Showing posts with label Christmas tree. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas tree. Show all posts

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Time to enjoy the Christmas Lights!

Here are some videos of wonderful light shows this year for Christmas.  I don't recommend trying this yourself, unless you have plenty of money and lots of time to work on it.















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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Christmas Lights: The Ultimate Way to Decorate Your Home

A Danish Christmas tree illuminated with burni...Image via Wikipedia


 

 
Christmas lightsImage via WikipediaChristmas lights; we have all seen them and most of us have used them before. When it comes to Christmas lights, we often associate those lights only with Christmas trees.  While Christmas lights are most commonly used to decorate Christmas trees, did you know that they can also be used for much more?  If you are planning on decorating this year, you should consider using your Christmas lights for decorating your entire home.

Although many people only put lights on their Christmas tree, there are other uses for them as well.  One of those uses is for decorating the outside of your home.  You can easily find Christmas lights that are designed for outside use, particular around a home. These type of lights are often referred to as outdoor Christmas lights.  One such type of light is the icicle Christmas lights that allow the lights to hang off the side of a house.  While it is possible to find multicolored outdoor Christmas lights, you will find that they are most commonly sold in the traditional white color.

In addition to decorating the outside of the outside of your home with Christmas lights, you can also decorate the trees outside of your home.  A number of homeowners, each year, decorate the trees outside their home, often exactly like their indoor Christmas tress.  Many times, these trees are relatively small in size; therefore, small outdoor Christmas lights are needed on an outdoor tree.  Decorating the small trees in your yard is a great way to bring a touch of Christmas to your neighborhood.

Some people like to hang Christmas lights along the top of their walls. This is a great way to bring extra Christmas spirit into the home. In fact, you can even use Christmas lights to decorate one of your home’s bedroom windows.  This idea is often loved by teenagers and other children; many enjoy the twinkling lights and colors. Decorating your home’s bedroom windows is a great way to bring the Christmas spirit into a room that you may have otherwise not decorated.

You may also want to decorate your office or your workspace. Unfortunately, not everyone celebrates Christmas.  This may pose a problem, when it comes to decorating your office workspace.  However, you can still, in many cases, use Christmas lights to decorate your office.  In most cases, you will find that it is the decorations that scream Christmas that cause the problems, not the lights themselves. Therefore, if you supervisors approve, you could easily hang Christmas lights around your office walls or along the sides of your work desk.

Isn’t it amazing all of the different ways that you can use Christmas lights to decorate your home or even your office? It really is amazing how just the addition of those colorful, twinkling lights can add so much spirit to your holiday cheer.

 
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Sunday, September 18, 2011

{Tutorial } How to make a glittered felt christmas tree

Here is another tutorial for making a lovely Christmas Tree.  This tutorial is quite simple and should be easy enough for small children to participate in making these trees.  Why not make a bunch of them in various Christmas colors and arrange them on the dinner table as your center piece this year.  Give every child one to have for their own after dinner is over.

This tutorial is from Lorajean's Magazine and I hope you will visit her site and browse her other tutorials.
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I am so excited to share with you the EASY instructions on how to make this felt glittered tree. I really am super happy with the way they turned out.
Here is what you need:
  • Felt  (I used white)
  • Scissors
  • Glue gun and glue sticks
  • Craft glue
  • Clear glitter
  • Styrofoam cone  (or any cone shaped thing)
Note: I didn't use a Styrofoam cone I used a cone shaped wire tree from Dollar Tree last year, but I think they aren't there any more. You can find foam cones at Dollar Tree or any craft store.
 cut 4 large strips (2 in wide)
cut 4 medium strips (1 1/2 in wide)
cut 2 small strips (1 in wide)
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Step Two
Cut deep scallops into each strip


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Step three
Glue along scalloped edge of each strip and glitter generously.

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Step four
Hot glue each strip onto the cone starting with the large strips at the bottom and ending with the smallest at the top.

