We hope all of you had the very merriest of holidays today!
May the rest of this year be filled with great memories and moments of reflection!
—Always, Jenni and Brian
It might be a little late to post this… but, I wanted to get it out here.
So, if you like it bookmark it for next year’s holiday decorating!
But, before I begin with this year’s Christmas tree I wanted to let you in on the Christmas Trees of Jenni’s past. I love the idea of a perfectly trimmed Christmas tree. My first year as a married lady I went all out with our tree and decorated everything in pretty golds and reds. We had a plastic tree then and I spent a fortune getting pretty garlands and ornaments to decorate the house for the holiday.
It was a beautiful holiday. *Sigh*
Six months later when planning our move to Oregon
we decided to get rid of the tree (among other things). So, we got to buy my very first REAL TREE!
We got it for a steal because we always wait til Dec. 13 to put up the tree. I was so very excited picking out the tree and dreaming of all the pretty things I was going to do with it. My husband on the other hand did not enjoy the process near as much. I drew a picture for you so you can see what he went through.
Brian didn’t like putting the tree on the car. He also wasn’t very happy when we discovered that we bought a tree that was six feet around and nine feet tall… real trimming of the tree was needed.
And, while he enjoyed the tree while it was up he really didn’t like it when it was time to take to get recycled. Needless to say he nixed the real tree idea for the following years.
The next two years we decided to not have a tree at all…. we instead decorated the house using items we already had and put up a couple of “little” trees.
It looked something like this (including the sad faces missing the tree):
It was slightly prettier in real life though:
So, to avoid sad faces, real trees or plastic trees that take up space year round…
I needed a new idea for this year.
That is when I saw this at a local Anthropologie:
Image via The Little Things We Do
And, of course I had to try it!
So, while I didn’t take photos of each step I did want to put up a small tutorial on how to make your own fabric Christmas tree.
Supplies:
—Chicken Wire (we got 9 feet of it but could have used a little more probably)
—Lots and Lots of fabric cut into 2 inch by 12 inch strips (I ended up using about 10 yards)
—A large stick and a bucket to use as a base for the tree. Fill the bucket with heavy items like rocks and tape the stick in place. I think you could also use other items to serve as the base of the tree…. the chicken wire does a lot of standing up on its own. We used a small trash can and the cardboard roll from a large spool of fabric.
Step One:
Create a cone like shape out of your chicken wire. This is not an easy process. It takes some time and you might get scratched. Sorry.
Step Two:
Tie fabric strips onto chicken wire skipping some of the holes so that the fabric lays nicely.
Keep going…
Step Three:
Wrap lights around tree and add fun ornaments. I added fabric flowers. 🙂
The Final Product:
I think the tree looks slightly like something out of a Dr. Seuss book!
Close up:
Inspired by the party dresses I posted a while ago, the lack of money in my bank and two blogs I just discovered I decided to make my dress this year for my birthday/holidays. And, because I didn’t take photos of the process I decided to draw you some pictures of the entire crazy process.
Not feeling my best I spent my morning surfing the blogosphere and searching for affordable dresses on-line. While searching I came across “Yours Mine Ours: Sharing our Freepiled Home and Wardrobe” and “Chic Steals”— Two fantastic blogs that cover all kinds of fun ideas for re-purposing clothing. I literally spent all morning looking at these sites and getting ideas for my own dress.
So, I then took the time to measure myself and draw out some design ideas.
Notice my “Math Face” as I try to figure out how to make my measurements into a pattern.
I actually did take a picture of this part of the process. I then had to figure out what fabric to use. I looked through all my fabric and was becoming disappointed when I remembered a thin tablecloth I had made for some previous parties that I couldn’t use anymore because of the wine stain on it.
I figured I could cut around the wine stain and it would make a pretty dress.
Next, I cut the pieces out!
Then came the sewing… this party included ruffles and creating 27 hand rolled roses.
It took FOREVER! But, I really liked the end product.
I plan to not do ruffles again for awhile now… they turned out cute but sewing them on to the dress ended up really challenging my sewing ability.
Hand rolled flowers (and one really bad seam just so you know it was made by hand)
More hand rolled flowers
The whole dress
Happy Holidays from me and my hubby!
