On the first week of Craftmas…

Welcome to the first installment of Craftmas (or Craftukkah or Craftzaa, whichever you celebrate)!  I don’t know about you gals, but we are super tight on money this year and that is ESPECIALLY true around the holidays.

However, like many, I have some creepy Martha Stewart desire to decorate our house in everything tinsel, and I squeal with glee anytime I see something covered in Santa Clauses.  Hey, I’m not proud of it, but there you go.

So during my daily Anthropologie browse a couple weeks ago (ah, but to dream), I stumbled upon a beautiful tree ornament. I won’t show it here (again, scared of copywright ramifications…thanks, lawyers, for screwing with my craftiness), but you can probably find it on their site.  Anyway, this little item happened to cost a pretty $398.  Um, yeah.  Here’s my interpretation of the same tree topper, with exciting step-by-step instructions!

This project cost me about $20…only 5% of the store-bought cost!

Here’s what you’ll need:

-small grapevine wreath (I think this one is 6 or 7 inches in diameter)
-bundles of sticks and other decorative items of your choice
-glue gun and glue sticks

Step one: cut your bunches of sticks into separate twigs of varying length, but no longer than 5 inches.

Step two: use the glue gun to attach the twigs all the way around the grapevine wreath.

Step three: continue with other twigs and curios.  I liked this swag with pinecones and thistles in gold tones, it added some whimsy.

Step 4: Continue glueing on twigs and branches until grapevine wreath is densely decorated.

I found these great little decorating pieces to add.

I also added some gold holly leaves around the bottom to make it look a bit thicker.  You can go pretty crazy with this craft and use either gold or silver branches.

I mean…it’s not an exact replica, but come on! An hour and 5% of the cost of the original? Not bad friends!  You could  fill it with evergreen branches as a centerpiece or use as a tree topper.  Or wear as a crown on Christmas Eve after too much eggnog?

Much love,

-B