Easy Christmas tree to make
To me, Christmas crafts are one of the best things about this time of year. Get a bunch of kids together and have a Christmas tree making party. This little Christmas tree always comes out looking good and it costs almost nothing. It can be made in the traditional green or it could be white or pink or whatever suits your fancy.
If you want to make a more upscale version, you can buy a styrofoam cone and some thin green craft felt or fabric and cut it out into circles instead of squares and attach it to the cone with the sewing pins that have different coloured beads for heads or use a glue gun (I always manage burn my fingers and generally make messes with hot glue)
Materials needed
Materials
- 1 small package of Dollar Store tissue paper
- 1 sheet of construction paper, bristol board or cardstock
- white glue
- unsharpened pencil or pencil with unused eraser
- ruler
- pen
- sissors
- a bit of red and green coloured foil (I used foil Christmas wrap)
Choose a sheet of construction paper or some other heavy paper that is the same colour as the tissue paper that you have chosen. The size of the paper will dictate the size of the finished tree. The one shown was made from a 9×12 in sheet of construction paper from a pad of mixed colours. For a smaller tree just cut it off shorter, for a taller tree use a bigger sheet. Bristol board cut to an appropriate size would work best for a larger tree.
mark tissue for cutting
To make the cone, you take a sheet of construction paper from a standard pad and curl it into a cone. Tape the loose edge down and then cut off the bottom so that it stands up straight. (This is the hardest part of the whole project)
Next, take your package of tissue paper and unfold it so that it is about 6 tissues thick. With your pen, mark off a strip 4″ wide. Mark off three more strips beside the first one and then score across these strips every 4″ until you have a bunch of 4″ squares. Cut off a strip and cut the strip into squares. Repeat.
wrap the square over the pencil end
Now the fun begins. Take a small dish or a piece of plastic and squirt a small puddle of white glue on/in it. Then take one of those squares and wrap it over the blunt end of the pencil, dip it lightly in the glue and press on the top of the cone. Place another folded square close to the first one. Go around the top, and then start moving down the cone, constantly filling in the gaps. Every so often wipe off the pencil as it starts to get sticky.
Work your way to the bottom all at once or a bit at a time, like I did. (That gives the glue a chance to dry too)
Check it over carefully and fill in any gaps with a folded square.
Put two or three folded squares at the top to finish it nicely
You can enjoy your tree with or without decorations as shown below.
Finished tree (not decorated)
Easy Christmas tree to make
To decorate the tree, crumple up small bits of coloured foil or even coloured tissue paper and glue them randomly around the tree. For a more polished effect, use small coloured beads or little coloured baby’s buttons or anything that is the right size for your tree.
You could even make 3 in graduated sizes to make a pretty grouping.
Now you have a beautiful Christmas tree that you can use year after year.
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Cushions and Men
Posted in Comments/Opinions, Decor Tips, Misc, tagged cushions, decorating humour, men and cushions, the cushion dilemma, why are my cushions always on the floor on January 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Why are my cushions always on the floor????
There is a real gender thing going on with the decor cushions! Try as I will, my carefully arranged ‘decorator’ cushions always end up on the back of the sofa, on the floor beside the sofa, UNDER the bed, piled in a corner, dropped behind the intended chair, etc. I have noticed that other people’s cushions can be found in places other than the intended ones too. Hmmmmm, do cushions have a secret society in which they rearrange themselves when they are alone? What is going on here anyway?
Guys seem to find cushions really annoying. They remove them as soon as they sit down. I, on the other hand, like a lot of women, am not comfortable without a cushion in the small of my back. I have come to the conclusion it is one of the many ways in which men and women are constructed differently. Men’s and women’s hips are built entirely differently so they sit entirely differently, it is the only explanation.
I guess this is why the decorator cushions always end up on the floor. Each to his own, it shouldn’t be a problem. But the next question is, why can’t guys put the cushions back where they came from, when they leave?
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