I’m going to be honest, I’m having a little trouble getting into the Christmas Spirit, especially since the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is sooo short this year. It’s taken me all week to finally get the house decorated, switching out the regular for the seasonal… and I’m not really sure I’m done, but here’s what I have so far:
The tree is up and decorated, the mantle, the stockings I made last year, the nativity and a couple of new paper Christmas trees I made this year (more on that in a minute). And we had to rearrange the living room configuration to fit the Christmas tree because we moved some other furniture into the place the tree normally goes. Not sure if we like it yet, but we’re going to leave it for now… and see.
The entry table. Usually, I use this tree on the present ledge, but I thought I’d spice things up a bit this year. Again, more on that in a minute.
The door wreath: It’s the same wreath every year, I just always do it a little different… mostly because I can’t remember what I did last year!
Lastly, the present ledge: This little ledge in the entry way began holding presents the first year we lived in the house because we had a puppy. A puppy I was very afraid would eat the presents. And then, we had a baby and a puppy. And now, while the puppy is more like a dog and probably wouldn’t mess with the presents, we have a toddler. So this is just the place we put presents! I needed a few Christmas trees to pair with my diy advent calendar. Which, of course, I redid this year. This time, I used some cord (left over from a pillow, I think) instead of yarn and I just hot glued it into place instead of using the dowels. I should have started a little higher… boo.
Now on the the fun part, how to make a Christmas tree! There are tutorials all over pinterest, so if you don’t like this one, I’m sure you’ll find one you like. This is a mish-mash of several ideas I found there. To begin with, you need a cone. You can buy one at a craft store, or make one using some card stock or poster board. To make one with poster board, it’s best to pick a side (depending on how tall you want it) and then draw an arc of the same distance to the other side. I used a piece of yarn and a pencil to make a compass to do this, but it doesn’t have to be too exact as long as it stands up when you’re done!
I found a fun tutorial using sheet music or old books to cover a cone in strips, but sadly I don’t have either of those. What do I have? Hmm… stacks of old magazine! So I tore out blue pages (’cause my Christmas ornaments are blue and I’m kinda on a blue kick right now) and then cut them into 1 inch strips:
Then I drew circles around my tree (roughly an inch apart, again, not exact) and began hot glueing the strips around the tree. Before doing so, I used a straight edge to gently round the corners. I had to be careful though because the thin paper tends to get carried away with the curling.
Do this all the way to the top (I trimmed the edges of the top pieces on mine) and…
Top with a star or ribbon, or whatever you come up with. Wah-lah! A tree!
The white trees are coffee filter trees, which I found this excellent tutorial for here. However, I used hot glue instead of mod podge like she did, so either way, I guess.
And that’s how I’ve used my 2 snow days this week. If a house of Christmas decorations and the 8 inches of snow we have so far doesn’t get me in the Christmas Spirit, I don’t get me in the Christmas Spirit, I don’t know what will!