DIY recycled paper trees: make it last!

May 11th, 2010 → 9:00 am @


from MarthaStewart.com

Time for another Martha inspired project! The other day I saw this adorable cherry blossom tree that she created out of vellum paper and tree branches on MarthaStewart.com. It’s a lovely way to have pieces of nature  to decorate your house with that won’t die within a few days (don’t even get me started on why I don’t like having flowers in the house…I know I know, I just hate cleaning up after them!). I thought I would take it one step further though and instead of using new, fancy paper, I would use paper out of my recycling. If you are like me and do a lot of shopping online, catalogs are sent to your home on a bi-weekly schedule (annoying!). I used one of my Anthropologie catalogs (which has beautiful pictures) for my flowers. Not only did it give it a more modern and decoupage appearance, it also had a glossiness that I love!

Follow the instructions below to get a beautiful, green, and totally inexpensive piece for your home!

What you will need:

  • Recycled paper (and paint if you want it all one color or want to cover up “ugly” paper)
  • Dead branches
  • Clear craft glue
  • Scissors

To create the flowers:

Cut out approximately 3″ squares from your paper.

Fold the square in half, and then half again. You should have a smaller square at this point. Fold the square in half so that opposite points are touching, forming a triangle.

With the center point pointing down, cut out a curve to create a cone-like shape. When you open the folds it should look like this:

Play around with the shape of your cutouts by varying the curved cut.

All of my flowers completed. When I was a child my dad would bring us origami paper back from Japan. This brings back memories of that beautiful paper with its exquisite patterns.

Attaching your flowers to the branches:

There are a few ways you can attach your flowers. One is by using clear craft glue or even a stronger hold like crazy glue to keep them from falling off. The other way (which I prefer for the outer flowers) is to actually poke the branch through the flower and add a little glue to keep it in place. Use your own discretion and what works best for the type of paper you use.

The finished product:

Viola! I placed my branches in the bottle vase we made last week, but you can use any sort of jar, vase, stand according to your tastes. I absolutely love the way it came out!

What do you think of this project, is it something you would try? How do you like the mix-matched appearance of my flowers? Let me know!

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