This is a companion article to How to Create Holiday Joy in Your Online Support Group. One of the suggestions was creating your own Christmas tree and then challenging your group members to share their own pictures (of anything meaningful to them) as a means of help decorating the tree. If you’re interested in knowing how I create mine, you’re in the right place. This tree is five feet wide and over seven feet tall (counting the trunk). The best part about making this huge wall tree is that it’s super easy. It’s all about connecting rectangles and triangles. So, ready?
What you need for this Christmas tree:
- 9 green poster boards
- 6-9 brown card stocks or construction paper
- Scissors
- Elmer’s Glue
- Painter’s Tape or double adhesive tape (So that you can stick it to the wall once your creation is complete.)
- Another person around to help you hang up this huge tree.
Step 1
Set aside 3 of your poster boards. You will not be cutting 3 of them. You will see why in step 3.
Step 2
Cut 6 of your poster boards into isosceles triangles. Go from the tips (bottom corners) to the midpoint at the top. Remember that you want wide triangles, not tall ones. Otherwise your tree will be over eight feet and not many people have ceilings that can accommodate that.
So, widest (28 inches) part of the poster board should be the base of each triangle. See the diagram above. The white represents the poster board. The green represents the triangle you want to get out of the poster board.
One more thing. Don’t immediately discard those right triangles (the white areas in the above diagram are called right triangles because of the 90 degree angles) that you cut out. In some cases, you might need them once you complete the tree and stick it to the wall. More on that at the end.
Step 3
Now get the 3 uncut poster boards out. Lay out 2 side by side (the wide angles, 28 inches) with just enough overlap that you can glue those edges together into one extra-wide rectangle. (See the diagram under step 5, which will show how the combination of steps 3-5 will look.)
Step 4
Center the third rectangle (wide side against wide side) right above the extra-wide rectangle. Give that poster board just enough overlap so that you can glue it over the edges of the extra-wide rectangle. It should look like a two-tiered rectangle.
Step 5
Now add your first triangle. Place it just above the top (single) rectangle. Make sure the bottom tips of the triangle match up with the top tips of the rectangle it’s touching. Slightly overlap the triangle so that you can glue it to the top of the rectangle.
The above diagram shows how it should look so far. Now you have created the treetop of your Christmas tree but hold on. We still have two more rows to go.
Step 6
We need two triangles for the middle section. The top tip of both triangles need to line up with the bottom tips of the top triangle. While the base of both triangles should meet up perfectly with the top edges of the extra-long rectangle. Think “tip to tip” on this step. The top tips of both triangles in this step should meet up with the bottom tips of the top triangle from step five. While the bottom outer tips of both triangles should meet up with the top outer tips of the extra-long rectangle. See diagram, which is probably showing it better than I’m explaining.
Since half of both triangles are overlapped on the top rectangle, you have plenty of room to glue these pieces in. Don’t neglect gluing them onto the extra-long rectangle though. That’s also important.
Step 7
Now for the bottom row of the tree. It’s exactly the same as step 6 except we are using three triangles (the last of the triangles) instead of two. We need three triangles because we want to cover that awkward overlap spot in the middle between the two poster boards that created the extra-long rectangle in step 4. So. treat two of the triangles exactly as you did in step 6. Then place the last triangle in the center. The top tip of your last (bottom middle) triangle should meet with both bottom inner-tips of the triangles you added in the last step. See diagram:
And no, you will not have a green and white tree like the diagram shows. (Unless you used white poster board for your rectangles and if you did, all I have to say is why??) The white parts are only there to show you where the uncut poster boards are compared to the cut triangles.
Step 8
Now for the tree trunk. This depends on how long or short you want your tree trunk. Personally I like a longer trunk because it gives other people ideas on adding old traditions as decorations for the bottom of the tree. For example, a rocking horse, “presents”, or a train set. Anyway, I use three card stocks across and three card stocks down – so, nine total for the trunk.
Depending on your preference, start by centering your first card stock underneath the bottom section of the tree. Overlap it slightly so that you can glue it. Then add cardstock on either side of this one. Overlap them slightly so that you can glue them to the center cardstock and don’t forget to also glue these pieces underneath the bottom of the tree. Then add your next row of brown card stock or construction paper underneath and glue it all together in the same way. It’s up to you if you want a longer trunk (third row of card stock) or a shorter one. See diagram on how either size trunk will look. And look! I got rid of the white so that you will have a better idea of how the completed tree will look.
Just play with it. Start by centering your first card stock right under the tree and then decide how wide and how long you want the trunk for your Christmas tree.
The Completed Christmas Tree Waiting for Decorations
Unless your arm span is unusually long, you will want assistance from someone to put this huge thing up. If you didn’t get double adhesive tape (Good for you if you didn’t, because your walls will thank you after you take this down post-holiday season.) I recommend painter’s tape. Just tear off a piece from the roll and twirl it around your finger to “make” it double adhesive tape. Then start sticking these pieces to vital areas of the back of your Christmas tree.
Once it’s stuck to the wall, check for any awkward spots (EG: glue leaked to the other side and it isn’t as “pretty” as it could be.) and play with positioning those right triangles you set aside. Once you decide on appropriate angles to set them, glue them to the tree. You may add as many of those leftover triangles as you wish for more texture or additional points of your Christmas tree.