3D Spooky Trees

Just in time for Halloween, here are 3D spooky trees designed using the slot method. With my previous posts, 3D Leafy Trees, and 3D Evergreen Trees II, there are now 15 different trees using this method that you can make to decorate your village.

I designed my trees with slots that fit Cricut Kraftboard. Be aware that if you are going to use heavier chipboard, you may have to widen the slots a little with scissors or a craft knife.

I cut most of black Kraft board and then decorated. Though I have taken picture after picture, I have found it very hard to capture all of the details with my camera.

Left to Right: Black Kraft Board with white, grey and black glitter used as accents ~ Stardream Metallic Cardstock

Left to right: Black Glitter applied with Modge Podge ~ Painted with color shifting DragonFly Glaze (this one is particularly lovely in person, so I am sad I can’t catch the details!) ~ Patterned decorative cardstock

How You Make 3D Spooky Trees

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Materials to Make 3D Spooky Trees

My free pattern for 3D Spooky Trees from the A Cottage in the Forest Library – get the password for free by filling out the form at the bottom of this page.
Black Cardstock, Stardream Metallic Cardstock, Cricut Kraftboard or aluminum cans – your choice! Buy solid core cardstock if possible. Otherwise you will need to color your edges with a sharpie to match. Unlike with the leafy and evergreen trees, where I like to make my trunks brown and the rest of the tree green, I love the one color spooky trees. I suggest buying the Kraftboard sampler pack as it is very versatile and you can use it for many future patterns – including my other trees, gingerbread houses and any of my cottages.
Decorative Papers, Shimmer Vinyl, or Glitter Vinyl
Extra fine black glitter and Modge Podge (optional – for cardboard.)
Glue – If using cardstock, I suggest Art Glitter Glue. If using Cardboard, I like Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue. For aluminum cans, I use Aleene’s The Ultimate Glue.
A Cutting Machine like a Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore or X-Acto knife or Cricut TrueControl Knife. I know the Cricut TrueControl knife looks expensive next to an X-Acto knife. I have both on my work desk, the X-Acto for aluminum cans and the TrueControl Knife for cardstock and cardboard. I really like the TrueControl knife because the blade doesn’t twist loose while you are working. I am constantly having to tighten my X-Acto knife.
An Embossing Machine and folders. Embossing your tree can give it more depth. Look for embossing folders with wood grain patterns like the Kwan Large Wood Grain Embossing folder, or my always favorite Crackle folder by Darice.
Folkart Multi-surface satin finish acrylic paints in black (optional, if painting cardboard.)
Color shifting Dragonfly Glaze (optional, if painting cardboard.) I used the Red-Violet-Blue shift

Steps to Make the 3D Spooky Trees

Download the 3D Spooky Trees pattern from A Cottage in the Forest library
Import the 3D 3D Spooky Trees pattern into your design software and cut. Emboss if desired.
Follow the cutting line diagram to slide your tree pieces together. Glue if desired.

How To Make 3D Spooky Trees

Download the 3D Spooky Trees Pattern

Download the 3D Spooky Trees pattern from A Cottage in the Forest Library. Don’t forget to unzip it. The pattern is available in multiple formats – as a SVG (scalable vector graphics) or DXF (drawing eXchange format).

Cricut Design Space keeps changing its coding, so that files that work perfectly one week have problems the next. To this end, I will now be including a 1″ square in with all of my SVG files. Scale the pattern so that the square is 1″ to make the pattern in the size it was designed. Of course the wonderful thing about SVG files is that you can easily scale them to make your trees whatever size you would like.

Currently, I do not have a Silhouette or Brother Machine to test the corresponding files. If you have problems using those files please let me know so I can troubleshoot what might be going wrong.

Import the 3D Spooky Trees Pattern into Design Software and Cut

Decide how many pieces of trees you want to glue together. If you use all 4 pieces, your trees will look fuller. If you want it to look more sparse, only use pieces. B, C & D.

Vary the height or width of the tree patterns to make even more trees that look different from the ones you already have. Be aware that if you vary the width of the patterns, you may have to widen the slots with scissors or a craft knife.

Cut out all of your cardstock, cardboard or aluminum can pieces using my pattern. Emboss as desired.

How To Make the Trees

Cutting Line Guide …

Lay your tree pieces out, matching the cutting lines on your pieces to the red cutting lines in the picture above. Your trees will look different than those in the picture. It is the cutting lines that are important.

It is easiest to add the holographic sparkle vinyl, decorative paper, or glitter to leaves while the pieces are flat.

Constructing the Tree

Slide piece B into the bottom of piece A until the bottom of the two trees align.

Slide the bottom of piece C onto the combined A & B from the top, making sure there are two pieces on each side. Many of my trees are not symmetrical, so you will either want to ensure that all matching sides are next to each other, OR, that you alternate each side. Each option will give a different look to your tree. Try it both ways and see which you prefer.

Slide the bottom of piece D onto the combined A, B and C from the top, making sure you slide it into the slot in Piece C.

Adjust the branches and the trunks so they are spaced evenly around the tree. If you want the ability to later fold your tree flat for storage, stop here. Otherwise, I find it helpful to glue the bottom pieces of the trunk together so that they maintain their star shape for added stability. As you make more trees, you may want to pause between each step to glue the trunks of the trees together. For some trees, you may also want to glue the top of the tree together.

That’s it! Enjoy adding your 3D Spooky Trees to your Holiday Village! I would love to see pictures of your village using the trees. Please share a photo of it with me by emailing me at Jackie@acottageintheforest.com.