Making junk mail Christmas trees

You can make this fab looking Christmas decoration out of old magazines and junk mail in minutes. It’s so easy with no complicated patterns, cutting out or special skills needed.

Liz Wingrove posted a picture of some junk mail Christmas trees on our Facebook fan page. We were intrigued and she pointed us in the direction of Leslie Smith-Gidden’s blog in the US called Mad Maggie Designs. Half an hour later this paper tree here was adorning my sideboard. Unbelievably simple and here’s how (with very grateful thanks for the instructions from Leslie’s blog)…

What you need

• One magazine or piece of junk mail
• Some glue – Pritt stick, PVA or similar
• Whatever you like in the way of glitter glue, metallic spray, paints and other stick on sparkle!

TIP: This seems to work best with thin paper magazines or brochures – the paper makes sharper creases. The one above (and in the instructions) is an old Lakeland catalogue, about 80 pages and A4 (that’s a bit bigger than US Letter) and printed on thin coated paper. I also made this one out of a Guardian Guide (not the cover) which is about half the page size and printed on a thin uncoated newsprint paper.

And you’ll notice that this tree has a pot! It’s a tiny seed plant pot sprayed gold. The ‘tree’ sits on top of it.

Step 1

First take your magazine or junk mail brochure. Take the upper right hand corner of the first page and bring it down so that the top edge of the page rest against the binding of the magazine.

Step 2

Now crease this first fold, carefully. Again, take this page and fold it over until the crease rests against the binding of the magazine. Crease second fold.

Step 3

Finally fold the triangle (that overlaps the bottom of the magazine) upward so it will be even with the bottom of the magazine, crease it. The first page is finished.

Step 4

Continue folding & creasing the remaining pages. When the magazine is completely folded, glue or tape the front and back pages together. Leave it as it is or you can decorate it like the ones we made, using glitter glue, spay paints and a fabric star (the same as in the Christmas card video).

Before you know it your house will be festively festooned with folded paper Christmas trees on every available surface and your junk mail recyclying box completely empty. Thanks again to Liz Wingrove and Leslie Smith-Gidden for the inspiration, instructions and help. Have fun – and get the kids involved too.