Anthropologie Inspired Paper Trees

While enjoying some lunch and shopping my friend Karen and I spotted the most adorable paper trees at Anthropologie.  Adorable and expensive.  Then and there we decided we needed to have a craft night so last week that is exactly what we did!  Here is a photo of our finished product!  When my oldest saw mine he said it looks like something I would have bought.  Karen's boys thought hers was really neat too!  I guess we impressed ourselves and our boys that night! 

Things you will need:

wooden base found at craft store - we used one in the shape of a square

wood dowel - 3/16 diameter

glue gun

old book or sheet music

cardboard or chipboard - we bought a pack of chipboard sheets at Joann Fabrics.  The pack contained  natural chipboard color, white, and black.

paper cutter with a deckle blade and a straight blade

paper punch 

tiny ornament for the topper

The first thing you might want to get ready are your papers.  We used a paper cutter with a deckle blade.  Once all your papers are cut use a sharp object to punch a little hole in the center of the square.  This makes it easy to slide the paper on the dowel.  For example, we used a metal shish kebob skewer.  A little tear in the center is all you need.  

Here are the paper sizes and quantities that we ended up using for our 13 inch tree.

24 - 5 inch squares

15 - 4 1/2 inch squares

15 - 4" squares

15 - 3 1/2" squares

12 - 3" squares

10 - 2 1/2 inch squares

10 - 2 inch squares

12 - 1 1/2 inch squares

10 to 15  - 1 inch squares

You will also need to make a whole bunch of spacers - you will use them between each piece of paper.  Near the bottom of our trees where the paper pieces were larger we used one inch sizes.   The larger size also helps the papers sit more straightly.  I'm not sure if that makes sense - it just gives the paper more to rest on.  As you work up the tree your spacers need to become much smaller so they don't stick out from the decorative pages.  At the treetop you basically will be trimming around your paper punched circle.  See tiny pieces to the right in the photo.  We just made a big bunch of these.  We used the straight blade for the paper cutter to cut strips of chipboard, and then punched the holes and cut the individual pieces with scissors.

We cut our dowel so that our final height with the base included would measure 13 inches.   We simply attached the dowel to our board with hot glue and 2 of the chipboard pieces with hot glue.  We held it until it dried and it seemed quite secure.  Each layer of paper will need two pieces of chipboard between them.  Begin your tree with two chipboard pieces, then 1 sheet paper, then  2 chipboard and just keep going.  Note:  It would probably be a good idea to just drill a hole in the wooden base, dab on some hot glue and then attach them that way.  I'm thinking that is how I will do it next time.

Stack, stack, stack.  Make sure to alternate the directions of your papers so you get that full tree look.

When you reach the top of your tree it will need a little topper.  You can be creative and use whatever you like - I had some tiny vintage ornaments laying around so we used them.  

A dab of hot glue is all you need.  We also removed its little hook.  I love how this finished the trees so nicely.

Then all that is left to do is admire your work and find the perfect resting spot!  

Oh, you can also relish in the thought that you just saved yourself an entire 50 dollars!

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