Giving the Tree the Trim

Last night I put the finishing touches on our Christmas tree at home.  We brought it home 2 weeks ago but because I was sick forever it seemed like I didn't get a chance to start decorating it until this weekend.  I also kept running out of craft supplies so I had to keep going back to the craft store in order to finish the tree.  Truth be told we finished decorating it the night we walked it down the street from the boy scout lot but after we had all the ornaments up I decided it was not very impressive.  After all the trees I decorated at the store and saw at the Festival of Trees I decided ours could be much better with some cheap and easy add-ons.  So I started over!

Above is the first attempt at decorating our tree.  It was fine but there was no central theme connecting our ornaments to each other.  It looked like they were thrown on at random.  Also, there just wasn't as many ornaments as we needed to fill in a 6 1/2 foot tree.  So with some clever thinking, I put together more ornaments that didn't cost much and that would tie the whole tree together.

This was the first tree topper we put up there.  Its just a plain star looking lonely on the top branch.

This photo shows 3 of the new additions to the tree that didn't cost more than $20 altogether to make.  I bought pink tissue paper and made a set of 10 carnation like flowers that were about 6 inches in diameter that I stuck around the tree.  I also bought a stack of scrapbook paper for $10 and made a set of 15 paper fans that I clothes pinned to the tree as well as 15 silhouettes of Charlotte, the bunnies, Oz and myself.  I traced our images onto printed paper then layered it onto a second sheet of paper and then hot glued fancy ribbon around the edges.  On Charlotte's I added a cut out heart and scarf detail.

Bunny girl's photo.  Also in this photo is another addition to the tree.  The purple glitter garland in the top of the photo.  I probably spent the most on the garland.  I bought 4 strands of this to wrap around the tree.  I paid about $36 for the garland.

Oz.  His beard makes him look not as close to himself as I thought.  He kinda turned out like Santa.

Me. Altogether I made 3 sets of each family member.  I made an extra 4th set that I am saving to clip onto our stockings when I finish them so I can tell everyone's apart.

My buddy boy.  He's so dapper!

I made a bunch of these tree ornaments a few years ago and was selling them at a craft market.  I had a bunch of misc. buttons my grandma gave me so I used them for these trees.  I found them in my Christmas collection and thought they would look really nice with our tree.

My beach gnome I bought in Lincoln city when my mom and nana came to visit.  Poor little gnome had a fall the other night and I had to hot glue his leg back on.  He is resting while it recovers.

The improved tree topper.  I left the silver star at the top and added two magnolia sprays I bought 2 for 1.  I thought they were very beautiful and elegant.  And then I added my favorite owl tree topper I bought a few years ago.  He is so classic he matches many different tree designs.

From the before photo to the after photos it looks like I removed a lot of the ornaments that were first on there and replaced them with all new ones.  Actually the only one that I did not keep on the tree were these paper origami ones I made a few years ago.  I left all the other ornaments on the tree.   Just adding a few new ornaments and decorations that shared a theme really made the whole tree one completely work of art.  And the best part is I only spent about $60 for new decorations that will last for quite a few years.  I had lots of fun making my own ornaments and putting the tree together.  I am still working on the decorations for the rest of the house.  When I finish I will be sure to add them to the blog.

The final touch to the Christmas tree is a pen around it to keep Charlotte away from the presents and the ornaments.  I caught her twice running round with packages and ornaments from the tree.  Naughty girl!