Sunday, August 21, 2011

Shabby Christmas Tree Tutorial -- Easy and inexpensive!

Search Amazon.com for christmas decorationsHere's a wonderful and quick way to decorate your home for Christmas.  You could probably whip up a few of these in no time and set them up on a hallway table to make a festive entrance to your home.  I found this tutorial on Creations by Kara and wanted to share it here with you.  Please visit the original site and let them know how your trees turn out.  There are many other wonderful tutorials just waiting for you there.

If you do make these, please send pictures so I can see you handywork.  I would love to hear any comments you may have, too.


1-Start with one of these styrofoam trees. They’re everywhere right now; you can even find them at the Dollar Store.


2-Decide what fabric you would like to use. I used canvas, but you can use anything you like. Burlap is all the rage right now, and I’m sure it would work perfectly. :) Tear strips of your fabric about 1″ wide.
3-To cut your strips, stack a set of three or four strips on top of each other. That way you can cut four at a time instead of having to cut each strip one at a time.
4-Cut the strips about 4 inches long.

5-Take each strip of fabric and glue it together at the top. It only takes a tiny bit of glue. I used hot glue because it is the fastest. Now you will have a little loop of fabric:







6-Attach the first loop to the bottom of the tree form. You want a little bit of fabric to hang below the styrofoam.

7-Keep adding on loops of fabric, overlapping them slightly. It doesn’t matter if the tops are even, you just want to make sure the bottoms of the loops are even with each other.

8-Keep adding loops till you get all the way around the tree. See how the tops are totally uneven? Doesn’t matter.

9-Now you are ready to start the next layer. Attach the first fabric loop so that it lays in between two of the loops on the bottom layer. You want them to be staggered (like bricks), and not just glued on in straight vertical rows. Now keep adding loops just like you did for the first layer.

10-Repeat this process till you get to the top of your tree. (If you run out of loops like I did, just tear more fabric and make more.) Make sure the top layer of fabric pokes up above the styrofoam. You don’t want any of that ugly stuff to show. Just take that extra fabric, fold it down, and glue it to the top of the styrofoam. You can trim off some of the fabric if it is too bulky.
11- Now your tree should look something like this:

12-All you have left to do is fluff up the loops to even out your tree. Then add embellishments. I tore tiny strips of red and green fabric and tied them into bows. I used a piece of gold ribbon for the bow at the top. You could use buttons, ribbon, berries, bells, stars, whatever you like!!

Here is the version of the tree with green fabric:


Thanks to Kara for such a wonderful tutorial on making these Christmas trees. 


Search Amazon.com for christmas decorations

Monday, August 1, 2011

Make Hanging Christmas Stars -- Tutorial from The Magic Onions

Here is a wonderful tutorial I found on The Magic Onions that I think you will love.  These are so beautiful and easy to make.  I hope this year to make many of them to hang in the house as Christmas decorations. 
Please visit the original blog to see not only this tutorial, but also many other wonderful ideas.  Let me know if you make these and send me pictures.  My fingers are just itching to get started......

These are just so creative!  I can imagine having these stars everywhere, can't you?
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What you'll need;
Square paper or card (any size will do... if your paper is not square, cut it into a square before you start.)
Scissors
Glue (I find glue dots work the best as there's no drying time)
Ribbon

Start by folding your square paper in half, making a rectangle...
Fold this rectangle in half again, making a square...
Open your folded square up...
Now fold you big square diagonally (corner to corner), making a triangle...
Fold your big triangle in half again, along the middle, making a smaller triangle...
When you open your paper, this is what your folds look like...
Use your scissors to cut along the 4 folds on the straight sides of your paper. Cut a little less than half way up the fold...
Lie your paper flat, upside down. Fold cut paper back, along the diagonals folds (as in photo) making points at the corners of the paper.
These points will be the points of your star.
Fold all cuts into points.
Now for the gluing... put a dab of glue (or a glue dot) onto one side of each point of the star...
Pull the other side of the point over the side with the glue and stick... this makes your 3D star point.
Repeat for each point...
One side of your star is ready.
Repeat all folding, cutting and sticking steps with your second piece of square paper... you will now have the two sides of your square.
Position them, one on top of the other, with the middle points facing outwards and stick them together using a few dabs of glue or glue dots and...

Voila!
Glue your hanging ribbon onto your star.
Your star is ready for hanging!
They really do look lovely anywhere... so bright and colorful!We have some in our window, some hanging from our beams and even more decorating our cabinets.
And they really are easy to make, I promise! Once you make one and get the hang of the folding and cutting, you will be able to churn these pretty stars out in a matter of minutes. They make very sweet holiday gifts for friends and neighbors too... go on, have a go, make some stars!

Blessings and magic!
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