Posted by Originally posted 7 December 2018
Hello there lovelies!
Well, today is the day I will watch myself getting my craft on on the telly! See last week’s post if you’re not sure what I’m harping on about! I will be on Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas today, Friday 7th December at 5pm. I’ve got butterflies in my tummy, but I am equal amounts excited and very proud that I did it. I really did do it you know! I keep having to tell myself that because it feels quite surreal. I have also felt ever so distracted by it all but as the festive season waits for no one, I have carried on!
We have our crochet party crowns, our festive party bites, stars to decorate our table and pressies, and now for some place card decorations which are simple and quick to make once you have gathered your supplies. Use scraps of paper you have at home or treat yourself to some pretty patterned paper festive or not. I think these paper trees would look great using pretty vintage wallpaper!
The special additions that really set off these paper Christmas tree place card decorations are the beautiful paper berries and flowers. I ordered them from Paper Tree UK with this and other makes in mind and when the lovely Ann-Marie realised it was me, she very kindly gifted them to me! Thank you Ann-Marie! We had connected through the ‘A Touch of Kind’ Project I took part in earlier this year (you may remember this blog post), when I won a stunning paper rose made by Ann-Marie!
Christmas Tree Place Card Decorations
Materials:
Download Free Christmas Paper Tree Place Card decoration template (also includes the label and star)
Paper or card for the tree (I used old sheet music)
Card for the label
Paper for the star (I used glittery paper)
Pencil
Scissors
ruler
Craft knife
Cutting mat
Hole punch (to make hole in label)
Pen or small alphabet stamps and stamp pad (to write/stamp name on label)
Double sided sticky tape or glue stick (if you are doing this with kids I would use the latter!)
Sparkly yarn, string, or thread
Yarn needle
Sellotape
Paper flowers/berries or real foliage such as eucalyptus.
Method:
Print out the template and cut out the tree (cone shape), the label and the star.
Place the tree template right side up, onto the wrong side of the paper, trace around and cut out.
Use the templates to cut out the label from card (you may need to make the label longer depending on the name) and the star from the paper/card of your choice.
Punch a hole in the top of the label. Either write or stamp your chosen name onto the label
Lay the template on top of the wrong side of the paper and using the template as a guide, make marks 1 and 2 (as detailed on template).
Place a ruler from mark 1 to mark 2 and bend upwards along the ruler making a crease line in the paper.
Still on the wrong side of the paper, place the template directly on top, making sure all the edges line up. Using a craft knife, cut the set of 7 slits going through both the template and the paper.
Now turn the paper over to the right side and place 2 strips of double sided sticky tape along the flap with a 1 cm gap in between.
Remove the sticky tape (non sticky upper layer) and stick this side of the paper to opposite side, making the cone shape. You can also do this using a glue stick, which you may find slightly less fiddly!
Cut a piece of sparkly yarn or string measuring approximately 110 cm and thread onto a yarn needle.
Place the needle with yarn attached from the inside of the cone into the first cut at the bottom of the cone. Pull through until the tail inside the cone measures about 2 cm. Stick this end to the inside of the cone with sellotape.
Take the yarn all the way around the cone until it reaches the back join again. Place through the same set of slits being careful not to tear the paper, taking the yarn all the way around the cone once more.
Place through the next set of slits.
Thread yarn through the hole in the label from back to front.
Carry on round and now keep going through the slits and round until you reach the top, straightening the yarn as you go.
After threading the yarn through the top set of slits, drop the needle with the yarn into the top hole in the cone.
Turn the cone over so that you can see inside it. Remove the needle from the yarn, pull the yarn slightly taut and stick to the inside of the cone with sellotape, trimming any spare yarn.
Put a little piece of double sided sticky tape on to the back of the star, remove non sticky layer and stick to the top of the cone.
Place a small piece of double sided sticky tape to the back of the label, remove non sticky side and stick to the cone, making sure the tip of the label is in a central position.
Now cut a small piece of festive foliage, such as eucalyptus, or take a paper flower or paper berries and place through the top 2 or 3 rounds of yarn. You may need to fiddle with the yarn, straightening it out until you are happy!
I am so very pleased with this make! They look so much better than I imagined they would when I dreamed up the idea!
And my festive table is complete!
Tips:
Try making different size cones (you can find images on google which you can resize) to decorate your festive table and shelves.
Try making them in fabric! Attach iron-on interfacing to the back of a piece of fabric, use the same template to draw around and cut out the cone tree shape and the star. Join the sides of the cone with dressmaking pins. Make markings using an air erasable pen along this join using the slits on the template as a guide. Place needle with sparkly thread from the inside of the cone to the outside and round, then sew in and out very close to this first mark and round again to the next mark. Keep going round (attaching the card label or you could try embroidering a label on the third round), in and out over the marks until you reach the top. Make a few little stitches inside the top of the cone, knot and tie off thread. Attach star with fabric glue.
If you make these fab paper tree place card decorations, do please let me know how you get on and I’d love to see them! If you follow me on instagram, feel free to tag me!
Until next week lovelies!
Take good care and lots of love,
Lucy
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Lucylu dreams... 