What To Do With All Those Christmas Cards?

This craft reminds me of my childhood.  Why?  Because I made a ton of them in my childhood.  Everyone I knew got one as a gift.  I think I first saw this project in a magazine while at the check out line of the grocery store with my mom.  It's really simple to do.  Make a cup of tea, put on A Christmas Story (don't you just love that movie?) and before you know it you'll have the cutest Christmas card tree ever.    

To start, you'll need a bunch of Christmas cards.  They can be left over from last year, or you can swing by the dollar store and pick up some new ones.  You'll also need a hole punch, scissors, a glue gun, a terracotta pot, a wooden dowel, and a Styrofoam block.  First, stick the wooden dowel in the middle of the Styrofoam block, and glue the block to the bottom of your pot.  You'll want to trim the block to be flush with, or lower than, the top of the pot.  And then, the fun begins. 

Make yourself a template.  What?  No free printable?  Not this time.  The size of your template depends on the pot your building your tree in.  It should be the shape shown in this picture, and should be a bit longer than half the diameter of the pot.  Make sure you write Template on it, so you don't confuse it for a leaf.  I've done that.  Not fun.

Use your template to trace out your first leaf.  Then punch a hole in the rounded part of the leaf.

Next, bring the two corners together and secure with a dab of hot glue.  You really don't need much glue to get the ends to stick.  I think it goes without saying, but the two ends that are glued together will be the underside of the leaf, so make sure the patterned side of the card is facing out.  

Ta da!  One leaf complete!  Now, make a some more.  Thread the leaves onto the wooden dowel, working around in a circle.  

Once you have completed 2 rows, trim the template slightly.  Make some more leaves, complete 2 rows, and trim the template again.  The leaves get smaller as you work up the tree, forming a tree shape.  Pretty clever, right?

Once you get to the top, your leaves will be pretty small, and you'll probably burn yourself with the glue gun.  But, look how cute this tree is!  Well worth it, don't you think?  You can even get creative and use all red cards, or all blue or green cards.  I made one once using the inside of the cards, so each leaf had the hand writing of my friends and family.  Top if off with a bow, or an ornament, or both, like I did.