Christmas Trees Tips

Make Your Own Glitzy Tree Ornaments

Those fancy, glitzy Christmas tree decorations sure are beautiful but, truth be told, they can be pricey. The truth is, however, that you can create your own spectacular ornaments in your own home. To create these little masterpieces, follow the simple instructions below: You will need:

• Cookie sheet
• Aluminum foil
• Glass ball ornaments with removable metal caps
• 6-inch square Styrofoam block
• Drinking straws
• High-tack white glue
• Micro glitter in beautiful colors (silver or gold works well)

1. Cover the cookie sheet with foil.
2. Take the caps off of the balls and set them aside.
3. Place the Styrofoam on the cookie sheet and place a few straws in it.
4. Place a couple balls on the straws, cap side down
5. Make designs on the sides of the balls using the glue.
6. Sprinkle the glitter over the balls and allow to dry.
7. Shake off the excess glitter and replace the caps.

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Decorate with Wreaths

If you've decided to decorate your tree using the traditional red and green color scheme, here's an inspiring idea you can use to create tiny red wreaths out of miniature pepper berry branches:

You will need:

• Green floral tape
• 3-inch diameter Styrofoam rings
• Pepper berry branches
• ½ inch floral pins
• 1/3 yard of 5/8-inch-wide wire edged organdy ribbon (white with gold trim)
• Scissors Hooks

1. Wrap the entire surface areas of the rings in floral tape then lay them on a flat surface, wrong side up
2. Break the branches into smaller pieces and attach to the foam rings using the pins. Apply berries to pin heads using the glue gun. Continue until the entire ring is covered.
3. Tie organdy ribbons to the floral pins, making knots at the midpoint and secure to wreath.
4. Attach to tree using hooks.

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Drape Your tree with Gorgeous Rose Accents

Half the fun of Christmas is decorating, want to make a beautiful accent to drape over your Christmas tree? How about some gorgeous silky roses cascading across that tree?

Here are some simple instructions that will enable you to create your own rose accents:

You will need:

• Wax paper
• Clothespins
• Spray paint (color of your choice)
• Silk roses (same color as spray paint)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• 5/8-inch-wide ribbon in coordinating color
• Scissors

1. Cover clean, flat surface with wax paper and place clothespins on it.
2. Apply a light coat of spray paint to the clothespins and let dry.
3. Apply a second coat, let dry, then flip over and repeat on other side.
4. Position clothespins hinge side up and hot glue roses to the hinges.
5. Starting at the top of the tree, clip a rose onto a branch.
6. Then, place the end of the ribbon in the pin.
7. Drape the ribbon and apply a second rose pin.
8. Continue this process until you have covered the tree with rose and ribbon accents.
9. Then, cut off the remaining ribbon with the scissors.

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Turn Tree Decorating into Family Fun

Decorating Christmas trees can definitely lead to great family bonding opportunities. When you set up that tree, why not get the whole crew together to join in the fun?

Do traditional things like stringing popcorn onto string and draping it around the tree. Then, break out the boxes of family ornaments and let everyone have a hand at hanging them on the tree.

Ribbons also make great accents for the tree so cut a roll of brightly colored ribbon into smaller strips and let everyone tie bows onto the branches. For some extra special family bonding create a holiday tradition.

Initiate an official night when everyone creates his or her own ornament. Gather a bunch of supplies (glitter, paints, ribbon, beads, glass ornaments, etc.) and keep it in a special box to be pulled out for this occasion each year. It will be great fun to watch the ornament collection grow each year and these make great mementos (remember to write the year on them).

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Think Clearly

If you found that perfect spool of ribbon that you want to use to decorate your Christmas tree but think you'll never find ornaments to coordinate with it, you're wrong. Just because that ribbon is a strange iridescent shade of blue doesn't mean that you can't match it, you just have to be clever about it.

The key to difficult color coordination lies in clear Christmas ornaments. First, pick up a box of those crystal clear balls and remove the metal caps. Then, shred up pieces of the ribbon and bunch it up inside the balls. Finally, replace the caps and you have a perfect match.

To really get creative and to provide a little contrast, drop other objects inside the ornaments as well. Some ideas include:

• Tinsel
• Glitter
• Feather
• Beads or pearls
• Bells

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Make Gilded Apples

It's a popular idea that the first Christmas tree was decorated with apples. To embrace this idea, why not accent your tree with gorgeous, gilded apples?

To begin, decorate the tree in a way that will bring out the apples; use a gold and red theme and only use subtle decoration.

Next, create your apples:

You will need:

• Wax paper Aluminum roasting pan
• Water Metallic gold spray paint
• Red plastic-coated Styrofoam apples with stems
• 1/4 yard of coiled gold cording
• Scissors

1. Cover a clean, flat workspace with wax paper.
2. Fill the aluminum pan with water and set it down away from the wax paper.
3. Spray some paint onto the water's surface.
4. Roll the surface of each apple on the paint until covered—the paint should adhere to the apples in a spotty pattern (add more paint to the water as needed).
5. Set apples on wax paper to dry.
6. Create loops from the gold cording, attach to the apples stems, and hang apples from the tree.

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Create Tiny Frosted Panes for Your Christmas Tree

There's nothing quite as beautiful as a frosted windowpane on a cold winter morning. Why not transform your Christmas tree ornaments into tiny little frosted windowpanes? The process is simple, just follow the steps below:

You will need:

• Wax paper
• Clear glass ornaments with removable metal caps
• Glass cleaner
• Paper towels
• Self-adhesive letters
• Square Styrofoam block
• Drinking straws
• Rubber gloves
• Etching cream
• Sponge brush
• Hand towel

1. Spread wax paper on a flat, clean surface
2. Remove the caps from the ornaments and set aside.
3. Spray ornaments with the glass cleaner and wipe of all smudges and finger prints with a paper towel.
4. Use the self-adhesive letters to spell out anything that you would like (Noel, X-mas, etc.).
5. Place the Styrofoam block in the middle of the surface and insert a few drinking straws into it.
6. Put on the rubber gloves then apply a thick coating of etching cream using the sponge brush. Let balls sit for 5 minutes.
7. Still wearing the gloves, take the balls off of the straws and place under cool running water.
8. Pat balls dry with towel and recap the ornaments.

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Make Your Tree Lights Sparkle Like fresh Snow

Want to make your Christmas tree lights glitter and shine? With a touch of glitter and glue you can make your store-bought lights glint as though they are covered with fresh snow. Simply follow the instructions below:

You will need:

• Cookie sheet
• Aluminum foil
• Strand of lights with removable plastic collars
• Fine glitter
• Small bowl #4
• Natural-bristle paintbrush
• High-tack white glue
• Teaspoon

1. Cover the cookie sheet with foil
2. Remove the collars from the lights and place on cookie sheet
3. Pour glitter into a bowl
4. Apply a thin coat of glue to collars using the paintbrush
5. Hold each collar over the bowl of glitter and sprinkle the glitter over the collar using the teaspoon—be sure to cover each side evenly
6. Allow to dry
7. Put collars back on the lights

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