses (Stamping Up)
Tools: Cutting/embossing machine (Sizzix), Polka dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug), 1" circle punch (for corners), glitter marker (for roses), green marker (stems and leaves)
Embellishments: Red and white ribbon, pearl gemstone.
Make someone feel special today, give them a 'just because' card that you handmade.

Thank you for checking out my blog. Happy crafting.

Vanias Reed       

Silver Anniversary

A dear couple, related to may family, just celebrated their silver anniversary. What a special occasion! So the card and the gift wrapping tip I'm posting today are the very ones I made for them. Here is the card first.

 Supplies used
Paper: White, silver and black carstock (the Paper Studios)
Tools: Cutting/ embossing machine (Sizzix), embossing folder (Darice), scalloped heart puncher, plain heart puncher, 1" circle puncher (for the corners of the sentiment phrase label), computer and printer
Embellishment: Silver numbers 2 and 5, clear gemstones, silver glittered letters, see through white ribbon, silver twine, pearl dove stickers

 The gift wrapping

The paper I used had 2.5" silver stripes, so I could use them to embellish my wrapping by folding them in on both sides. 
Supplies used
Paper: roses and silver stripes wrapping paper
Tools: Cutting/embossing machine, standard circle dies (Spellbinders), 3D 7/16" foam mounting circle.
Embellishment: Wired silver ribbon, 1/2" heart white lace, silver and white card stock paper, silver numbers 2 and 5

I put a circle of silver paper on the back of the lace before attaching it to the bow with the foam mounting circle.
As you can see, I try to make my presents, wrapping and cards as personal as possible. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. God bless you.

                                                                                                                              Vanias Reed

Christmas Gift Tags

On August 10, when I posted a 'homemade Christmas gift', I said I was going to post some gift tags. So this is what I'm doing today. I made these tags last year. Later I'm going to post some new ones. Enjoy.

 Supplies used
Paper: blue, hollies, red and white stripes, light blue with snowflakes, glitter white and white card stock
Stamp: To/from (Stampabilities)
Tools: Label puncher (Recollections), small hole puncher, small snowflake puncher, eyelets and eyelets settler,  glittered glue.
Embellishments: Christmas lights, Christmas tree and holly stickers, snowflake punch. Gold, silver and red decorative elastic, green twine.

These are suggestions. You can create your own, of course. 

Note: Recycle. Use the leftover paper you have. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. God bless you.

Vanias Reed          

Thanksgiving card

Sometimes I get carried on making my projects and forget that, like me when I began, there is someone out there who is just starting and needs simpler and easier projects. So today I decided to post a card for you who would love to start making your own cards, but are afraid of not knowing where to begin. Start clean and simple. Here is a Thanksgiving card for you.

 Supplies you will need for this card
Paper: Embossed rusty and orange; decorated rust color cardstock, and white paper (inside)
Embellishments: A thanksgiving sticker, brown ribbon, and brown gemstones.

Detail inside: two acorn stickers

Sometimes clean and simple is better. I made this card last year for a dear friend whom I know to like clean looking things. Sure enough, she loved the card and kept as part of her thanksgiving decor.

Thank you for stopping by.

Vanias Reed                 

Napkin Holder

Thanksgiving is such a beautiful holiday. Most people start focusing more on family and friends during that season. So, in order to avoid the "huffs and puffs" of Thanksgiving and Christmas season, I like to start preparations and gift shopping as early as possible, and in order to help you to do the same I started posting ideas for the holidays. My last post was about name cards and name card holders. Today, as I promised, I'm posting the napkin holders. Now remember that my posts are suggestions. It's always best if you create your own style. The more personal, the better. 
Here are my ideas.

You can use just plain napkin holders like these

Or even curtain rings like this ( white ones will do great too).

You can add a ribbon and a fall decoration to the plain napkin holders like shown below. I like this idea because I can reuse the same napin holders for different occasions.

To decorate the napkin holder, I  just passed a ribbon through the holder, tied a bow and added a resin fall leaf using a 3D adhesive dot.

For the curtain ring I crocheted a fall leaf to go with the name card holder. That has to be glued to the ring to stay in place. 

You can make the leaves in different colors to be more festive.

Make the card name and napkin holders for a gift. I'm sure you'll make someone very happy.

Here is the crochet fall leaves pattern

Magic circle

Round 1: Ch 1, 6sc in magic circle, sl st to join, ch1 and turn

Round 2: 2 sc in each st around (a total of 12 sc), ch1 and turn

Round 3: 3 tc, ch2,st st in the top of 3rd tc, 2 tc, ch1, st st in next sc. Repeat this 2 more times. 1sc in next st, *2hdc in next st. 

Stem

* On top of second hdc
ch 5, turn, 1sl st in each ch, 1 hdc in next st, 1sc in last st. sl st to join. Fasten off and weave ends.

If you want to crochet the napkin ring, then leave a long tail at the end of leaf to sew it to the ring.

Thank you for stopping by. Blessings unto you and yours.

Vanias Reed