Paper Christmas Trees by Jeanette Lynton

For those of you that noticed the paper Christmas trees in Monday's post, here are directions to make your own for the upcoming holiday. And if you post your work on a blog, please add a comment with your link here so I can see your creation. :)

"A couple of you posted comments that you’d love to re-create the trees shown in this week’s Color Me Monday. It takes a little time, but the project is a simple one and the results are totally worth it!

Start by making a 12” and a 10” cone out of topiary cardstock. You may use a protractor or use a long string attached to a pencil. Measure out 12 “on the string and mark it. Hold this mark exactly at one corner of the paper while you draw a line on the bottom curve of the paper with the pencil. Cut on the line and roll the sides together keeping the corner where you held the string at the top. You now have a 12 inch cone. Adhere the sides together lapping only slightly using hot glue (or sew with thread and needle to give it extra reinforcement). Repeat for the smaller tree using a 10 inch string.

To make the small, tree punch approximately 64 one-inch circles from Pear cardstock and punch about 60 one-inch circles from the Topiary leaf-print B&T paper taken from the Splendor Level 2 Paper Packet. (Or use any combination of green cardstock and B&T scrap paper that you may have from other projects—your trees will look a little more eclectic, but it’s a fabulous use for scraps!) For the large tree, punch 84 Pear cardstock one-inch circles and about 75 from the same Topiary leaf B&T paper.

Using a White Daisy Exclusive Inks Pad, direct distress one side of each circle. Allow ink to dry for several hours or set ink with a heat gun. Slightly curl each circle by wrapping it around a pencil loosely. Using a hot glue gun or glue dots start at the bottom of each cone with the pear cardstock circles. Overlap them slightly as you go around the entire bottom circle. Alternate the paper for the next row and also overlap each circle slightly as well as lapping over the bottom row slightly. Continue alternating rows until you reach the top. At the top of the large tree add two small bows of Blush gingham ribbon back to back using a glue gun. At the top of the small tree add two Dimensional Elements Stars back to back (using Glue Dots) that have been inked with Topiary ink.

On the large tree, for a little extra flair, embellish the “leaves” with pink Sparkles using large ones at the bottom and smaller ones at the top. On the small tree use the green Sparkles to embellish the tree. Put them in the center of your table with fluffy fake snow underneath and enjoy!"

Jeanette Lynton