pogo: lol, I did paint each individually. If you're not as committed you could get a different look by spray painting after you've attached them all.... but I really wanted a variety of colors.

ysemine: I thought about cutting them up, but I wanted to stay true to the tubes. lol.


I hope anyone who makes similar trees posts pics so I can see!

teachart - Thanks! lol, I was thinking of posting the patterns I wrote for them, but I have to find where I put them... Story of my life. lol

Rosie1981 - I completely understand! I volunteer to teach art at a local elementary school because of their budget cuts, and supplies all have to be donated or recycled/collected. I'm just happy to have inspired you!

That's really special and a neat process. Thanks for sharing!

Absolutely! I love to share, and inspire creativity in youth! (The teacher in me lol!)

I know some people make roll crafts without the hot glue but you need lots of little clips to hold the stuff together for quite a while... so idk what age groups your working with but if they're old enough hot glue will save you tons of headache.

This is my beautiful new tree in my fantastic new apartment.  I made it entirely in one day (about 11 hours, most of them spent painting) less than a week before I was to move into my new apartment, because I needed some lightweight large beautiful artwork to bring nature into the city. It’s made entirely out of toilet paper rolls with a few paper towel rolls thrown in for good measure.  I am absolutely in love with it.



 It’s slightly over 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide.  I can’t even tell you how many rolls this took because I’ve been collecting since January and I cut as I go.  I started counting the leaves and lost count at over 200 so I’m guessing it’s 400+ ½ inch pieces all hot glued together to make my ode to nature.




To construct the tree I flattened the toilet rolls and cut them into ½ inch pieces.  Then I pinched them open to a leaf shape, and arranged them into the top of the tree.
For the trunk I didn’t open them up, instead I tried to flatten them to make a bark like texture. 
(In regards to inspiration, I learned how to make snowflakes like these years ago at school or something… since then I’ve seen ppl online make some organic cell like shapes with them, but I’ve never seen a tree, even though I searched some out after I made mine, also I think my technique is a bit different, but I still wanted to acknowledge that).

I placed the hearts in the tree because my mom has always placed hearts in the trees she draws, it’s just a family thing to represent the intertwining of love and nature.

A scale reference: this is over my XL Twin bed, it takes up a big chunk of the blank white walls.  I just hung it up with clear tacks because there are some strict hanging policies here.

I hand painted all the leaves with 6 shades of green paint left over from my mom’s wedding crafts.  So the only non-recycled element is the 2 glue gun sticks that it took to assemble.

The trunk is left in it’s “natural” state.

The hearts are also rings, just pinched a bit different.

So here’s the mini tree I first designed, but then I thought, if I’m going to do this, I’m going all out! I took all my possible designs apart and used them all to make this larger tree (pre paint and glue).






I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my new love. Now I just need to get everyone saving their rolls so I can make all the requests I’ve received. lol

Don't forget to vote for your favorite entry! Thanks!

I can't wait to submit my project! I just spent 11 hours on it yesterday without fully remembering that nature was this month's swap theme! LOL (I had to take a break from craftster because it is just too addicting!)
Can't wait to see what everyone else came up with, nature is so inspiring!

That's too funny. I love it!

so creative! I love this idea, I have a couple self watering planters and they're my favorite things ever, but spendy. thanks for this solution.

It's lovely. I have two afghans under my belt as well, and two half-way finished ones lying around, but I also maintain that I do not crochet afghans, it's too much work. lol. I'm sure that the recipient will love it for decades to come. Great color choices too!