Festival of Trees: Features!

Oh my goodness... now that Thanksgiving is over (::burp::) we don't have to be embarrassed about our incessant need to Christmas craft!!  Yay!!  

I hope you've enjoyed my Festival of Trees so far.  I have a couple more I want to try but I have to get home from my Thanksgiving vacation first!

In the mean time, I will show you some fun trees from some readers as well as some I've seen around the blogosphere.  You people are geniuses!

First up,  these cute and CHEAP tinsel garland trees from The Beehive Times.  Rolling posterboard into a cone is so smart and thrifty!   Plus you can make much bigger trees that way!  When I make mine this way from now on, pretend you didn't see this so you'll think I'm smart, k?  Love these!

The Beehive Times

 Next, some cute ribbon trees from Colorful Conjectures of a Crafty Mom.  I can see right now these have endless possibilities.  I think my little girl definitely needs about a hundred of these in her room this season!

Colorful Conjectures of a Crafty Mom

My final reader feature for the day comes from Heather at From My Home.  Look at that cute button tree!  She also made a fun ribbon tree and pompom tree as well so be sure to click the link and check them out too!

From My Home

The web is currently chock full of fantastic crafty trees and who am I to keep them to myself?  Here are some I've seen around lately a that I love!

Desiree from The 36th Avenue did a guest post on Tatertots & Jello and showed how to make these fun, whimsical cupcake liner trees. I might have to break up with some of my other trees and make these instead.  Can you stand them?

The 36th Avenue

And I love these from Creative Mommas.... trees made out of tissue paper! 

Creative Mommas

 For a cute 2D-ish art piece I loved this tree made from rolled up scrapbook paper!  So cute and totally customizable to your style.

Leslie Ashe

 And finally, I have been searching high & low, but for some reason the garden centers aren't carrying tomato cages right now.  Wha??  Don't they know I NEEEEED them for Christmas??  I have to make these trees for the pots on my front porch.  I won't give up my search but I'm worried these will have to wait until next year.  (anyone local have a couple rusty tomato cages they aren't using? I'll be your best friend.)

New England Design

So there is my "Crafty Christmas Tree Round-Up" for today.  Have you seen any to DIE for trees lately?  Share!  I'd love to see them too.  

Festival of Trees: Folded Paper Trees

Today's installment of "Landee's Festival of Trees" comes directly from Martha Stewart's latest publication Handmade Holiday Crafts.  I LOVE this book.  Love it.  These trees were so dang cute I just had to give them a try!!

Supplies needed: cardstock of choice, bamboo skewers, wood candlestick holders (shown below), wooden finials (shown below), hot glue.

First, cut your cardstock into circles.  My largest circle was 6".  I then did two 5", a 4" and a 3" circle for the larger tree.  For the smaller ones I just did a 5", 4" and a 3".

Next, fold your cardstock circle in half and crease well.  Repeat this evenly around the circle 8 times until you have 16 folds.

Fold circle "accordion style" and barely snip off the tip.

Repeat until all your circles have been folded and cut.

Put a dot of glue where you want your bottom layer of your tree to be and then thread on your largest circle.  Continue with all layers of your tree.

I found these cute wooden candlestick holders at Hobby Lobby for around $3 for all six!  And the cute tiny finials below for $1.47 for nine.  I then painted them off white.  

Trim the bamboo skewers as needed to the height you want.  I also needed to trim the sharp point off to get my finials to stay on the top.   Fill the candlestick with quite a bit of hot glue and then set the bottom of your tree in it and hold until the glue sets up.  Hot glue the finials to the top and you're done!

I love these little trees!

Wouldn't they be cute all lined up along a mantle or ledge?

These are obviously a little more involved than just wrapping some fabric around a styrofoam cone but I think they are well worth the effort!

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to easy "tree themed" crafts for Christmas (and Thanksgiving!).  You can see the other posts here: Thumbtack Trees and Glitter Cardstock Trees, Thankful Tree,  and Fabric Wrapped Trees. If you have a "crafty tree" post you've done either this season or last, email me!  I'd love to feature it as part of this series {landeeseelandeedo@gmail.com}



Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Not Just a Housewife, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Somewhat Simple, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick

Festival of Trees: Fabric Wrapped Trees

Another day, another fun tree project!

This one is so incredibly easy and fast it's almost addictive.  And the possibilities with this one are literally endless.

Supplies needed:

styrofoam cone

fabric of choice cut into 2" wide strips

straight pins

First,  take a small piece of fabric and pin it over the top of your cone.

Next, fold your fabric strip in half, lengthwise, and pin it at top of cone.

Begin wrapping fabric, while keeping it folded, around cone as you make your way down.  Pin every once in a while to secure it.  (Tip: Pin near bottom of fabric so the next layer covers pin)

As you get to the bottom, pin under fabric which hangs over edge.

Continue wrapping and pinning to your heart's content!

Have you stopped to consider the possibilities with these babies?

I made some lovely earthy burlap ones.  Check them out over at Tattered & Inked today!  It's part of her "A Creative Christmas" series.

I also got a bunch of silver, shimmery tissue lamé and I plan on making several of these for my mantle.  Like I said, possibilities = endless.

What other fabrics or materials would look good using this technique?  I'd love to hear.

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to easy "tree themed" crafts for Christmas (and Thanksgiving!).  You can see the other posts here: Thumbtack Trees and Glitter Cardstock Trees, my Thankful Tree. If you have a "crafty tree" post you've done either this season or last, email me!  I'd love to feature it as part of this series {landeeseelandeedo@gmail.com}




Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee,  Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Somewhat Simple, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick

Festival of Trees: The Thankful Tree

Oh, what, you thought the Festival of Trees was entirely Christmas themed?  Well, it was supposed to be, but as soon as I saw this idea for a "Thankful Tree" I knew I just had to do it.  Too.  Dang.  Cute!  I'm sure you've seen this idea before but why should we let that stop us?

