O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree, how lovely are your…paper ornament decorated branches!

That’s right! We went there—decorated a full sized Christmas tree with beautiful ornaments made of paper!

Every year, the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy, Utah hosts The Festival of Trees, where hundreds of uniquely decorated trees, wreaths, and ginger bread houses are donated and put on display after having been sold during a closed auction. The best part is that every cent raised goes towards “A Gift of Love” to benefit children at Primary Children’s Hospital.

With some help from our Consultants, Close To My Heart decorated a tree with some pretty stunning handmade paper ornaments and donated it to this generous event.

We want to publicly thank all of those who participated in making this gorgeous tree a reality and encourage all of you out there to continue making beautiful, inspiring things!

And since we are now in full holiday crafting mode, we’ve also assembled a handful of mini 18″ trees festooned with papercrafted ornaments for even more inspiration! These trees are the perfect size to display anywhere in your home, at work, or even to give as a gift.

For starters, let any doubts that you may have about making your own paper ornaments disappear. These little ornaments in particular are especially easy to replicate. With a little help from Cricut^® shapes and ready-made complements, you can have one of these trees done in no time!

Round ornaments are a must-have classic. We cut several circles using our Cricut^® (some 1″, some 1¼”) to make the ones you see here. The 3-D circles are four of these circles (all of the same size) folded down the middle then glued to each other. Before gluing the last piece, completing the sphere, add a loop of twine or ribbon to later hang it from the tree. The hearts, snowflakes, reindeer, even the “MERRY CHRISTMAS” garland, are all Cricut^® shapes (see the recipe at the end of this post for details).

Above, we ink embossed some circles with a dainty heart and sewed a bunch of other circles together to create a colorful garland.

Here’s another take on using Cricut^® shapes to decorate your tree:

One of the great things about all of these Cricut^® shapes is that you can make them any size you want—even large enough to decorate a full sized tree if you’d like!

This next tree uses both Cricut^® shapes and die-cuts:

Sometimes you just have to think outside the box, or kit. Do you recognize these gold glitter bows? They came from our Cut Above^® Merry Everything Tag Kit. And the red glitter ornaments? We used some of the Thin Cuts from the Christmas Paper Doll bundle!

Our Complements also make for some great (and easy!) mini ornaments!

The topper, “Merry Christmas,” and red glitter poinsettia shapes all came from our Silver & Gold and Beary Christmas Complements. Easy peasy!

Once again, we thank everyone that participated in creating our beautiful tree that was donated to the Festival of Trees—we hope all of our local readers will be able to attend—and we wish you the merriest of crafting as you create your holiday magic!

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RECIPES

3D Circles Mini Tree
X7225B Beary Christmas Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5975 Cranberry Cardstock, Z3237 White Glitter Paper, X7225C Beary Christmas Complements, Z3216 White Twine, Z3364 Basics Ribbon Pack, Z3389 Cricut^® You Are Here Collection, Z3285 Cricut^® Flower Market Collection, 18″ Tree

Cricut^® Shapes:
You Are Here
¾” Icon-5 <f> (p. 24, M27629F7)
¾” <font> “MERRYCHRISTMAS”

Flower Market
1″, 1¼” Flower-2 <7> (p. 7, MD38983)
1″ Shift + Title <Bracket> (p. 9, MD400B4)
1″ Shift + Icon <A> (p. 21, MD43349)
¾” Background <c> (p. 33, MD70813)

Circles Garland Mini Tree
D1748 My Acrylix^® Oh Snap! Stamp Set, Z891 VersaMark™ Ink Pad, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5941 Bashful Cardstock, X5966 Pansy Cardstock, X5967 Pacifica Cardstock, X5984 Pixie Cardstock, X5978 Glacier Cardstock, X5979 Juniper Cardstock, X5970 Willow Cardstock, X5960 Fern Cardstock, X5971 Lemon Cardstock, X5983 Sorbet Cardstock, X5963 Poppy Cardstock, X5965 Ruby Cardstock, Z3237 White Glitter Paper, Z4014 White & Gold Twine, Z2068 Range™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder, Z555 Craft Heater, Z3285 Cricut^® Flower Market Collection, Sewing Machine, 18″ Tree

Cricut^® Shapes:
Flower Market
¾” Flower-2 <7> (p. 7, #MD389A5)
1¼” Shift + Icon <M> (p. 37, #MD71842)
2″ Shift + Icon <M> (p. 37, #MD71842)

Deer Mini Tree
1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3238 Gold Glitter Paper, Z3239 Silver Glitter Paper, Z3216 White Twine, Z3167 Cricut^® Artistry Collection, Z3285 Cricut^® Flower Market Collection

Cricut^® Shapes:
Artistry
1½”<Thksgvng> (p. 45, #M58A32F)

Flower Market
¾”, 2″ Shift + Background <A> (p. 21, MD43349)
2″ Flower-1 <g> (p. 25, MD43349)

Gold Glitter Bows Mini Tree
Z4053 Christmas Paper Doll Stamp + Thin Cuts, X5951 Espresso Cardstock, X5950 Toffee Cardstock, X5959 New England Ivy Cardstock, Z3241 Red Glitter Paper, Z3329 Thin Cuts—Basic Stars, Z4048 Cut Above Tag Kit—Merry Everything, Z3285 Cricut^® Flower Market Collection, Gold Thread, 18″ Tree

Cricut^® Shapes:
1¼”, 1½” Flower-1 <g> (p. 25, MD67851)
1¼” Flower-1 <Holly> (p. 48, MD7AA86)
1¼” Shift + Flower-1 <Holly> (p. 48, MD7AA86)
1¼” Flower-2 <Holly> (p. 48, MD7AA86)
¾”, 1″ Icon <Ponsetta> (p. 49, MD7AF93)
¾”, 1″ Shift + Icon <Ponsetta> (p. 49, MD7AF93)
1″, 1½” Shift + Container <Ponsetta> (p. 49, MD7AF75)

Merry Christmas Tree
X7225B Beary Christmas Paper Packet, X7226B Silver & Gold Paper Packet, X7225C Beary Christmas Complements, Z3216 White Twine, Z3169 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

Cricut Shapes:
Artbooking
1″ Icon <o> (p. 56, M3D45C)
1″ Shift + Icon <O> (p. 56, M3D45C)

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