And another minature Xmas tree...

This little tree is decoupaged paper on a cardboard form. Then I wrapped garland with twine and then wrapped and glued that over the paper. A simple thin dowel and block of wood finishes it off. The star is just wood that's been painted.

Miniature Christmas Trees

As I've mentioned in previous posts, every year I try to make a couple miniature Xmas trees. I made more than ever this year- about 6 in total. (Hmm, yes, I got a bit carried away.) It's a bit hard to see, but this tree is velvet cording glued to a cardboard form. I then glued the gold and red rick-rack on top of the cording. The stand is a wood dowel glued into a wood block.

2014's Xmas Tree

Ever since Gerry and I  stopped putting up a full size Xmas trees a number of years ago I've tried to create a new, miniature tree every year to add to my holiday display. 

The 2014 entry is pictured above. I began it's creation by punching out a multitude of 1 inch diameter circles of decorative paper. Then I pinned these into a Styrofoam tree. I used an actual twig from our yard for the trunk and the stand is an old wooden cap that I saved when we tore down our old deck. The tree topper is a tart cup with a painted wooden ball on top.

I counted my miniature Xmas tree collection this year and I'm now up to 18 !

Christmas Tree Tutorial

Christmas Tree Tutorial

(sorry about the long time since my last post, I hope this will be worth the wait!)

One of my goals this year was to begin posting photographic tutorials on this blog. My choice for my first foray into this uncharted (for me) territory is a decorative Christmas Tree.  So here goes…

We have a small house, and while I love full size live Christmas trees I didn’t like having to rearrange my entire house to accommodate one. I tried small “floor model” fake trees but that didn’t cut it for me either. So, about 3 years ago my BFF gave me a miniature tree, and then she gave me another one and so now I have the healthy beginnings of a miniature Christmas Tree collection.

I have some parameters for my collection: 1. the trees must be handmade or be trees I buy and then add handmade elements to, 2. they have to be under 2 feet high-otherwise storage becomes an issue, and 3. I try to repurpose and recycle the majority of the material that I use in creating them.

Last year I began making a tree a year myself. And the tree I’m going to show you how to make in this tutorial is a variation of that design.

So before we begin the tutorial, here's a look at the finished product, I'm not completely happy with it, and I've already got an idea of how I'm going to change it. When I do, I'll update this post with a new photo.

Here's a photo of some my raw materials. ( One of my favorite parts of begining a project is going through my gee-normous cache of supplies to select what I need.) I didn't use everything shown here- but this was my "inspiration pile" of supplies.

 

 

My Material List:

1.       Two yards of the material I used for my shower curtain last year

2.       An old brass toothbrush holder -or any other item that you can use as the base of your tree

3.       A white Styrofoam tree

4.       One box of dressmakers pins

5.       Found objects for the “star”

6.       Paint

7.       White glue

8.       Sharp scissors

The first thing you have to do is plan your base. For my tree I used an old brass tooth brush holder. In later shots you'll see I spray painted it brown. But right now I just want to be sure I have a way of joining the tree and base together. So, I just dug a hole in the base of the tree, when the foam tree has been decorated I'll glue it onto the base. 

 

 

 

 

Next, cut one circular piece of fabric at least two inches larger
than the bottom of your Styrofoam tree.

 

And cut a hole in the center of the fabric.

 

 

Pin it in place.

 

 

Now do the samething with the top of the tree: cut a small circular piece of fabric
and pin it over the very top of your tree.

 

 

Next, cut at least 50 - 4 inch by 4 inch squares of your material.

Fold each square as shown below.

 

 

Fold and pin, and fold and pin, keep going until you get to the top of your tree. Stagger and slightly overlap each piece of folded fabric.

Ah, we are at the top of the tree! What to do? I found an old metal pastry piping cone and covered that with fabric and finished my tree off with it by glueing it into place.

A tree needs a star. My solution was to paint over a star pin, first with white paint and then with gold paint.
(be sure to remove the pin backing with a pliers.)

I painted some heavy cardboard disks with blue and gold paint to use as a foundation for my star.

 

 Further embellishment. I wanted to add a little something else to my tree so I pinned ball and chain into place using pins.

 

And here we go, the completed tree!

 

 

 

 

Xmas Tree Revisited

I've had a request to post the directions for making the Xmas tree that I showed in the previous post, I'd love it, so stay tuned!  I should have those up in a week or two. In the meantime, in answer to your questions, I used 1 and 1/2 bandana to make the tree.

Xmas Tree Revisited

I wanted to make sure that we weren't too far past the holidays without mentioning this little tree that I made for my Xmas tree collection. My sister, S. spotted the idea in our local A.C. Moore and called me over to check it out. It's made of tiny squares of bandanna, folded and pinned individually into a styrofoam cone. All I added were an ornament for the top and a stand. A perfect little black and white tree!

The Xmas Tree Collection Grows

BFF L added two more trees to my Xmas tree collection this year! (Thank you L. I love them!) The  rope fabric tree was almost completed when she gave it to me and we collaborated on it to finish it up- I found the perfect old metal stand for it which only needing repainting in a lovely holiday green.

And I made a tree this year- a fabric tree made up of tiny squares of bandanna pinned one onto top of the other.

More Xmas Trees!

 Last year my BFF, L. made me this gorgeous miniature Xmas tree. I fell in love with it, and right there a potential collection was born. I've requested/pleaded/begged her to make me a tree every year, and bless her she is doing just that.

Here is her 2010 Xmas tree, she really outdid herself! I love you L.

The Pez Xmas Tree

A few blogs back I mentioned that Gerry had complained about the number of Xmas decorations we have amassed over the years, and you will recall I tried to get rid of an old Xmas tree. Instead he took pity on this Charlie Brown tree and took it into work, where he decorated it with Pez dispensers.