Christmas Fun - Folded Magazine Tree

This is thanks to our very talented Art Teacher who came along and ran an 'Art in the Park' workshop with the kids. A pretty straight forward paper folding exercise, but can be a little tedious and time consuming. It took B a full hour just for the folding alone, so I would recommend this one for older children and those with more patience. B aged 9 completed this entirely on his own, although was a little over it by the end.

Supplies are simple - a magazine, craft glue, spray paint and a few tree decoration.

Start with the cover of the magazine and fold the page inwards forming a triangle as shown above.

Now fold the same page again, in towards the spine, the neater and more accurate the folds the better the end result will be. Yes there will be a piece of the page hanging down over the bottom of the magazine.

Simply fold that piece up on top of the folded page. Glue it in placee (the small folded piece that you just folded up that is) if wish, although not neccessary. Personally I would, but only use a small dab of glue you, don't want it seeping through and sticking magazine pages together.

Continue on with the same folding technique for EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE. IN. THE. MAGAZINE. This is where you need some time and patience. The thicker the magazine the more folding required. Finally, when you feel like you simply cannot fold one more page,

You will end up with something resembling this. Already looks pretty cool doesn't it! You will need a small amount of glue to hold the two outside covers together.

Grab your can of spray paint in any chosen colour. Obviously in this instance a christmas colour such as gold, silver, red or green would look great. And spray, making sure you get in between the pages of the magazine. Remember to do this outdoors and watch where the breeze is blowing otherwise you may end up with overspray all over you!

Then you are free to decorate in anyway you wish. A grouping of these would look really nice as a centrepiece.

What Christmas Fun have you been getting up to lately? Don't forget to link up each week between now and Christmas and share all of your fun Christmas ideas. Crafts, Recipes, Handmade Gifts, Traditions and anything else you enjoy this time of year.
This weeks Christmas Fun Link Up can be found here. Check the Christmas Fun link up for this week for more great ideas and to add your links.