Paper, ribbon, or fabric tree tutorial

So, when I have dozens of things to do before Christmas, when I should be baking and sending out cards and applying for DT positions, I am creating yet another Christmas tree! I was leafing through some old holiday books at the book store on Tuesday and saw a tree made from ribbons and I got to thinking and.......

I took a 9inch high styrafoam tree, a box of big pearl headed pins and some smaller bead headed pins, and 7 different patterned papers (mixture of reds, greens, and Christmas multis. I cut the paper into 6inch lengths and then cut that into strips 3/8 - 3/4 wide (narrower is better) and pulled each end to overlap in the center like a bow. I stuck a pin through, being sure to get both ends and then stuck it into the tree tightly. Then, using my fingers, fluffed up the bow and sort of folded it so it would stick out. I continued to add paper bows to the tree, turning it and filling it out. When I got to the top area, I realized that I needed to make the bows smaller (4 1/2 x 1/4- 3/8) and use smaller pins.

closeup of the paper bows

I then set it on a small Starbucks cup from last Christmas (after Christmas I asked for some of the small cups at my local Starbucks). All in all, this took me 1 1/2hours from start to finish (of course, not counting the reading time in the book). I can imagine this done in any of the wonderful paper sets this year, but all I have are from earlier years - my papers were Anna Griffin and My Mind's Eye. But it would also be fantastic done in ribbons or in fabric strips - just cut strips with your rotary cutter of your favorite holiday fabrics but be sure to include some plains and maybe some vintage fabrics - the more the merrier!!!!!

I have done 3 of the Tim Holtz tags this year - I haven't had much time this past week plus I don't have any of the funky toys he is displaying. I did the one from yesterday with the metal but I used foil from my kitchen and it looks pretty cool - it's giving me ideas for a really funky layout done in foil. Maybe this weekend....

Hope you have a wonderful weekend - I am hoping to paint and scrap (but not making plans based on what happened last weekend - I learned my lesson).

thanks for reading and ttfn (hope this tutorial makes sense - let me know if you have any questions)