Box and Christmas Tree Tutorial

Today I am the hostess for Hostess Monday over at Digital Delights.  I decided to try another tutorial and I came up with a great 3-D Christmas tree to used in a box scene.

I have had this scene on my mind for some time and I finally had time to work on it.  I got the tree idea from a card that a fellow blogger made last year. Her tree was flat, but I envisioned it in 3-D. The box is a typical Exploding Box with two sides glued together to form the room for the scene.

Box Instructions

• My box is a bit larger than normal. Cut 3 pieces of the base cardstock 5" by 12".  Score all three at 5" width wise. The 5" piece forms the base of the box.  
• Cut 1 piece of the base 5 1/2" by 12.  The extra 1/2 inch is to be glued to an adjacent piece. Score this piece at 5" width wise and the extra 1/2" on the long side.  Cut off the 5" portion of the long scored strip.
• Apply strong glue tape to the 1/2" portion. 
• Decorate the outside of the box sides.  I used Bazzill Red and DD Winter Wonderland digital paper.
• Glue the larger box side to one of the other box sides so that they are securely connected.
• Cut a piece in an alternating color for the box lid - 8 1/4" square.  Score this piece at 1 1/4" on all four sides. Cut through a short piece of the lid edge as shown.  At this point you might want to decorate the edges of the lid.  I used a Martha Stewart edge punch on my edges.

• I decorated the outside of the box and lid with BossKut Poinsettias and lot's of leaves from MS Leaf and Cottage Cutz Greenery.
• I also cut out circles and a lacy circle for the sentiment from DD Naughty or Nice Sentiment Set

Christmas Tree

To make the tree I used a paper cone base and lots and lots of Martha Stewart sprigs.

• Cut a half circle of your tree base paper.  I used a dinner plate as my template. The radius of the tree should not exceed the size of your box so mine is 5 1/2".
• Cut about 1/3 of the half circle away and apply strong glue tape to one edge.
• Roll the half circle around until the edges overlap and secure the glue tape to the other side.  This makes a perfect cone that will stand on its own.
• Next punch dozens of little sprigs. I used two different colors of green card stock.
• Begin to glue the sprigs around the cone in rows.  You can also glue sprigs to sprigs to extend the width of the tree.
• Keep gluing until you have covered the whole cone.

Creating the Scene

In my minds eye I wanted to create an indoor scene of the family decorating the Christmas tree.  One of my fondest memories growing up is of my mom and grand parents decorating the tree a few weeks before Christmas. They would dance around the room to wonderful music putting everything on the tree in just right place.  The room would sparkle from fire light bouncing back from the brightly colored ornaments and tinsel around the tree.  Fire crackled and the whole house smelled of cinnamon and fresh baked cookies.

When the lid is removed, two sides drop down to expose this wonderful scene. I plan to use this as a decoration on one of my side tables in December.

Here is the tree in the process of being decorated.
You can just see the Christmas Fireplace in the background .

Outside the house is the Post Girl delivering Christmas cards and letters.
She is greeted by the family dog! (the dog and lamp are from Carolers Accessories)

Joyful Joey will hang the candy canes on the tree.

The Christmas angel is played by Joyful Jamie suspended from the edge of the box with wire.

Wreath Racy hangs on for the fun!

The Christmas Kids are ready to decorate the tree.

A Touch of Christmas Sentiment Set

Ginger Baby enjoys the scene from the comfort of the hearth.

Ridley Stocking is hung by the fire.

A basket of cookies from the Carolers Accessories Set.

Well that is my Christmas scene with a box and tree tutorial.  What do you think?

Project Recipe

Images:  All images are Digital Delights

Paper: The base is made with Very Vanilla, the outside paper is Winter Wonderland and the paper inside is DD Baubles and Tree Paper Pack

Markers/Inks: Distress Brick Red and lots of Copics (my favorite reds - R32, R35, R37, R39, favorite greens - G20, G21, G24, G99, skin - E00, E01, Hair - E50, E53, E57, favorite blues - B93, B95, B97, B99, other colors to round out the scene include C1, C3, C5, C7, Y11, Y13, Y17, Y28, E11, E13, E15, E17, E18, E21, E23, E25, E27

Embellishments: Spellbinders Circle and Lacy Circle, Holly Accents, and BossKut Poinsettia die, MS Leaf punch, Cottage Cutz Greenery, Prima Pearls, Stickles red, gold and silver

Challenges for this Project:

• Make it Monday - Always anything goes  ** Selected by Lisa **
• ABC Christmas - Anything goes
• The House That Stamps Built - Anything but a card
• Just Keep On Creating - Anything goes (Christmas)
• Simple Create - Anything goes
• Brown Sugar - Anything goes
• Crafty Ann's - Christmas
• Fussy and Fancy - Anything goes  ** top 5 ***
• Stampin for the Weekend - Anything goes

Hope you enjoyed my two little tutorials today. It would be wonderful to see more of these Christmas trees popping up in blogland.

Have a Great Day!

NancyD