Cardboard Trees: Holiday DIY

Hello, sassy friends! Today's my last day of medical leave following my spinal surgery, so I've been trying to rally the energy to get some of my holiday projects wrapped up while still getting ready for my return to work. Here's a pic of our featured project:

These black & white trees are in the family room; one is painted and embellished with paper circle ornaments, and one is covered with wrapping paper. (See my "Let it Snow" free Pintetest printable art in the frame?) 

And for my living room, here's two red glittered ones:

I'll be adding some more trees of varying sizes, colors and patterns made from poster board over the next week or so. But here's what you'll need to make these easy & practically free cardboard trees:

Materials & Supplies:

- Multiple cardboard boxes

- Exacto knife 

- Marker

- Paint

- Glitter 

- Wrapping paper

- Glue gun

Directions:

1.  Free hand draw your tree shape on your cardboard. I drew serrated trees, as well as simple triangles. You can get as simple or fancy as you please, and make the trees as big or little as your cardboard allows. 

2. Using your Exacto knife, cut out your tree. Be careful where you cut this- razor blades will kill your unprotected table or floor! 

3. You'll need two identical pieces, so use the tree piece you just cut as your template for the second piece. 

4. Your first piece needs a slit cut in the center from the top of the tree to the center. The second piece should be slit from the bottom center to just below the middle. See pieces in picture below.      

5. Paint or cover your pieces as you choose. The serrated trees are much easier to paint than wrap, but you decide how much effort you want to put into this. (We had a highly unusual day today - 50 degrees in November rarely happens in Detroit-  so I took the pieces for my living room trees outside to spray paint. The black tree was painted with craft paint on the kitchen table during our last snow - like 2 days ago. That's how bipolar our weather is.) 

6. Optional: If you add glitter, I suggest adding a clear coat to keep your glitter shedding to a minimum. Allow to dry. 

7. Fit your two pieces together, and find the perfect nook to show off your festive tree(s)! And then a bit of show & tell so we all get a chance to "oooh" and "ahhhhh" over your trees!

Save your cardboard! I've got another project for you for tomorrow that looks a little something like this:

Until tomorrow, party people!

Stay sassy, 

- Anna