DIY Christmas Trees

The Christmas season is finally here! I am kicking it off by joining a link party over at Hi Sugarplum! to share my first 2011 Christmas craft with you. I'll hopefully be linking up with everyone for the "Christmas Cheer in the Blogosphere" link parties the rest of the month as well. If you have some fun Christmas ideas to share, you should consider joining these fun link parties!

Just realized that I need to get my Christmas tree set up by December 8th... okay, better get on that!

The Christmas craft that I'm going to share with you is how to make cute little Christmas trees for a tabletop or mantle. I was brainstorming on what I could use to decorate our buffet table in the dining room, and I've seen so many unique Christmas tree ideas (here and here) that I thought it would be fun to try making some of my own.

I like shabby chic, but I don't think it's my style when it comes to Christmas decor. I wanted something fun and colorful, so I decided to hunt for bright red and green scrapbook paper or wrapping paper. At Michael's I could only find shiny wrapping paper (I wanted a matte finish) and no patterns that I liked. I then found a few sheets of scrapbook paper I liked (4/$1 sale - score!) and picked up a few other supplies I would need:

I bought 3 Styrofoam cones (9", 12", and 15"), scrapbook paper, spray adhesive, and star buttons. I debated about bells, ornaments, and glittery stickers for the toppers and decorations but went with these stars, which I'm very happy about.

I basically just started measuring by wrapping the paper around the cones to see how much I would need.

Once I got the paper where I wanted, I drew a line around the bottom as I held it tight on the cone (no gluing yet). I then took the paper off the cone and cut along the line. I didn't do this on the first one, and it was so much easier this way.

I didn't provide a full on tutorial because it was a lot of trial and error cutting, sizing, and gluing. The spray adhesive actually didn't turn out to work well at all. I think it is meant for bigger projects because the sprayer was very powerful and it was hard to be precise and get into tiny spaces. I pulled out my trusty ol' glue gun, and that worked great. Just had to watch my fingers since the heat goes straight through the paper!

After the paper was secured on the cones, I glued the star buttons on top. And here is the final result! The whole process took me about an hour.

Only the largest cone needed to sheets of scrapbook paper. I used double-sided scrapbook adhesive tabs and matched up the stripes way before I started cutting. You can see it up close here, but from far away it looks perfect.

If you have a fun Christmas craft to share, be sure to link up with Cassie today over at Hi Sugarplum! Or you can join in on the fun throughout the rest of the Christmas season!