Hello Friends! I’m happy to share a Christmas card with you that has a little story. You see, the tiny town where all the mice live had been very sad. Christmas was coming and everyone was so busy scrounging around for food that they didn’t have time to celebrate the season. Two of the youngest mice, however, knew something had to be done to bring Christmas back. They took it upon themselves to cut down a mice-sized tree, carefully drug it to the center of town and started decorating it. As soon as they put the star on top of the tree, something magical happened.
The spirit of Christmas entered all the homes, and they knew it was going to be the merriest Christmas of all!
Would you like to see how this card was made?
The first step is to color all the adorable houses, church, mice, tree, and presents from the Lawn Fawn Holiday Kit (which unfortunately has sold out in record time!) and the Lawn Fawn Happy Village. I noticed the houses in the Lawn Fawn Winter Village set had snow on top of their roofs, so I just added the snow to my summer houses and colored accordingly. Presto … winter houses!
Once I cut the windows out of the houses, I lined them up over the pink and white card base. This will tell me exactly where to put my lights so they shine through the windows. I mark each spot with a pencil. You’ll see a vertical line to the right of the battery. This is the track where the mouse will climb the tree to put the star on. Once he gets to the top, the switch will bridge the two pieces of copper tape (see the tiny gap in between?) and allow the circuit to turn the light on.
Here’s the back of the panel with the houses, mice and tree on it. You’ll see the three holes I made for the windows are covered with yellow-colored vellum to give the homes a nice warm glow. In the middle of the card is a small pin hole for the light at the top of the tree. And finally, you can see the vertical track that the mouse uses to climb the tree. On the other side of the panel, the mouse is connected to this switch which is wrapped in copper and connective tape. Once this bridges the copper tape, the lights will all turn on.
You can see the other side of the paper switch, where the mouse is connected to. You just need to plan where the mouse will be when his little arm reaches the star, and that’s where you want the switch to bridge the gap in the copper tape. .
Here you can see the vellum windows glow when the lights are turned on. If you don’t have yellow lights, or yellow vellum, don’t worry … just color the vellum yellow with your markers.
Here’s a quick video showing the card in action
Fun, right?! In hindsight I was thinking I probably could have had the mouse carry the star to the top of the tree, and that would have told an even better story than just seeing him climb up and touch the star.
Good to keep in mind for the next project right? Every thing is a learning opportunity! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kelly Griglione (notable nest)
What a fun idea!