Thrifty Christmas Tree
by
A
4 Materials
$75
6 Hours
Medium
This summer, I purchased an artificial Christmas tree at our local Restore thrift shop. It was only $25 and I figured I could work with it. Since then, I've been collecting a variety of sticks and stems at yard sales, clearance bins, and thrift shops. I also thought I'd try my hand at flocking the tree.
This is the tree just as I found it at the thrift shop.
It took a while, but I fluffed out the branches. It filled out nicely, although it was very plain.
I covered the area around the tree with plastic and applied the flocking...a simple but messy procedure. I didn't apply a heavy coat, but just enough to highlight the branches.
Here's a close up of the flocking.
Next, I added the white poinsettia stems. I found them at Goodwill. They were potted plants so I had to cut them apart.
I had a variety of red, white, and silver stems that I placed all over the tree.
Next, I added wide, glittery red ribbon all around the tree. What is best about this tree is that nothing is breakable. If you knew my grandson, you'd understand why that is so important. I also sprayed the lower half of the tree to keep my ornery collie from munching on the decorations. I tried the star at the top but it just didn't feel right.
I decided to use the 10" wide ribbon, cut into 18" lengths, to create individual loops for a big bow. Michael's had an amazing deal on the ribbon...the whole amount for the entire tree was only about $8!
I folded each length in half...
...then scrunched the open end together. I used red twist ties to keep it together. I made about 9 of these.
I placed them in the tree at the top to form the bow.
And this is the finished tree! My grandson was here and he loves that he can touch it without everyone freaking out.
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Comments
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4 of 80 comments
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Spectacular!!! Beautiful!
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Well done. Gives me the courage to try next year. It was an extraordinarily sad one this year. No tree - no NOTHING. Next year will be better.
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Thank you so much. You brought tears to my eyes.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Did you put the lights on before you flocked?
"I also sprayed the lower half of the tree to keep my ornery collie from munching on the decorations" -- what spray did you use?
What a lovely tree! How hard was it to flock? I bought flocking but haven't had the guts to try it out yet! I've watched bunches of videos on how to, but the methods seem to vary. I like how yours came out, not too heavy or fake looking. Which method did you use?