Wednesday, December 17, 2014

How I Made the "Paper Trees"

When I volunteered to make the tree to put the gift cards for Blake's teachers under I had no intention of making anything other than a flat tree with ornaments (circles) on it and writing the kids names in the ornaments. As I laid out the design in cricut design studio I wasn't convinced or feeling it. I just wanted it to look better than that. I mean these two women work hard teaching our kids and loving on them while they are with them. I immediately started searching the internet for something paper that I thought I could do. I found the idea here. She doesn't have step by step instructions but I was able to figure it out. I will share my process pictures with you so that way you can make one if you want!

The materials you will need are: 
                                  styrofoam cone
                                  strips of paper 1/2" by 6" long
                                  straight pins
                                  pins with colored round heads                                       
                                  scissors
                                  pencil
                                  something to top the tree with (I used and an ornament)
                                  something to set the tree on (I used cork squares)
 

The first thing I did was cut my paper into strips. I started with 12 X 12 scrap-booking paper. I used my "fancy" paper cutter not scissors! Make sure that whatever paper you choose is double sided since you will be rolling the paper. I rolled the strips around a pencil just like mentioned in the original blog post. I found that it was easier to just roll the entire strip around the pencil and then stretch it out to the length I wanted it when I placed it one the cone.


If you are a perfectionist and want he paper curls to all be the exact same distance apart on the cone measure it out. If not just wing it like I did. It's not obvious that I didn't measure because I played with the paper curls enough to hide it. When attaching the paper I used a straight pen at the top and then rolled the paper down to meet the top of the layer under it before placing a pin with a colored end on it. I didn't paint my cone but again if you are a perfectionist you might want to paint your cone green or red because there are a few places it shows through but not enough to bother me.


After I attached each section I would cup my hands around the loops and press them tight against the tree. It helped make sure there were none hanging lower or looking terribly out of place. I literally jammed the bottom of the star into the top of the cone to make the topper stay. I wrapped a piece of paper around the top to cover the pins in the top layer and added a colored pin to secure it. 
Finished trees before I placed the gift cards
Then I placed the tree on top of the cork squares. I attached it with glue and wrote the kids names all around the cork. I wrapped the gift cards in scrap-booking tape to make them look more like gifts.
This is the picture I sent to the other moms before writing the kids names.
Here it is the final product! I am very happy with how they turned out. I really hope his teachers love them!

These little trees do take some time to make but I finished both of them in an evening while watching TV. If you make one let me know how it goes!

Happy Holidays!
Vanessa

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