It’s that time of year again – Christmas will be here sooner than you think. And what could be more fun than sprucing up your home with hand-made, personal Christmas decorations? If you’re tired of the usual Christmas tree and open to trying something new, these three-dimensional tree images with baubles made from paper strips could be just the thing. Here’s how to put them together quickly and easily yourself! Perhaps you’d enjoy making the baubles and the tree image with children or friends? It’s not just the result that’s worthwhile: crafting itself creates wonderful memories of time spent together.
The following step-by-step instructions will show you how to make your own baubles out of paper strips and create a Christmas tree image – even at the very last minute. Of course the DIY paper baubles also look great on their own and make an excellent eye catcher as a decorative design element. It’s up to you!
You will need:
For the baubles:
- Paper guillotine
- Coloured or crafting paper in your preferred colour
- Craft glue
- Glitter glue or metallic liner pens
- Wooden balls
- Twine
- Scissors
For the Christmas tree image:
- Picture frame and white card
- Felt tip pens, or paint and paint brush
- Round metallic stickers
- Wooden rod
- Saw
- All-purpose glue
1. Cut the paper strips to size
First, cut the desired amount of paper strips to size. You will need three strips measuring 1.5 x 15 cm for each paper strip ornament. A guillotine from Dahle is the easiest, fastest and safest way to make straight cuts.
2. Glue the strips together
In the next step, connect the strips crosswise by placing a dab of craft glue at the centre of the strips.
3. Make a hole
Once the glue has dried, make a hole in the middle where the strips overlap. The best way to do this is with a darning needle or a punch.
4. Decorate your paper strip baubles
Now it’s time to decorate the paper strips. We recommend using glitter glue and applying it evenly to the strips. Alternatively, you can use metallic liner pens (in one or multiple colours), which also stand out beautifully on dark paper. You can draw lines, dots, circles, waves or other patterns – let your creativity run wild!
5. Thread the twine through
Attach a small wooden ball to the end of the twine and secure it with a knot. The wooden ball makes the almost weightless paper strip bauble a little heavier so it will hang straight later on. It also serves as an additional eye catcher within the bauble. Now feed the twine through the hole in the middle.
6. Close the paper bauble
To complete the ornament, take the craft glue and stick the opposite strip ends together so they form a symmetrical spherical shape.
7. The grand finale
Knot the twine into a sufficiently large bow and then add a second small wooden ball above the paper bauble. And there you go!
Instructions for the 3D Christmas tree image
- Use a thick black felt-tip pen to draw a stylised Christmas tree onto white crafting paper and place shiny round stickers on it for decoration.
- Put the image in a frame of your choice: a basic picture frame is great, one with a deeper frame will look more three-dimensional.
- If you want your paper strip baubles to hang straight in front of the tree you have drawn, use a saw to cut small sections of the wooden rod to the desired length and attach them to the image with all-purpose glue to create an innovative branch-like look.
- Once the glue has dried, hang the paper strip baubles on the wooden rods. And your unique modern art Christmas tree is finished!
© images: m² raumkonzepte
In the hustle and bustle of the run-up to Christmas, your stylised Christmas tree will stand out as a slightly different symbol of a peaceful festive period. Surrounded by home-made paper strip baubles created lovingly by hand, your tree image will become a unique work of art. These modern decorative elements tell stories of creativity, individuality and the joy of crafting.
© Bilder: m² Raumkonzepte