Christmas Card Trees

     Altered Eclectics is all about mixed media and recycling, making projects other than cards and ATC's so when I was given a bag full of old shop bought Christmas cards I decided to make something with them.

     How do you turn paper back into a tree? Well I searched around for an idea and came across a tree that I liked the look of, the only trouble was it was going to be much too big for where I wanted to put it and I found the construction a bit fiddly.
     After a bit of playing around I settled on this method, cut 16 strips 4" x 1", 16 strips 3.5" x 3/4", 8 strips 3" x 1/2" and 8 strips 2.5" x 1/2". This makes 12 layers of decreasing size.
     Curl over and stick both ends of each strip to form a point with the printed side upwards.

     Mark the centre of each strip on the back so you know where to put the foam pad as you build the layers. Begin with the largest strips and stick two together using a large square foam pad to form a cross, then stick two more at an angle to the first two, it will look like one of those ribbon stars you get to stick on presents. Make sure there is a foam pads between every strip and stack them up gradually to form your tree until the last layer of small strips at the top. This tree, depending on the thickness of your foam pads, should come out at about 3.5" tall.

      With the addition of a small origami star made from glitter paper the tree is finished.
     Just right for little table settings, you could add a name tag to each one and use it as a place tag.
     I wouldn't dream of doing this to a handcrafted card but a shop bought one from last year has many uses. The children can make these without too much mess and when the festive season has finished it can be recycled again.
     Come on over to Altered Eclectics to see all the different projects we've made and join us with your creation.

I would like to enter these trees in the following challenges:

Fab 'n' Funky - Anything Christmas

Creative Moments - Anything Goes

Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes