Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Christmas Craft #5: Birch Tree Food Banners

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As a last minute craft, I whipped together a quick touch to add to the table at Saturday's holiday party--a set of birch tree food banners. I felt really drawn to traditional woodland-inspired themes this season, and these tiny little trees make me long even more for a white Christmas.

Here are the supplies I used for these woodland-inspired banners:
 (birch paper straws, white cardstock, an X-acto knife, glue gun and glue sticks)

And now, here's how I turned paper straws into a woodsy banners for our holiday spread!
Step #1:
I started by determining how many banners I needed (1 per food item I would serve at Saturday's holiday party), and then cut each straw in half--these would become the "tree trunks". Next, I took a more straws and cut them in half vertically. 
 Step #2:
I took the straws with the long vertical cuts and cut each several times into small pieces in a variety of sizes. These pieces would become "branches" on the birch trees. I took each small piece, rolled them tightly and cut each end of the "branch" at an angle so that the branches are tapered at each end. I applied hot glue to one tapered end of the branch and attached it to the birch "tree trunks" that I made in Step #1.
 Step #3:
With the birches shaping up, I turned my attention to the banner portion of the display. I found a vintage clip art banner (free, of course) from this site and duplicated the image several times in Powerpoint. I printed a sheet on the white cardstock, cut them out and used my glue gun to attach a banner to the tops of two of my birch trees.
Step #4:
When determining the menu selection for our party, I knew I couldn't just stick these banners directly into some of the food. I mean, who wants a straw sticking out of their mac & cheese canapes? Not I. So I took more of my white cardstock, cut it into a rectangle, and glued it to the bottom of my "trees" as a sturdy base. I went a step further to apply some of my Martha Stewart glitter to the bases to mimic sparkly snow.
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That's all it took! It may seem like a lot of cutting, but the process went very quickly. 
Now I have another special touch for our holiday party!
Meet Me in Philadelphia meetmeinphiladelphia.blogspot.com
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(all via Meet Me in Philadelphia)
Straws-turned-birch tree banners...how fun, am  I right?

7 comments:

  1. First of all, did you dream this whole thing up yourself? And with straws? Wow - it's this type of project that makes Christmas so special!

    www.chattafabulous.blogspot.com

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  2. You are KILLING IT with these Christmas crafts, lady. I love these straws, but couldn't justify buying them just to look cool drinking stuff every once in a while. Victory!

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  3. cutest. ever.

    Thanks for your vote of confidence today!

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  4. These are too great! How creative you are!!
    I am having a give away stop by if you get a chance!
    Karolyn- The Relished Roost

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  5. At first glance, it doesn't look so complicated but after seeing the tutorial looks like it's going to take some effort. This should be so much fun making these banners. I love these craft projects.

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