Shelly sent me the tree and saying in vinyl and I could not have been more excited.  It measures about 22"x 25" and it's only $10 (contact Shelly at Say Anything Expressions if you're interested)!  You can get it in any size, really, but for the entry I say the bigger the better.

I then cut some leaves in three different papers on the ol' Silhouette.

For Family Home Evening last night, we wrote the things we were thankful for on each leaf and then read them to each other before sticking them on the wall with masking tape.

I will admit that various kinds foods were mentioned quite a bit (Chipotle burritos, buffalo wings, my favorite cereal, etc.) as well as a couple of shout outs to the iPhones.  There may have even been a mention of a bodily function but it certainly wasn't from me.  Thank goodness family, friends, faith and our freedom were also mentioned a few times or else I may have been a bit worried!

It was probably one of our favorite Family Nights that we've had in a long time.  Highly recommended!   I'm planning on doing this annually and keeping the leaves from year to year.   I think I might find a frame for next year and stick the tree on the glass so I can pull it out and use it each year.

Wouldn't that be a fun activity for Thanksgiving day too?

As a side note I also Fall-ified my Halloween wreath.  I didn't even unpin and remove the black fabric.  I just wrapped brown fabric over the top!  Some call it lazy, I call it efficient.  

Then I added some burlap circles and "leaves" as well as some little mini-rosettes.  I think I like it better than the Halloween version.  :)

Another Christmas tree craft coming later this week!

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to easy "tree themed" crafts for Christmas (and Thanksgiving!).  You can see the other posts here: Thumbtack Trees and Glitter Cardstock Trees.  If you have a "crafty tree" post you've done either this season or last, email me!  I'd love to feature it as part of this series! {landeeseelandeedo@gmail.com}

Festival of Trees: Glitter Cardstock Trees

This is part of a series of posts dedicated to easy "tree themed" crafts for Christmas.  You can see the first edition here: Thumbtack Trees.  If you have a "crafty tree" post you've done either this season or last, email me!  I'd love to feature it as part of this series! {landeeseelandeedo@gmail.com}

You know I love me some scrapbook paper.  So it makes sense I would want to use some for one of my tree projects, right?   Were you also aware that there is such a thing as GLITTER cardstock?  It's like my detestation of working with glitter (yet loving the look) and my adoration of cardstock had a baby.... after they got married, of course.  :)

So, I picked myself up a few sheets and then got out my Martha Stewart Hydrangea Punch which I bought a while ago while working on my spring mantel.  I knew that $10 for the punch would not go to waste!

And then I got out my "dress maker pins*" (I think that's what they call these kind of pins with the ball at the end). *note, we are not making a dress.  It's still ok to use these.

I punched out a bunch of flowers and began pinning them on my styrofoam cone, starting at the bottom.

Repeat until your styrofoam cone is covered in glittery flowers!

Then proceed to make them in the colors of your choosing.  I mixed the solid green glitter with the polka dot glitter cardstock for the green tree and it turned out so cute!

I LOVE how these turned out and will probably be making a few more this year for the festivities!

PS Happy 11-11-11!!!!

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Not Just a Housewife, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Somewhat Simple, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick

Festival of Trees: Thumbtack Trees!

I love decorating for Christmas.   I do, however, dread it sometimes.  The thought of pulling all the stuff out, putting it up for a month or so and then taking it all back down can be a bit overwhelming.  But something happens every year where I start pulling things out, I put up the tree and then my decorating FRENZY takes over and I LOVE it.  Does that happen to you?

Anyway, I decided to get a jump start on my decor this year in hopes that my "frenzy" will follow suit. I'm not putting anything out yet but I have started crafting up a storm!  And this year, I want my decor to be all about the trees.  Big trees, little trees and everything in between.  I've come up with a few tree projects that I will be sharing here in the next few posts.... "Landee's Festival of Trees!"  See?  I made a logo and everything!  :)

Let's get started on the first trees I came up with, shall we?

And yeah, I think you saw this coming.  

After checking my stats, I realized that my Thumbtack Vase Fillers have been viewed almost 35,000 times!  Wha??  Yes, they have been alllll over Pinterest.  So, why not make some fun & shiny trees using the same idea?

Here is what you need.... styrofoam cones and thumbtacks.  That's it.

 

Here's how the math broke down:

6" cone= just over 300 tacks
9" cone= just over 400 tacks
12" cone= just over 500 tacks

I ordered my tacks on line at shoplet.com and got them for about 67 cents per 100.  I know dollar stores have them for a dollar for 300 of them but they are usually just the brass color and I wanted silver.  But if you want gold then go for it!

As for putting them together, simply start at the bottom of your cone and make a row of tacks around the base.

Then make another row, slightly overlapping the row below.

Continue until you have covered the entire thing!

Then repeat, repeat and repeat until you've made as many as you want.

I am imagining mine tucked into some garland with some twinkling Christmas lights glistening off of all those shiny tacks!

Other options: spray paint them whatever colors you'd like or put them up on candle sticks for some elevation.  Pair them with some thumbtack balls and then you'll really be on to something! :)

PS Do you want to participate in my "Festival of Trees?"  If you have a post you've done this year or even one from last year where you craft some fabulous trees ( of ANY kind) I'd love to post it for my other readers (and me) to see!!   Email me if you're interested!  landeeseelandeedo@gmail.com





Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Not Just a Housewife, Someday Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog, Somewhat Simple, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick