These stylized miniature paper trees can stand alone as a decoration in your choice of colors, and you can adapt them for use at different seasons by changing the central designs. The trees are simple to cut from paper, but need a craft knife or punch to create the interior detail. For children, simplify the tree silhouette to make it easier to cut out with scissors, and use paper punches to cut out all the interior details.
Suggested paper punch designs include:
- Christmas theme -snowflakes, hearts, stars snowmen and gingerbread
- Birthday theme - Parcels, hearts , toys balloons
- Easter or Spring Trees - eggs, rabbits, birds .
- Halloween theme – Witches, pumpkins, ghosts.
Assemble your Materials
To Create a Stylized Miniature Paper Trees you will need:
- A paper pattern for each set of trees (see next page).
- Three letter sized sheets of paper Standard printer paper in your choice of colors is fine, you will need three sheets for each set of two trees.
- Sharp, fine pointed scissors –sharp surgical scissors or 'iris' scissors work well.
- Sharp swivel or fine bladed craft knife to cut through 3 layers of paper
- Cutting board for use with the craft knife
- Paper Punches I used a simple circular paper punch to make the garland on the heart tree. Other designs would work as well.
- Paper Glue, a Sewing machine, or Needle and Thread to glue the pages of paper together on the marked center lines of the tree. I used a sewing machine and ran a line of stitches down the paper where the center of the tree design is marked. You could use a fine bead of glue in this same position to glue the tree sections together, or you can sew a line of stitches by hand down the centre of each tree.
