Craft Cottage - Crinkle Christmas Tree

Skill Level:

Intermediate

Crafting Time:

1-3 hours

Material(s):

Cardboard

Category:

Handmade Cards

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Crinkle Christmas Tree

This textured little tree is made from an uncommon crafting material—corrugated cardboard. When sliced into thin strips, the interesting inner structure of cardboard is revealed. We stacked several strips together to form a Christmas tree that can be used in various ways. Paste the tree onto a Christmas card, add it to a scrapbooking project, use it as a gift embellishment, or add a string to make it into an ornament.

Supplies & Tools:

Clean cardboard (no bruises or dents)
Cutting mat
X-Acto
Metal ruler
Tacky glue
Small paper plate
Toothpick
Blank card (or cut your own from Christmas cardstock)
Paint
Paintbrush

Directions:

Working over cutting mat, cut thin strips of cardboard—about 1/8" to 3/16" wide—with X-Acto. Be sure to cut the cardboard perpendicular to the corrugated lines, as you want the strips to show the waves.
Cut the strips into smaller pieces to form the tree. You can make your tree as big or as small as you want, but ours is about 2.25" wide by 3.25" tall. Begin by cutting the longest piece first (the base of the tree), and then continue cutting pieces, each one a little bit shorter than the last. As you cut the pieces, arrange them in the shape of the tree, and adjust the length as necessary.
Put a dime-sized dollop of glue on the paper plate.
Begin gluing the pieces of the tree together, using a toothpick to apply the glue to the cardboard strips.
Note: Be modest with the glue—a little goes a long way.
Gently press pieces together after each addition.
Continue gluing the pieces of the tree together. After you finish adding the pieces, lay on a flat, protected surface. If any pieces slid from the wet glue, go ahead and nudge them back into their proper position.
Once the glue dries, paint the tree your desired color.
Glue tree to card. Use a blank card or create your own card by cutting an 8" x 6" piece of Christmas cardstock and folding in half to make a 4" x 6" card.
Cut a small star from craft foam and glue to the card. If it helps, lightly draw a star with pencil and then cut around the star. Glue the star to the card with the pencil side facing down.
Now your card complete! Write a holiday message inside the card and then your Christmas card is ready to give away.

Elfy Hints:

If you are having trouble getting a clean cut on your cardboard strips (that is, if the edges look a little furry), your craft knife may need a new blade.
Typically, a 4" x 6" card would fit in an A4 envelope, but because of the cardboard tree, you may want to put this card into a larger envelope like this A6 envelope at envelopes.com.