The white tree center-left is the one I made for my friend Julie. Turns out she collects miniature trees unbeknownst to me!
Last year I went crazy making miniature Christmas trees! I gave most of them away but I did manage to keep a few for our family.
They really are pretty simple to do. I ended up going to Michael’s craft store and buying up all the little trees they had on-hand, brought them home and bleached them in our laundry sink. There were some tutorials out on YouTube and that’s where I learned how to bleach them. How to Bleach Mini Christmas Trees *I used about one cup of bleach in enough water to cover the trees (there were 29 of them, and I did them in two batches). * Leave them overnight and pull them out and rinse them in the morning. *Let dry on paper towels. Then decorate!
Caution: I tried spray snow but that made my asthma go wild! Don’t try it ~ made me sick. ;( *Use Gesso instead! 🙂 The gesso worked wonderfully and that’s where I got the idea to decorate the pinecones, if you saw yesterday’s late Saturday/early Sunday posting. *Just dry-brush on the gesso and let dry. No mess, little smell, easy clean-up! 🙂
When the trees were dry again, which is soon because gesso dries really fast, then you can go wild decorating! I used a lot of old bits of wire jewelry things that I have had forever! I also bought some strings of mini pearls in different colors, other beads that come on strings (that I cut apart). These are over in the jewelry making section. Sooooo convenient!
I even cut intoa long, inexpensive necklace that I had purchased at Forever 21 because it had really large pearls! and I needed them! I also used silver, gold and red beads that I had lying around. *Beads, a glue gun and zillions of glue sticks, and you are done! Was a fun craft to do while watching t.v.
This was also a great craft to use up a bunch of leftover goodies I had used with my old Girl Scout troop back when my daughter was younger. 😉
Our Christmas tea for my tea group last year. I gave a tree to each of my friends, as well as coworkers at school. Was great fun!
Now, for the monster tree… That I didn’t bleach. I found it at Joann’s craft store this year. But I DID add the silver baubles off the necklace! 🙂
We bought the tree’s “base” when we went up north for Thanksgiving, where we stopped in Clovis, California on our way back down {as I wanted to visit this favorite antique shop}. Not that I needed anything, but I LOVE all of the unique hardware this place has! I’ve found old door knobs there, that ceiling fixture and other cool stuff. Some of it is waiting to be turned into other crafty ideas! 😉
Just a few of the trees I made this year.
Most I gave away as presents.
Well, there at this store I found this old
cover plate for a ceiling fixture from the early 1900’s
(my guess).
It was $5, so it came home with me.
As soon as I saw it I thought of making a
monster Christmas tree!!!
I went and found a big tree 60% off at
Joann’s,
brought it home and my hubby
*helped me cut down the base
to fit inside the hole of the fixture.
*Then, he used a heavy adhesive epoxy glue to stick it to the underside
of the fixture.
*Because the tree was so tall, he thought it needed more weight
so…
*He mixed up some concrete we had lying around so flipped it upside~down and clamped it in place,
put that cement over-top of the glued-in piece
and around the edges of the cut base-piece.
*He previously ran fishing line around the tree’s trunk four times,
creating four hanging lines,
and hung the whole tree, base and cemented light fixture upside-down
for two days.
Thankfully, the cement idea worked
and
didn’t leak through the fixture’s hole (hence the epoxy). 🙂
Update: The base is an upcycled ceiling light fixture base. I found it at that antiques/hardware store in Clovis, California the same city that my son won the state track and field championship in the pole vault two years prior! {Just thought you’d want to know.} Was a HUGE weekend for our family then!
So proud of Peter Chapman ~ 2012 CIF State Track and Field Champion!!!!!
p.s. Thanks for sharing!
And, you see the amazing results!
Great job, Charles!!! {he cemented in the tree to the base for me}
Happy tree making to you all!!!
Sharing with:
Sew It Cook It Craft It ~ Sew Historically Waste Not Wednesday ~ Raggedy Bits
Feathered Nest Friday ~ French Country Cottage #Bloggingfifty ~ Facebook Duct Tape and Denim ~ 12 Days of Upcycled Christmas Crafts http://ducttapeanddenim.com/
