The following is a guest post from my friend Renee Johnson. Her and her husband Chris Roberts run an organic dog biscuit company called Barkwheats which I'm profiling this week. A couple days after our interview, Renee sent me this idea which she thought was "too cute" and perfect for my weekly craft. Chris as usual had some fun one liners which I included in quotes. Merry Almost Christmas!
Chris and I decided not to have a "real" Christmas tree this year for a few reasons… financial, space, DOGS, etc… so he found this alternative online: http://www.thecardboardtree.com. He took it one step further and decided not to buy it but make his own instead.
Materials:
Leftover cardboard box (enough for two identical tree cutouts)
Blade (to cut through cardboard)
Scissors (to trim and cut paper)
Pretty paper (This paper from Asian World Imports which has a store in Blue Hill and a website asianworldimports.com. "You can always search the Green Pages to find the best from Coop America Approved vendors." Or you can use recycled Christmas wrap.)
Glue gun
Cocktail of the day: "Cocktail recco… during the winter we like hot buttered rum…mmmmm"
1. Take a big cardboard box and draw out a tree shape. Then cut it out, and use the cutout to trace the same shape on another big piece of cardboard. Cut that one out so you have two cutouts.
2. Make some hot buttered rum. You're done with using sharp objects (though do remember to enjoy in moderation as you will be operating a glue gun).
3. Cut a slit in the middle of one piece from the bottom to the middle, and then on the other from the top down to the middle, so they could slide inside each other.
4. Cover both cutouts with pretty paper (in this case "hand made and fair traded paper (of course)" from Thailand but you could also use leftover Christmas wrap). Glue keeps paper secure.
5. Fit the two pieces together. Decorate the tree if you like and surround the base with pinecones. Voila!