Tis The Season: Christmas Tree Decorating

I have owned my home for quite some time and I never decorated for the Christmas season until last year. I love this time of year and yet you couldn't tell by looking at my home.  The first thing I had to get was, of course, a tree!  I knew right away that I wanted an artificial tree.  Yes, a real tree would be nice but let's face it...I am not down for the upkeep and clean up nor the disposal.  No thank you.

I also knew that I wanted it to be as tall as I could go without it crowding my living room so this meant about 6-6.5ft.  I also wanted my tree to have pine cones! I searched and searched and searched...and could not find a plain tree with pine cones.  All the trees out there either had snow on them, or was pre-lit or was 7ft tall.

This is when I decided to bring out my crafty side...what am I saying?! I am always crafty!
I bought a plain 6ft tree and then I headed to Michael's where I found small pine cones for $0.50 (there were 3 on a branch each).

I also bought some wire cutters and pliers as mine were "misplaced" in the move to Toronto.  These can be found in the jewelry making section of the craft store.  I also bought some wire to use to attached the pine cones to my tree.

Once I had all my tools, I began to create my dream Christmas tree! Below is a brief tutorial and I apologize for the photo heavy post!

First I cut a small piece of wire

I then would cut one of the cones off my pine cone branch

This is where you would take the small piece of wire previously cut and wrap it around the small piece of stem still left on the pine cone using the pliers - Be sure to leave a piece of wire straight to be able to attach to the tree

Once you have the wire wrapped tightly onto the pine cone, give it a few tugs to ensure it is secured

Now you can cut off as much of the remaining stem on the pine cone as you can

Take the pliers and flatted out the wire at the start of the wrapping to ensure it doesn't stick out to cause injury

Take the pine cone and attach it to the tree by wrapping the wire around a branch until there is no wire sticking out anywhere

The finished result!

I hope my experience with decorating for the season has inspired you to accessorize your home! If you have any questions at all - please feel free to leave them below in the comments section.  Ideas are welcomed as well as comments!

Merry Christmas my fashionistas....

Much luv

e