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Step five
Cut a half flower shape (for tip of tree)
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trees
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Thursday, September 1, 2011

Another Carol Duval Show video! Making Polymer Clay Tree Ornaments

Large Elf OrnamentImage by CraftyGoat via FlickrHere is a wonderful video from the Carol Duval Show (how I miss that show) that has Donna Kato making a beautiful Christmas tree hanging ornament. I bet if you watch this video, you will soon run to get some polymer clay and begin making your own ornaments. I know I will make these, but first I will watch the video about 100 times because I just love Carol and Donna Kato, but I really loved this show.

Enjoy the video!



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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

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Official Crepe Paper Christmas Tree Tutorial........

Here is a wonderful tutorial on making crepe paper Christmas trees that I thought you would enjoy.  I found this originally on AllFreeHolidayCrafts, but that link forwards you to Creative Chaos.  So be sure to visit both sites and try out some of their other craft ideas.

If you make one of these trees, I know that I would love to see it and I know that Creative Chaos would also love to get a look.

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Woo Hoo....After a back breaking day at Paper Tales (which consisted of eating pumpkin bread, talking with some lovely ladies who read my blog, solving a glitter crisis, eating more pumpkin bread, ringing up crafty customers, inadvertently letting someone know that the special crinkle ribbon that's all the rage at the Tim Holtz 12 days of Tags blog is simply seambinding, eating more pumpkin bread and then finally waving goodbye to everyone), I arrived home to two boys and a Papa who had been waiting anxiously for my arrival so we could all watch Toy Story 3 together.   Once my eyes were dry from the ending of the movie, I got right to work on my Snowflake Box kits for tomorrow's class in between five loads of laundry.  Why am I telling you this?  Because I want everyone to see that I am totally committed to keeping my promise to bring you the tutorial.......even though I really want to sit on the couch and watch a movie......
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But I must show you how to do this so you can become just as obsessed as I am.  Then I won't feel so lonely in my little world of crepe paper and glitter.   First, though, I have to tell you how it all happened.  Cindy Gilstrap, a wonderful crafter/artist, had made a crepe paper Christmas tree for the Joli Paquet blog that you can see here.   I instantly fell in love with it.  However, because I have the patience of a gnat, I decided to use my sewn ruffled crepe instead.   And the rest is history......
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Now, I did a google search to see if these had ever been done before and didn't find anything.  Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?   Let me know if you do!
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Now, here are a couple things you need to know about this project.   Number one....once you start making these trees, you will find yourself unable to stop. Seriously. Ruffled crepe paper will never be the same to you.  You will find yourself looking for reasons why you need just one more crepe paper tree in your life.
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Number two....expect to be pulling hot glue strings from your tree, your table, your body and your children for at least the next two months.
Ok....I think we're ready!
First gather your supplies.....
1. Crepe paper......I have no idea how much because I neglected to measure beforehand so let's just say a roll
2. Hot glue gun (this is what I used) or a heavy gel glue like fabri-tac or 3 in 1
3. Piece of paper to make into a cone or paper mache cone
4. Peppermint Bark candy bar (you will get hungry)
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I took a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper and rolled it into a cone.  I then glued the end at the top to secure.......
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Glue the sides......
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Cut the bottom of the cone to from the base.  Once you cut it set it on the table to see if it's even and stands straight......
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I sew my crepe paper on my sewing machine using a basting stitch and tight tension.  It ruffles up just right.  On my old machine, I had to pull the one end of the thread to ruffle it.  That works also.
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Start at the bottom with your first section skirting the bottom of the table.   Glue into place......
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Continue around the base until you meet up in the back.....

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Take it a bit above the last bottom skirt and continue around the cone.....
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I worked in sections using pieces that were about two feet long.   When you get to the end, just match end to end and glue....
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 Time for a break.....grab your chocolate......
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 Ok, back to work!    We're almost done.......

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Ta Da!  You did it!  For the very top I use a small section of the ruffled crepe paper and cut it a bit shorter than the other layers and then glue into place........

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I hope you enjoyed it!   Put a bunch of glitter on and you are good to go.  I would LOVE to see any of the ones you make.  Please send pictures!!  Ok....I'm off to bed.....I've got a class to teach tomorrow!
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