This is the beginning of a Christmas decorating and preparing extravaganza.
I'm making all the Christmas presents, and I want more decorations than we had last year. I love Christmas decorations. I'll be making all those too.
Today's project: a DIY Christmas Tree made from paper grocery bags. That's right. Paper bags. Trash. Recycling. Whatever it is that you do. This project consists of several paper bags aspiring to greatness, a cereal box working behind the scenes to assist them, and a glue gun.
I'm using Pinterest quite a bit these days to prepare for Christmas, Stay at Home Style. That means this is a budget friendly project, but it started with uncertain results.
Here's the tutorial I'm following and reviewing: Paper Bag Christmas Tree
Step One: make cardboard cone frame for tree
My first observation is that, though this seems it should be easy, the directions are not particularly clear. I mean that the pictures don't show complete pieces of cardboard, and the directions are not so detailed that I'm entirely and easily certain that I know what I'm doing. I'm confident though that it will be challenging to mess this up too badly, and I seem to be correct. |
| Materials |
I have to make one cone out of the first large side of the cereal box, and then a second, larger cereal box cone from the second side of the box that should fit into the bottom portion of the first cone. These together make the base of the tree. I have to cut the bottom of the larger cone to make it stand up straight, and the two cones don't quite perfectly fit together. I hope that this is something that the paper will cover up later.
Step Two: Add paper
For this step, I am supposed to "twist and crimp" the paper, and then wrap it around the tree, gluing it as I go. Getting the paper to twist and crimp properly is a bit of a challenge, though, and wrapping one piece took me somewhere close to 10 minutes. This is going to be a challenge - the paper resists shaping (which will be good for a finished project, but less good for making it), and it pulls back from the glue, which means I have to hold each piece down for an extended period of time while the glue sets. Both traits of the materials are going to make the project rather time consuming, and I begin to doubt the tutorial's claim that this will only take an hour.
I correctly guess that it will get easier as I get going, and I do get faster as I move up layers of tree. The layers also get narrower, which I think makes it feel like its going faster even if it isn't, really.
By the time I get to the point where the two cone halves meet, I've been working about an hour and a half.
Finishing Details
I keep going, and when I get to the top I am quite happy with the finished product but also breathed a great sigh of relief. It got easier as it went, but this was time consuming, much more than the tutorial said it would be.
I look at my finished tree, and decide it needs a gold bow. With that added, the project is finished, and I have a lovely new decoration that cost almost nothing but time!
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| Dog immediately begins to try to eat bow once it is attached. |
Project Breakdown
Total time: 3-4 hours
Difficulty level: easy
Effort Level: moderate
Total Cost of Project: $0, plus cost of ribbon if you add ribbon.
This tutorial was not so full of pictures and details that you will have your hand held through completing every step in a precise manner...however, you don't need it. Any errors on making the base get covered by the paper bags (as long as you make sure the base stands up straight). You can twist and crimp as much as you like with slightly different looks in the final result. I think I did a whole lot more crimping of the paper and very little twisting. It was harder to hold the twists in place while the glue set, honestly.
Expect this to take more than an hour if you make a tree the same size as the one made in the tutorial and have never made one before. You're going to be in for several hours of folding and crimping and gluing and holding down paper and glue. Turn on some Christmas music and enjoy- and you'll have a lovely, free decoration at the end of it, made with recycled materials!
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