Christmas Tree Card Made From Paper Strips

A Christmas tree card made from paper strips is one of the most forgiving holiday designs to make by hand. The tree is a stack of horizontal strips, long at the bottom and short at the top, with a sliver of white between each one. There are no curves to cut, and the strips can come straight from the scrap box.

The version here uses mint and navy strips, a kraft trunk, a yellow star and a few red dots as ornaments, on a white panel with a red mat.

What you need

• One white A2 card base: 8.5 x 5.5 in (21.6 x 14 cm), scored and folded to 4.25 x 5.5 in (10.8 x 14 cm)
• Red cardstock for the mat, 4 x 5.25 in (10.2 x 13.3 cm)
• White cardstock for the panel, 3.75 x 5 in (9.5 x 12.7 cm)
• Mint and navy scraps, or green patterned paper, at least 3 in (7.6 cm) long
• Small scraps of kraft, yellow and red
• A pencil, a ruler, an eraser and scissors, or a paper trimmer
• A glue stick or liquid glue; a hole punch is optional

Half a US letter sheet makes the base, and half an A4 sheet gives a very similar card. The design depends on strips of even width, so a paper trimmer or a knife and steel ruler is worth using. The guide to cutting cardstock cleanly covers both.

Cutting the strips

Cut strips 1/4 in (6 mm) wide. You need a total length of about 16 in (40 cm), which is five or six strips cut from scraps 3 in (7.6 cm) long. Cut a few extra so you can choose the color order as you go.

Also cut a kraft trunk about 3/8 in (1 cm) wide and 1/2 in (1.3 cm) tall, and a yellow star about 3/4 in (2 cm) across. To get a symmetrical star, fold a scrap in half, draw half a star against the fold and cut through both layers.

Marking the triangle guide

A light pencil triangle keeps the tree straight and its sides even. Without it, strips drift to one side and the tree leans.

1. Find the middle of the panel’s width and make a small dot 3/4 in (2 cm) down from the top edge. This is the tip of the tree.
2. Draw a faint horizontal line 1.25 in (3.2 cm) up from the bottom edge. This is the base of the tree.
3. On that line, mark points 1 3/8 in (3.5 cm) to each side of the middle, which gives a base 2.75 in (7 cm) wide.
4. Join the tip to each base point with a faint ruled line.

Draw with almost no pressure, since a hard pencil line still shows after erasing.

Building the tree from the bottom up

Work from the widest strip upward. The bottom strip sets the level for the whole tree, and it is far easier to keep later strips parallel to a long strip than to a short one.

1. Fit the bottom strip. Lay a strip along the base line, mark where the guide lines cross it, and cut it to length. Glue it down level with the base line.
2. Add the next strip. Leave a gap of about 1/16 in (2 mm), hold the next strip in place, mark it against the guide and cut. Glue it parallel to the first.
3. Keep climbing. Repeat, alternating colors. Each strip comes out a little shorter than the one below. About nine strips fill the triangle.
4. Finish the top. The last strip is a small piece about 1/2 in (1.3 cm) long. Glue the star so it overlaps this strip and covers the tip of the guide.
5. Add the trunk. Center the kraft trunk under the bottom strip, touching it.
6. Erase and decorate. When the glue is dry, gently erase any guide line that still shows. Glue on five to seven red dots, punched with a hole punch or cut by hand, scattered unevenly across the strips.

Angled ends or square ends

How you cut the strip ends changes the character of the tree more than the colors do.

End style	How to cut	Look
Angled	Mark both edges of the strip where they meet the guide and cut on the slant	A smooth triangle outline, classic and tidy
Square	Cut straight across where the strip’s lower edge meets the guide	A stepped outline, graphic and modern

Square ends are the quickest and hide small measuring errors. For another way to use narrow offcuts, see the paper strip card. If you cut with a craft knife, that is adult work: use a cutting mat and keep the blade moving away from the holding hand.

Finishing the card

Glue the panel to the red mat and the mat to the card front, with an even 1/8 in (3 mm) border on each layer. The front is fairly full, so the handwritten greeting goes inside.

The card is almost flat, so it slips into an ordinary envelope. To match the set, add a single strip and a red dot to the envelope flap, or use the steps for making your own envelope.

Making a batch

• Make a triangle template. Cut the guide triangle once from scrap card and trace around it lightly on every panel.
• Cut by type. Cut all the bases, then all the mats and panels, then long lengths of strip in each color.
• Glue in rounds. Glue the bottom strip on every panel, then the second, and so on, using the strips from the first tree as patterns.

The same assembly-line order is laid out in more detail in the guide to making a matching set of cards.

Variations

Slanted strips. Tilt each strip a few degrees, alternating the direction from one strip to the next, so the tree zigzags upward. Keep the centers of the strips on the middle line or the tree will lean.

All-white tree on kraft. Use white strips on a kraft card front with a yellow star and no ornaments. The contrast comes from the paper color alone, and the card needs no mat.