Jingle Belles - Neutral Noel

Sneaking these in very, very, very last minute.  The time just got away from me.  The Jingle Belles have challenged us to use neutral colors on our cards this time.  I did start these a few days ago, but decided to go in a different direction.  Of course that was after I had spent time making the elements for a very elaborate background.  Well, those elements will be used elsewhere I'm sure.  In the meantime, what I have here are some trees created using The Greetery's Macrame Openwork Base die inspired by this post on their blog.

This tree was made from some Confetti Cream cs to which I added a gold trunk and glittered star and added to a scrap of scrapbook paper.

The background for this Very Vanilla tree is some birch wrapping paper I have in my stash.

There are two layers to each tree and I've "fluffed up" the branches to give it a 3-d effect which is not too visible in the straight on pictures. 

I have two more trees and backgrounds on my work table that I'll have to finish another time.

Sometimes the simplest ideas that I have turn out to be the ones that take the longest.  Die cuts are easy for the most part, but when they have all that detail, you have to make sure you pick out all the pieces from what you have cut and from what gets stuck in the die.  But I still find that doing multiples is more to my advantage as opposed to coming back at a later date and starting the process over. 

Right now, as these cards stand, they can be used as both Christmas cards and thank you cards.  I still might look for a suitable sentiment to add though.  

I'll be visiting the Jingle Belles later this evening and leaving some love for the other neutral beauties.  You can do the same by clicking here.