Burlap Ornaments

These are how they turned out.  I can't wait to decorate my tree this Sunday.

My theme is Burlap, Blues and Bling.  I have lot's of blue.  I needed to mass produce some burlap ornaments cheap and easy.

First I tried heat and bond.  I wanted to glue the burlap to cardboard.  This didn't seem to work very well.  I wasn't getting a good hold over the whole piece so I went to plan B.

Good ol' spray adhesive.  I use this for many things and it was just the thing I needed here to pull off this idea.  Spray the burlap and the cardboard for a stronger hold.

For the next step I traced shapes on the cardboard side.  Then I cut them out and punched a hole for an ornament hook.

Stacks and stacks.  I hope it is enough to get the effect I'm looking for on my tree.

Now I just have to figure out what the bling is going to be.

If a tree falls in the woods....

I really love bottle brush trees.  The good old ones.  I try to find them whenever I can.
This season it seems I am obsessed with all kinds of trees.  Here are just a few to enjoy.

This fabric panel I got at Ikea is so realistic looking.  It's beautiful.

These little "tomato cages" make a nice simple tree.  I don't know what their real purpose in life was but as soon as I saw them I saw a tree.  There are 5 stacked up here but I will separate them and I made a star for each one.

I remember these little trees from my childhood and I have always liked them.  I also have Gurley candles for all the holidays.  They are easy to find at antique shows and shops.

A friend gave me a tree similiar to this a few years ago.  I made up quite a few for our bazaar.  The spool trunks go well with the button and lace decorations.

Book pages over craft store cones.  They looked a little plain until I figured out a star for the top.  I bought a star punch and that did the trick.

Last year these were in the christmas department at work.  They look more like the real thing than the cheap ones in the village section.  I bought all of ours and as I went to stores in Pendleton and Wood Village I got all they had too.  We never get in enough of the good things so if you see something you like, snatch it up.

And finally my funnel trees.  I first saw this idea two years ago so my hunt for funnels was on.  Last year I had two sitting on my counter during the holiday.  Mom and I have been collecting funnels so we can both have some of these unusual trees.

Shamelessly Stealing Ideas

I look for new ideas everywhere I go.  I saw these in one of my favorite booths.  I already love old, seasonal postcards.  I have quite a few christmas ones on hand.  As soon as I saw these at the show I started looking for the christmas pins.  I was able to get them for $1 each.  A pin and a postcard...what a good combination.

The hankies tied to a wire tree was an idea I saw at a thrift store in The Dalles.  I have lots of hankies and I put this tree together using red, white and green for our christmas bazaars.  It turned out really cute.  It would also be nice left up as decoration.

This idea was actually my sister's.  She was in the process of making over cheap pins using newsprint.  I never saw any of hers but in hearing the idea it sounded like a good one since these button pins can be found anywhere.  I put the newsprint on then got stumped as to where to go from there.  I finally decided on a holiday theme.   I never know where the next idea will come from so I am always looking.