Pretty Paper Christmas Trees

I explained in “Christmas No-No Decor” why I had to switch it up this year due to my naughty kittens. We are in the throes of training them…they are just a little hard-headed.

I was excited to try something new and this vision of blue and red came to mind. I went with it.

 

Apparently, the motivation from naughty cat-dom was just the challenge I needed. Without spending a dime and using things that I had on hand, I created a whole new fancy look for my mantel this year.

 

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own Pretty Paper Christmas Trees:

3/4″ Dowel Rods or PVC pipe
3/4″ Scrap Plywood
Coffee can lid
Jigsaw
Palm Sander & Fine/Medium Sand Paper
Drill and paddle drill bits
Oops Paint or Spray Paint
Hot glue gun & glue sticks (not pictured because they were warming up for their duties)
Wrapping Paper (I used both robin egg blue and brown parchment)

 

I had two pieces of leftover 3/4″ PVC and a 3/4″ Broom stick that someone had gone ninja on. I used all three pieces to make my three trees.
Mark the desired height of trees onto the PVC or dowel rod with a sharpee. I cut my lengths to 18″, 24″ and 32″.

 

Using the jig saw and a wood blade, cut the PVC or dowel rods at the marked lines.

 

Outline the coffee can lid onto the scrap plywood. This will be the base of the trees.

 

This joke never gets old, “Cut it out.” (Courtesy Uncle Joey.)
Meaning, cut the plywood circles out with the jig saw.
Using a 7/8″ paddle drill bit attached to the drill, drill into the center of the plywood, without going all the way through.

Sand the pieces of plywood using the palm sander. Sand the PVC and dowel rods by hand with a loose piece of sand paper.
Make sure the PVC or dowel rods fit into the holes in the plywood.

 

Hot glue the PVC or dowel rods to the plywood. Make sure you burn at least two of your fingers in this process.

 

Spray the entire thing with two coats of your favorite paint. Let dry.

 

While the tree stands are drying, cut out 3″ square pieces from the wrapping paper.

 

Roll each square into a cone shape that resembles this one. Hot glue the very end to the cone.

 

Pour a glass of wine and then do that same thing about 20 times more for each tree-depending upon the height.
Some of my trees required about 20 cones, the tallest about 30.

 

Starting about 6″ away from the base of the tree, begin hot glueing the desired colored cones to the PVC or dowel rod. Move up about 3-4″ and add another round of cones. Continue doing this until you reach the top of the tree.
I made one tree that was all blue, one with rows of alternating blue and brown parchment paper, and one that alternated within the same row blue, brown, blue, brown, etc.

 

I insist you make a mess while doing this, just so I don’t feel bad.

 

Add one last cone to the top of the tree, covering up any of the remaining PVC or dowel rod. Add a few cute birds, candy canes or alternating colors.

 

Fancy it up with some cute deer, sparkly tinsel and leftover ornaments and call your mantel decorated!
Merry Christmas!

DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath

It is officially December. Let the Christmas games begin!
Truth be told, I have been listening to Christmas music since November 8th. That morning it was chilly, Biceps suggested we turn on “the Christmas cheer” and we haven’t looked back.
I love creating new wreaths each year for Christmas. Last year, I made two wreaths for Christmas-”Silver Twig Wreath” and a “Whimsical Silver Wreath“ that I dismantled this year and re-used for parts.

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle, right? Here is this year’s DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath that took just a few minutes and a few pennies to create. It’s so purty.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own DIY Vintage Aluminum Wreath:
A large dinner plate, charger or lid to a popcorn tin
Coffee can lid or something similar
Scissors
Cardboard
Aluminum Foil
Leftover ornaments-plastic, glass, fabric-whatever floats your boat
2′ + of Ribbon
Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Using your dinner plate/charger/lid, trace a large circle onto the cardboard.

