Scrappy Tree

"You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have." Maya Angelou

I knew I wanted to do something with the fusing scraps left over from decorating Patty's cane. Every bit of fabric with fusible webbing is precious...and can be used for something!  

This little scrappy tree was my first project....and I was quite tickled with the result.  One side has the fabrics we used on the cane...the other side has more of a nod to Christmas. 

I cut a basic tree shape out of a piece of foam core board.  It's sturdy...and the foam center allowed me to easily insert a skewer for the trunk.

I covered the edges of the foam core with black and white striped tissue paper.....and traced the shape onto a piece of release paper.  This is the stuff that comes off the fusible webbing once it's ironed onto the fabric....and I save it all. 

I started fusing the scraps over my drawing...overlapping as I went along.  By overlapping the strips....it becomes one unit that could easily be removed from the release paper. 

I could still see the pencil line on the back....but I traced it again then cut out the tree with my rotary cutter and ruler.

It always feels like magic when I peel off the release paper.

The little scrappy tree was now one piece...ready to fuse onto the foam core. When I ironed it onto the foam core...I used a piece of the release paper as a pressing cloth.  I wanted to hold the iron on long enough to be sure it adhered well...and wanted to protect the fabrics.  I wasn't sure if the metallic fabrics could withstand the direct high heat.....and you never know what's lingering on my craft iron.

I used the same black and white tissue paper to cover short piece of a skewer.  I put a little glue on the pointed end....and poked it up into the tree for the trunk. I had a bunch of these little stands in my stash and painted this one gold and drilled a hole the size of the skewer.

I gifted this little tree to Patty....

a shimmery scrappy tree inspired by her MacKenzie Childs cane.   

Patty added the tree to her collection of birdhouses around her tree that represent the houses and places they've lived.  

The scrappy little tree seems right at home in her "putz village".....I learned that's what this type of Christmas village is called.

Here's my little Shupe"putz village" I made back in 1990. 

I wrote about it here: 

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-shupe-village.html