Quick Christmas Tree Tutorial

I had another go at making a Paper Strip Christmas Tree this afternoon for my sister. This time I took the Sweet and Sour DSP as my inspiration (a rather funky modern Christmas tree). I tried to remember the photos at each stage but I kept getting ahead of myself and forgetting. So I hope these instructions make sense.

Starting with a polystyrene cone from your local craft shop you need strips of double sided wrapped around the cone at equal distances. For my 7.5" cone I have spaced the double sided strips at 3.75" (from the bottom), 4.5", 6" and another strip around the top of the cone (you'll need to play this one by ear a bit depending on the size of the cone you use, you could also add additional layers of paper for effect).

 You'll then need 4 designs of double-sided patterned papers. I have cut my strips at 6" x 0.5". Again, I cannot give exact numbers as it depends on how closely bunched you want your paper skirts. I just kept cutting strips until I had my double sided strips filled.

 I then wrapped the first layer of paper round my tape to form a grass skirt of paper strips. How closely you line up the paper strips determines how neatly bunched the strips are (I would recommend overlapping each strip slightly). I spaced the paper further apart on this Christmas Tree and the overall effect is a little bit more gappy than the one earlier in the week.

You then wrap another band of double sided around the top of the strips and fold each strip back on itself forming the paper loop (I missed a photo of this stage on this layer. But you can see below when I had moved on to the Pumpkin Pie layer).  

 When you reach the top layer of papers you will need to secure them and tidy the top of the tree. On my first tree I punched a scalloped circle. I then cut into the scallops so I had lots of lengths to fold down over the top of the tree to make a 'cap' which I then wrapped in ribbon and accessorised with rhinestones. With this one I wrapped a length of Peach Parfait Poly Ribbon around the paper strips and over a circle of paper i punched to form the tree's 'cap'. I then used half pearls to accessorise the top of the tree.

 To finish I then punched two stars and sandwiched a small length of jewellery wire between them and pushed into the cap of the tree.

 The finished product (slightly different than my original):

I hope this helps for all those that asked about how I made my Jolly Holiday DSP tree. They would make a beautiful table accessory or Christmas decoration and are quick and easy to make. Any questions, please do not hesitate to drop me an email and I'll happily try and help: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk.

Happy Christmas Crafting ;0)