Make it Better: Cardboard Christmas Tree #2 DIY

After creating a simple cardboard Christmas tree, we made some decorations to adorn it. Feel free to decorate with any type of garland that comes to mind, but here's how we made ours...

Supplies needed for the garlands and star:
-Tape
-Hole punch
-Seed beads and string
-Red and green paper
-Cardboard in a fun color. I used an old gift box, which was silver.

For the paper garland:
-Cut out strips of paper to about 4.25" x 1/3" strips. Alternating the colors, tape the strips into circles to make a garland about 10' long. The length may seem quite excessive for a tree that stands just under two feet high, but this ended up circling the tree just three times.

For the seed bead garland:
-String beads in any color to create about 18' of garland. I used silver beads because with the alternating colors in the paper garland, I didn't want too many colors to compete with one another. The 18' of seed bead garland circled the tree seven times.

If desired, use the hole punch to create places for the seed bead garland to be strung through. I found this step to be helpful so that the beads did not slip off the tree.

See image at left for where I placed the holes, and read on for the description of where I placed them.

On the top branches of the tree, punch three holes along each side.
-The first hole should be as close to the tip of the branches as possible.
-The second hole should be placed halfway between the top of the tree and the first hole.
-The third hole should be just under an inch from the tippy top of the tree -- that way, when the two flat pieces of the tree are together, the holes are not obstructed.

For the middle set of branches and the bottom set of branches, punch two holes along each side.
-The first hole should be as close to the tip of the branches as possible.
-The second hole should be placed halfway between the first hole and the top of that set of branches.

For the star:
-Freehand cut out two stars from colored cardboard, and cut slips in each. On one flat star, cut from the bottom, and from the other, cut from the top, as done with the tree. Insert into one another as with tree. I drew a messy star on the back of a silver colored gift box, and cut that out to use as a template for the second star. One could take the trouble to make a perfectly symmetrical star, but part of the charm in this project is that it's handmade, so it's not necessary; The tree and punched holes are symmetrical, so they balance a freehand-drawn star.

See the first tutorial -- for the cardboard tree -- here!