Is it a bauble or is it a card? The double-purpose Christmas Card

Decorating the tree and sending Christmas Cards are two important seasonal events. Usually our carefully bought, written and chosen cards end up being trashed (few of us recycle). So itâ€™s good to make - or buy a dual purpose bauble-com-card to cut down on our use of paper - and our spending.

Itâ€™s a simple idea â€“ a rectangle of foil is embossed to create a raised design, first on a flat resistant surface, then on a soft duster. When finally re-outlined a final time all the working on the soft metal has transformed the pristine foil into an individual decoration.The whole caboodle is then either painted in enamel or glass paints before being mounted on a card or hung from some fetching ribbon, You can even scribe your message directly onto the foil (in reverse of course!).

The Craft Teacher has a really simple Embossed Foil Kit which you can make as a card, or a free hanging foil bauble.

Once received it can be left attached to the background card for viewing, or removed and hung on the tree. Whichever way you play it or say it, the notion of a dual-purpose card/decoration has great appeal, especially for those who send a small gift long through the mail. The low weight-cost ratio makes it very attractive as a postal item and equally fetching visually.

You'll be able to churn these out in no time at all. Why not buy some more Embossed Foil to make extras!

And there it is! A quick handmade Christmas Card and Tree Decoration rolled into one!