Christmas Card Mosaic
Level: Medium
I needed a title page for my Christmas Album, and making a mosaic from old Christmas Cards seemed like a great idea. I picked out a few of my favorite cards and made this page the first page I see every time I open my Christmas Album. This page actually turned out pretty easy, especially since I didn't have to worry about cutting anyone's face or body apart.
Materials:
10 old Christmas cards
Red scrap paper
1 sheet 12 x 12 blue paper
Metal cork-backed ruler
Exacto knife
Wide tip journaling pen
Scissors/paper trimmer
3 embellishments from old Christmas cards
Step 1:
Take the cards you have decided to use and cut or trim down the front section and trim edges until you have measurements that can be cut into even 1 inch pieces.
Step 2:
Measure 1-inch squares on the area you want to show. If you have a clear ruler or 1 inch square grid sheet that is clear, you can place this over the cards and move it around as needed to see the final cut areas. Mark the edges where you want the 1-inch cuts to go.
Step 3:
Take your metal ruler and place along the first 1-inch mark and cut down the edge using the Exacto knife. Cutting long cuts first makes this step a little faster. As you cut the individual 1-inch pieces, lay them to the side in order so you are recreating the original picture. Make sure you repeat steps 2 — 5 for each of the cards.
Step 4:
Measure off a border for the finished mosaic. I used 3/8-inch top and bottom and ¼ inch for the sides. Starting in the bottom left corner place the bottom left piece of the first card and mount using the photo adhesive. Move over 1/8 inch and line up the next piece of the card. Finish adhering the card pieces using 1/8 inch of a division between each piece.
Step 5:
Work your way across and up the page, placing the 1-inch squares as you want them, but try to piece the visual together as you would a puzzle. Your cut cards do not have to have an even number of squares. For instance you can use 2 squares down one side and the top 1-inch square from the next column. Use your imagination as you work through and piece them how they appeal to you. Leave two open sections as you do this. One section should be about 4 inches long and the other about 3 inches.
Step 6:
Take the red scrap paper and cut two strips to fit into the open sections you left on the page. They should both be 1 inch high and cut one of them to 4 inches long and the other to 3 inches long. Use the photo adhesive to mount the strips in place on the page.
Step 7:
Use the wide tip journaling pen to write the word Christmas' on the longer red strip and the word Past on the other. This will give you a great theme album intro page for your Christmas memories.
Step 8:
You can now mount any embellishment found on old cards. I found a card that had 3 pop out stickers and used them to put on this page.
