Hey friends! I hope your Thursday got off to a great start! Are you enjoying the hustle and bustle of the season? I have to say, so far I am enjoying this Christmas season a little more, and I think it is because I finished my decorating early this year. I have said it before on the blog, but I really am surprised at how much that eased my stress! From now and forevermore I will decorate over Thanksgiving break instead of waiting until the week after. I feel like having it out of the way early has helped me to enjoy the magic of Christmas a little bit more. Today I want to share a project that I actually made several weeks ago in preparation for Christmas- my candy cane Christmas tree! At least that is what I have lovingly named it because it reminds me of a candy cane with the red and white stripes. It has landed on my dining room buffet, so you will be also seeing part of my dining room. I'll be back to share the rest of my dining room soon, but wanted to focus on my candy cane tree in this post. Say hello to Snowflake Jake! He's the snowman you see below.
I actually made this tree for a little mini series I did on one of our local new channels- WBOY. Each week during the month of November I shared a Thanksgiving and Holiday craft, and this is the first time I have shared it on the blog. If you are interested in watching the video that aired on the news, you can click this link. In the video I show you how to make the tree and the materials I used. I see so many trees for sale in stores that are similar to this one that I made, and they sell for big bucks. I made mine for less than $20. I love to plant myself in front of the TV and make a good craft while I binge watch a show I love. It is one of my favorite ways to spend time!
You only need three things to make a tree like this. You need a paper mache cone, some balls that you can hot glue onto the tree, and a hot glue gun. I chose to do my tree using red and white sparkly balls that came together in a bag, and there are various sizes of balls. These were called bowl and vase filler on the package, but I can't find them on Hobby Lobby's website. I have linked below to two different ones that are very similar though. I wanted to try to mimic a candy cane with my design, but you can do yours however you want it to look.
Paper Mache Cone
Bowl and Vase Filler similar
I found when making this tree that it became increasingly difficult to keep the stripes looking candy cane like as I worked my way to the top of the tree. I did my best to keep the lines, but it is definitely not perfection. But it is good enough for me, and I do love the way it turned out. I will be pulling this little tree out and using it in my decor for probably quite a few years. To achieve the candy cane striped lines, I simply started at the base of the tree, and hot glued the red and white balls, alternating the red and white colors. As I moved up to the next row, I would, for example, place a white ball right in the middle on top of a white ball on the left and a red ball on the right.
After I reached the very tip top of the tree and rested a while and gave the tree a good once over, I noticed that you could still see cardboard peeking through in spots, so I remedied that situation by using the smaller balls to hot glue them on top in spots. As it turned out, I really like it with the smaller balls because it gave it a more multi-dimensional look.
In case you don't know already, our dining room also serves as our home office, and it is also where our little guy does his homework. I will be sharing more of this space decked out for Christmas soon. This buffet with the mirror over it I have owned since 1992. It is one my list of things I want to make over, and has been for about 4 years now. But I will get to it one of these days! I doubt that I will ever part with this piece of furniture. It is great for storage. Did you notice the gold lantern hanging to the left? My daughters bff brought this to me about a year ago. It is from an old train car, and I love it so much! I didn't alter it in any way other than to clean it. The let it snow garland that I hung above the mirror hung on my winter mantle last year. And the burlap wreath- ahh the burlap wreath that I have probably blogged about more than anything else in the past four years- here it is again for this Christmas. You can see how I decorated it for Fall by clicking here. I decided to keep it simple this year with a simple plaid bow, and a sparkly large snowflake ornament that I just hung right in the middle of the opening.
White Tree option option
This primitive snowman was made by a friend of mine from high school, and she makes and sells things like it. Isn't it cute? The large vase you see is a very expensive vase that I purchased from a furniture store one year when we won a gift certificate at a silent auction. It wasn't worth enough to purchase any furniture, so I chose the vase. I have moved it around to so many spots, and filled it with so may things. Right now it holds our family Thankful Tree that I made for Thanksgiving. I decided why not keep it around for Christmas, after all it is a season of counting our blessings, right? And it is neutral with the wood slices and chalkboard paint, so I decided to enjoy it a little longer. I made the pom poms you see hanging from it, and you can read my tutorial for making your own pom poms here. Making your own pom poms is really quite simple! The cloche you see here is a little DIY project. I picked up the glass bowl and the round tray at Goodwill, and they happened to fit together perfectly. I simply glued this glass knob on top and it became a cloche! And I just love the tiny family tying their freshly cut tree to the top of the their vintage station wagon that is under the cloche.
This vintage vanity case was a yard sale find that I painted using chalk paint. I always planned to paint the inside as well, but for now, it has burlap draped inside both the top and bottom. For this year, I filled it with wrapped gifts. You can see how I wrapped these gifts by clicking here. The wooden pedestal bowl is another thrift store find.
Peace Sign
Plaid flannel ribbon | Wrapping paper | Pine cones | Jingle Bell option
I am really tickled with how my candy cane tree turned out! I love the mix of the stripes and the plaid, and as you can see if you follow my blog, I love using traditional red for Christmas, after all- it is my favorite color, so when I have an opportunity to use it, I jump on it! Thank you so much for stopping by to visit with me today, you have no idea how much I appreciate you. I would love to know what you think of my candy cane tree. Let's chat in the comments, I love your comments, and I read every one! Have you ever made a similar Tree for Christmas? I would love to hear about it! Happy Thursday friends!
Do you have champagne taste and a tiny budget like me? Love fashion, DIY, crafting, all things vintage and thrifty? Stick with me, I've got you covered!
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