Thursday, December 8, 2011

Frugal Holidays: Day 2 - Floral Tree


Ever since I made my fall floral wreath, I've been wanting to do another similar project. The wreath took a LONG time to do, and I was hoping for something a little quicker. So I decided on a floral Christmas tree. It still took a while, but not quite as long as the wreath - mainly because the flowers are only 2 layers instead of 4. (I definitely learned a lesson there!)

Here is the lovely fabric I picked out for the Christmas tree....
(YES, I'm kidding about the "lovely" part!)


But really, this is the fabric I used - I loved the red color, but not the big yellow flowers. So...I cut around them! This piece was folded in half for this picture, so there was quite a bit of fabric. I found it at my favorite thrift store, where they sell fabric for 10 cents a pound - so this piece ended up being about 3 cents!

For the tree, I used a foam cone from Hobby Lobby (bought with the famous 40% off coupon!) The total cost of the project was under $5 - of course I had hot glue already on hand.


I painted the cone red just in case any showed through the flowers.


Then I went to town "melting" some flowers (for instructions on that, see my Fall Floral Wreath tutorial). The only thing I did differently was that instead of stitching the center of each flower together, I just hot glued them. Another time saver!

Finally, I added some glitter balls left over from my Wreath #1 to add a little bling.


Extreme close-up:


Now my only dilemma is where this little guy will stay for the rest of the Christmas season. Right now it's resting on top of our piano with my Snow Village houses, but I'm thinking I need to find another spot where it's not so hidden.


By the way, I love our piano for many reasons - it's an antique (although the guy who tunes it has asked more than once why we keep spending money on it!) and it's a really cool piece of furniture! It's also the perfect spot for my houses and for our family photos during the rest of the year.



This floral tree is another great Frugal Holiday decoration!

P.S. I noticed this morning that Google Friend Connect only shows 10 followers! :( But when I go into my dashboard, all 25 are there. Anyone else having this problem? I know that Eva at Delightful Creations had the same thing a while ago...so it must not be anything I'm doing wrong (I hope!) Any suggestions on how to fix it??

Linking up to the following parties:



7 comments:

  1. Your floral tree is very cute. I love you lighted houses too. I did a post on mine a couple of days ago.
    Google Friends connect is not showing all of my followers either.
    Barb

    ReplyDelete
  2. your floral tree is adorable! love your houses on the piano too...i hope to start a collection of them soon. google friends does the same thing to me! so lame. i'm your newest follower though...so does that make me 11? or 26? :) would love it if you'd come check ours out too!!
    funwiththefullwoods.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, you've got quite a village there! It looks lovely! Thanks for linking up! ~Jen

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very beautiful version with the deep red flowers! And talk about thrifty!! Way to upcycle :) Thanks SO much for sharing at the Winter Wonderland linky party over at I Gotta Create!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this tree idea and your fall wreath made me want one bad! What great, fun, inexpensive ideas. Thanks for linking up.

    Allie
    next2nothingcrafts.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. So pretty & creative. Great job using what you had on hand too!

    Warmly, Michelle

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Michelle, I love your tree. You can see that you have put a lot of love into it. Thanks for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete