Exchange cards - fun Christmas trees!!

I needed a couple of cards for my card exchange this month and being as I am sort in Christmas card mode I made them with that theme!!  I perused my card inspiration file and found one I have been wanting to try for a while which features a quarter sheet of decorative paper layered on a coordinating card and a focal element made of the same cardstock featuring a die cut opening and a greeting.  I found one sheet of this 12"x 12" decorative paper in my stash and decided to use it to make six cards - two for my exchange and a few for my Christmas card stash which has suffered a lack of input in the last few months.  Here are the first three I put together.  I was very happy to find cardstock that coordinated so nicely with it.  I cut the decorative paper to 4" x 5.25" which I layered onto my card fronts.  Next, I cut the front layers to 3 5/8" x 4 7/8" and die cut this little tree out of them.  As you can see there are quite a few options of how that can be done.  I stamped my little greeting (SU) in dark green and I manually embossed them with the Swiss Dot embossing folder (CB) and hammer to ensure that my greeting did not get embossed.  My inspiration piece had rhinestones included in the greeting and I was hoping to do the same but I did not have any small enough so I used a clear glitter gel pen instead to add a bit of sparkle.  I may consider adding glitter glue on the next ones.  I adhered  this layer to the front of my card using 3D foam tape to add depth to the opening. The decorative paper could have had a small pattern which would have worked a bit better but I am happy with how they worked out!!  To are off to my partners in tomorrows' mail.  

Therese