As Uncle Joey would say, “Cut it out.”
If you don’t know what that reference was, I apologize. It’s a little Gen X humor, I suppose. Or is it Gen Y? If I had my choice, I’d rather be a Gen Z because it rhymes with Ginseng and just sounds so much cooler. But, I digress.

Trace a smaller circle smack dab in the center of your large circle using a coffee can lid. Cut out the smaller circle. The cardboard will now resemble a large donut. Yum.

Wrap the front and back or the cardboard “donut” with aluminum foil.

Tear off 2-3′ sections of aluminum foil, fold in half lengthwise. Place an end of the foil on the aluminum donut and hot glue that sucker down.

Make 3″ loops of the folded foil, hot glueing each loop down to the aluminum donut an inch or so away from the last loop. Continue doing so until you are out of foil. Start over with another 2-3′ piece of folded foil until the entire wreath is covered in looped foil.

Cut a slit in the top of each loop with your scissors (this simultaneously sharpens your scissors and makes a killer wreath, by the way).
“Poof out” each loop randomly. “Poof out” is the technical term for “fluffing”.

Loop the ribbon in half, hot glueing the ends to the backside of the wreath.

Hot glue the chosen ornaments on the front side of the wreath, interspersing them willy nilly between the “poofs”.

One DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath is now ready for your front door. Hang it up and call it a day. Grab a glass of wine and realize just how awesome you are with your hot glueing skillz.

Vintage Lace Fall Wreath

With the change in weather comes a change in wreaths for most front doors. My front door needed-nay-demanded a fall wreath. Armed with some lace and an old tablecloth, I hot-glued my way to a Vintage Lace Fall Wreath.

I’ve been hanging onto a vintage lace curtain (given to me by my beautiful sister-in-law) and a vintage embroidered tablecloth full of holes and stains. They were perfect for the demands placed before me by my front door.

 

Here’s what you’ll need if you’d like to create your very own Vintage Lace Fall Wreath:
Lace Curtain or section of material
Embroidered tablecloth, or something similar
Foam Wreath (mine is silver because it’s recycled from my Whimsical Wreath I made last year)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors

It’s that simple-let’s get started!

I cut my lace to be about 12″ wide, leaving it as long as the curtain already was-about 8′. Hot glue an end section of the lace to the backside of the foam wreath.
Now, grab your partner and wrap the lace ’round and ’round the foam wreath.

 

Here’s the wreath all wrapped up in the lace. On to the embellishments (from the vintage tablecloth/fabric) that make it cute!

 

Cut out your desired embellishment from your tablecloth or fabric.

 

Wrap the raw ends of the fabric underneath, hot glueing the embellishments around the wreath however you see fit. Leave enough of a section on the side of the wreath for a bow.

 

With your remaining lace, cut out a 12″ square of fabric.

 

Gather the raw ends of the lace together, making a bow. Hot glue the bow to the side of the wreath you earlier left blank.

 

Add another embellishment in the center of the bow, if you so desire. I did-so I did.

 

Here’s a little up close and personal of my finished product.

 

My pretty Vintage Lace Fall Wreath is finished and ready to serve its purpose on my front door!

DIY Spinning Composter-Video Only

I wrote a post a few weeks ago outlining how to make a DIY Spinning Composter. I had such a huge response from this particular project, that Biceps and I decided it needed a video to go along with it.

And here’s a little excerpt from that tutorial on my DIY Spinning Composter:

This year was my first year for a full-fledged garden. I consider it full-fledged because it produced enough to not only feed Biceps and I, but it also allowed me to dehydrate, freeze and give-away the excess.To be honest, I was just happy that anything sprouted from the earth.

I give props to the composted kitchen and yard waste that we added to the soil-this garden seemed to outperform many of my neighbors’ gardens.

And just in case you don’t want to go spend your hard earned dollars buying a fancy composter in excess of $100 bucks or more, I thought I would show you how to make your own using some recycled and some store bought materials for about $30 in a matter of hours.

If you’d like to see step by step instructions, along with photographs, here’s the link to my DIY Spinning Composter.