I shared cards I’ve gotten from friends over the last year or so..

I started with a styrofoam tree base from the Dollar Tree..link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9whbps

I made marks with a black Sharpie 1/2″ apart from the bottom of the tree to the top, and then turned the tree and made the same marks all the way around the tree so I had a way to make sure my fabric pieces were in straight rows. I took fabric and cut them into strips that ranged from 1/2″ wide to 3/4″ wide, then cut them into 2″ lengths. I folded the 2″ pieces in half and glued the open end shut with hot glue, making the strips 1″ long. I had four different fabrics, one small plaid, one larger plaid, one floral and a gold fabric. The gold fabric didn’t have much body, so I took gold diamond wrap from the Dollar Tree link: https://tinyurl.com/488cks8p and hot glued the diamond wrap to the gold material…Otherwise you’d be able to see through the diamond wrap to the tree beneath, and I didn’t like that idea.

I took a candle holder link: https://tinyurl.com/yj55sh74 and cut a lollipop stick into three equal parts, then shoved those parts into the center of the foam tree so I could put the tree on the candle holder and hot glue it once I was finished with it and it would be stable. I hot glued fabric to the bottom and top of the tree. Then I started with the 1/2″ mark nearest to the bottom of the tree and hot glued (on low setting of my hot glue gun so I didn’t melt the tree) the fabric pieces in this order. Small plaid, gold fabric, large plaid, floral pattern, then small plaid, gold fabric, large plaid, and floral pattern, repeat until I made it all the way around the tree. I made sure that I always overlapped the pieces so there were no gaps in the fabric, and I made sure that the last piece glued down was the floral pattern, so I had complete patterns on every row. So if I was getting down to the end of a row, I planned out how to make sure I ended with the floral pattern, either by using thinner strips or thicker strips…then I went to the next line and started with the small plaid, but offset it on the small plaid below it by half, so half of the piece I was putting down was laying on the small plaid beneath it and half was laying on the gold piece. I worked my way up the tree and made sure I used thinner strips when I was nearing the top, so I could ensure all patterns were on every row.

For the tree topper, I took a wood star I bought a few months ago at my Dollar Tree (but couldn’t find now) and added Versamark ink to it then used Tim Holtz Gold Tinsel embossing powder and heat set it. I did the same to the back, then added a second layer to both sides, then once it was cool, I took gold glitter from Arteza and added it to the star after I added a layer of Bearly Art Glue and smeared it around so it was a fine consistent coating. I hot glued the bottom of the star and added it to the tree top. I had some small gold flatback pearls that I glued around the tree and added some small ornaments that originally were for wine glasses then hot glued the candle holder and attached the tree to it.

I was happy with the end result and hope you are too.

• Uncategorized