DIY Summer Kissed Pleated Paper Holiday Tree

Happy Monday and welcome to our Christmas in July week! Are you ready to celebrate some holiday spirit – with a seasonal twist? This year, I’m taking inspiration from stories I created for my children about summers at the North Pole. Even Santa, the Mrs. and the elves need a week of warmth and sunshine to recharge for the Christmas season! Let’s mix a bit of summer into the holiday season with a summer kissed pleated paper holiday tree, trimmed with daisies and a sunshine star– it’s Christmas, summer stylin’!

I loved – and still love – creating fun and fantastical stories for children. In between the hundreds of books I read to my children when they were little, I made up tons of stories. Even years before I became a Mom, as the oldest of my cousins, I used to entertain them with made-up stories. I even wrote little plays for all of the holidays in elementary school, and with my merry band of buddies in tow, we were allowed to go from class to class to share a little holiday joy. Yep, you can safely say I was never shy and the roots of my holiday spirit run pretty deep!

To create our summer kissed tree, I used my Martha Stewart Scoring Board to score the pleat lines, just like the patriotic door rosette I recently made. If you don’t have scoring board, you can use a metal ruler and paper embossing stylus. It takes just a few simple supplies to create this summertime holiday tree.

• 8” Styrofoam cone
• 12” x 12” cardstock in green and lime (Mine is from Michael’s)
• 1 sheet of white & yellow cardstock
• Small daisy paper punch – mine is by Marvy Urchida
• Liquid Pearls in Buttercup, by Ranger
• Stickles Glitter Glue in Yellow (optional)
• Craft glue, scissors and straight pins

The tree is made of eight layers of pleated paper rings, attached to the foam cone with straight pins. It’s kind of like making rosettes. Each pleated “ring” is created by gluing together two pleated lengths of paper to form a ring. All of the paper lengths are 12”, except for the top ring, which is 11”. Here are the sizes to cut for each layer:

First (bottom) layer: 3 ½” wide x 12” long
2nd layer: 3” wide x 12” long
3rd layer: 2 ¾” wide x 12” long
4th layer: 2 ½” wide x 12” long
5th layer: 2 ¼” wide x 12” long
6th layer: 2” wide x 12” long
7th layer: 1 ½” wide x 12” long
8th (top) layer: 1 ¼” wide x 11” long

Score all the paper, fold and glue into rings. Maybe I’m in summer holiday haze, but I find this relaxing! It’s great to do while watching Christmas Keepsake week on Hallmark – ok, or any other show on TV. ? Let the kids help fold!

Gather the first 3” wide ring around the Styrofoam cone so that covers the bottom. Attach the pleated paper to the cone with straight pins, placing the pins within the pleat folds. Use as many pins as you need for the ring to be secure.

Continue adding the rows of pleated paper, letting as much of the previous row peak out as you like. The top row will extend above the Styrofoam cone; use just a few straight pins at the bottom and add some glue to the center top. It’s ok that there’s a hole in the top – that’s for the sun to shine!

Punch out daisies from white cardstock; I made 32 daisies. Make the daisy center with Liquid Pearls; it gives a pretty, pearly dimensional center. Let dry.

Draw a freehand sun with swirly rays from yellow cardstock. Add some sparkle, if you’d like, with yellow Stickles and let dry. Trim your summer holiday tree by attaching the paper daisies with craft glue. Top it off with summer sunshine! Add a bit of glue to one of the sun’s rays, insert the ray into the hole at the top of tree and let dry.

Isn’t this so pretty? I just love this summer kissed holiday tree on my hall table. You could create an entire forest of summer holiday trees with all kinds of flowers and seasonal trims. Let your Christmas in July spirit run wild!

Speaking of Christmas in July, you cannot miss the awesome giveaway going on! Don’t miss your chance to grab some early holiday shopping bucks in our $500 Cash Christmas in July Giveaway. Contest ends on July 14th!

On Wednesday, I’m taking a popular recipe from last holiday season and giving it a Christmas in July touch. I hope you’ll stop back to share the summer holiday joy and thanks for visiting today!

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