Project: Christmas tree

I LOVE this time of year. (Have I said that 100 times yet?)

The other day I was in Target and saw some decorative trees (styrofoam, I think) and I thought… geez I could do something like this for myself and save a LOT of $$$!!! So for the last week or so I’ve been working on a trio of Christmas trees to decorate my table. I’m totally smitten with this project- especially since it would work SO WELL for scraps! I will tell you that this took a few days. Not because it’s time consuming, but you should allow ample time for glue to set between layers. So I just would do a layer and then walk away until I thought about it again… thus the reason for taking nearly a week!

How to:

1) start with styrofoam cone available at most craft stores. Mine are 12″, 14″, and 16″ tall

DSC06566.JPG 2) starting at base, glue (I like perfect paper adhesive) a row of ’tiles’ of paper around the tree. Be sure to overlap, and use pins to hold down until glue dries. Note: I used my XL circle punch to punch the paper tiles. I’ll be sure to post pics when I’m done with this one!

DSC06564.JPG 3) After dry, REMOVE PINS and then glue down another row. Feel free to crimp, pink edges, roll, tear, or use punched shapes! Again, use pins to hold down the paper until dry.

DSC06561.JPG 4) repeat step #3 all the way up the tree!

DSC06548.JPG 5) when you get to the top utilize a star punch, punched shapes, chipboard or other decoration to finish off so that you can’t see the top layer pin holes!

As you can see it’s really easy! The military one (shown by step 5) is my contribution for a charity auction that Memories in Uniform is doing. I think these would make great gifts, and you can utilize any little paper bits you have as well. If you have any questions- don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll be posting my trio of trees here in the gallery when I’m done.

Happy decorating! =)

 

comments (15) | RSS

15 Responses to “Project: Christmas tree”

  1. holly says:

    Great Idea, May! I can’t wait to see them when you’re done!

  2. MARIOLA says:

    I LOVE THIS IDEA…

  3. Cyndi says:

    Very cute idea!

  4. Mary says:

    Wow this is a great idea!! Looking good!!

  5. Lisa E. says:

    What a great idea! I’m going to have to make some too.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Lisa E.

  6. Candy says:

    We all have scraps! What a great way to use them!

  7. Stephanie C says:

    May,
    Fabulous idea! One note, if you buy the pins with very flat heads, you could probably eliminate the step of removing them. It would also give it added strenth to hold the paper. Just a thought :)

  8. Tina Mayo says:

    the shirts are too funny, Bishop has the “I do all my own stunts” . I think they are so cute.

  9. Tina Mayo says:

    okay my last comment was for Stephenie’s post sorry.

  10. Brittnye says:

    These are so cute!!! I am thinking about making my Professor a set for when we go to a party she is hosting for us!!

  11. Jacinta says:

    May as usual you rocked thes trees. I love your eye for design. My tree was ruined in the basement this year and I was debating buying a new one. Maybe we’ll go with these table top designs and put gifts around the table. Thanks for the great idea.

  12. Jacinta says:

    Don’t know what happen to my post. I guess it’s floating around cyberspace somewhere. Love the trees.

  13. Grace says:

    what a neat project. May besides the paper adhesive you mentioned, what other glues/adhesive can you recommend for this one?

  14. Angela says:

    I love this idea! My daughter and I bought a tree last weekend to try this with and are hoping to do it this weekend…thanks for the directions.

  15. kathy says:

    We made these trees at our Design Team Christmas party. It was in Creating Keepsakes and they had awful directions, ah, no directions.
    Love the project though. We created a paper shell to go over cone and then used good adhesive to place rows of papers on.

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