Five Ways To Have A Decorator Style Christmas Tree

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are staying well and that you are staying encouraged.

I have some tips for you so that you can have a wonderful decorator looking Christmas tree while still using your collected family ornaments. 

No. 1 

The most important thing you can do to get a decorator look for your tree, is to fluff your tree once it is set up. 

It takes a while. It's a pain in the neck, The branches are scratchy. You might cry. 

You can have the cutest and most bestest ornaments in the world but if the tree is wonky looking after a summer in the attic, it will diminish the look of the bestest ornaments in the world. 

(Blogger is letting me know with their annoying red line that bestest isn't a word.)

This is true for wreaths and garlands as well. 

Take a few minutes to fluff them so that they look as good as new. 

This is probably why I'll get dissatisfied with my older decor items. They look old and used because they have been crushed over time. Now is a good time to use florist tape to fix picks that are coming apart. New trees need to be fluffed as well. I mean they have made a long journey to get here. They may have been made and boxed a year ago. 

No. 2

Check your lighting. If the lights are out on a pre-lit tree, I find it is best to cut them out and restring the whole tree. Instead of grabbing a random strand from the garage, get new matching light strings so that the top of the tree matches the bottom of the tree. 

It is the worst if a section goes out mid December. Okay, not the worst but you get the idea.  

Add a string of novelty lights for fun. I've been into lights that have a twinkle feature. 

I love, love battery operated candles. 

No. 3

The tree is fluffed and the lights are working. 

It is ribbon time. 

I cannot express how important the ribbon is to a designer looking tree. 

It took me some practice to get it right, so don't give up. 

I always start at the top right hand side and pinch the end of the ribbon with a branch to secure it to the tree. I prefer to use new ribbon each year. The older ribbon is used on packages and other decorations. I do not cut my ribbon into sections. I keep it in one continuous piece until I get to the bottom of the tree. My ribbon always cascades down to tree toward the left. After a couple of feet, I'll go across and up the back of the tree and begin another drape. Random Shirley Temple type ringlets are formed with the ribbon in between the sections. The ribbon gets tucked into the tree periodically so that it doesn't look like the ribbon is laying across the front. 

Imagine a sash across the homecoming queen. You are making a couple of those type of passes across the front of the tree depending on the size of the tree. 

If I'm using two coordinating ribbons, I'll do them at the same time.  

That being said, there are fabulous ribbon tutorials on YouTube. 

I think David Christopher's  is one of the best for adding ribbons. They are an adorable couple so the videos are entertaining.  

No. 4

Now is the time to add additional garlands or picks as accents to the Christmas tree. 

However, it can be expensive. Shop around but Dollar Tree has little bushes that can be cut apart. 

I like my accent greenery to come out of the tree a little. Garlands cascade down and around in the same pattern as the ribbon. 

For the tree in our garden room, I used grapevine from our woods, thrifted black berries picks, and blue berry bushes from the floral section at Hobby Lobby. 

You could stop at this point and have a gorgeous designer looking tree but ornaments are my favorite part. 

No. 5

I love collecting ornaments. They have been collected over time so they don't all match. 

Many of the designer trees have matching ornament sets in a variety of sizes. I don't love that for our trees. I want to use our vintage and collected ornaments. 

Ours can be grouped into several different themes, however. 

That is why I have several trees. I like grouping ornaments together. 

Grouping ornaments to a theme helps it have more of a designer look. 

That being said, the eyes will rest a little if there are matching ornaments on the tree. 

I found these darling red striped homespun balls at Hobby Lobby. 

I think they are adorable. 

I hope this helps unless you already have decorated your tree. If that's the case, bookmark this for next year. 

I get a lot of compliments on my trees. I think a lot people want an expensive look for Christmas but they don't know how to achieve it.  Breaking down why a tree looks designer has helped me create some fun and beautiful Christmas trees. 

That is all for now. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Katie 

How I Decorate A Christmas Tree

I'm not a big fan of spangles/floral stems shooting out at the top of a Christmas tree. It looks a little like fireworks to me. I'm not opposed to it on other's trees but it's just not something I was ever able to pull off.
It's a little like cowboy boots with a mini skirt. Not my scene. If it works for you - go for it.
 I prefer the classic cone shape of a traditional tree.

That being said, once the tree is up, plugged in and all the lights work, it's time to wrap the ribbon in and around the tree. If the tree lights up, the ribbon is the most challenging part. If the tree doesn't light up, I'm sorry for your luck.

Getting the ribbon right makes the difference. It makes the tree look designer no matter what else goes on the tree. 
I try to change the ribbon from year to year in my trees because it never looks the same to me once it's been played with. 

Once I pick my color scheme, I start hunting for ribbon. This takes place usually in August or September once summer decor has been put away and I get a feel for my current color crush.

This year, I've been crushing on blue and white.
My furnishings are all neutral so changing my accent color isn't that big of an ordeal. 

The previous color schemes get moved to another room or they go on hiatus much like your favorite T.V. show. All my favorite T.V. shows seemed to get cancelled, however. 

Me liking a show is the kiss of death for it - sorry.

My method for adding ribbon is always the same. 

At the top on the right side, I tuck the ribbon around a branch. I pinch the ribbon or bend the branch whichever is easier on the tree I'm working on. I swag and tuck the ribbon cascading down and around the tree toward the southwest moving clockwise.
You can go counter clockwise if that is more pleasing to you.

The ribbon is tucked in at about 10 inch increments. I make sure that the ribbon billows out a little in between each tuck. I usually pinch the branch around the ribbon to hold the tuck. This tree, a flocked tree from Hobby Lobby, has stiff branches so I wired my tucks in place in spots where they didn't want to stay tucked in. I cascade down around the back of the tree as well. This is easier than cutting the ribbon and just doing the front that shows.

Every once in a while the ribbon will get a twist or two to get a nice loopy feel. Ideally, I would have one huge bolt of ribbon that would cascade around the whole tree but it usually takes two 10 yd. bolts. I've taken to stapling sections of ribbon together so that it can be a seamless section. 

My tree has four passes of ribbon that go around the front of the tree if that makes sense.

 This time I used some blue and wheat colored farmhouse looking ribbon. I found it at Hobby Lobby. I knew it wasn't really wide enough on its own so I also used some blue and white checked fabric that I tore into 3 1/2 in wide strips.
I held these two together as I went around the tree. 

I prefer a heavier weight ribbon as opposed to something gauzy. The easiest type of ribbon to use on a tree is burlap but the burlap craze has wained.
 Something of that texture and weight is ideal. If it is wired, all the better but it's not a deal breaker. 

I found the fabric as the thrift store. The $10.00 piece had about 3 1/2 yards on it. I've had plenty for other bows and even a pillow. I probably wouldn't have even tried fabric except for a post I saw on Miss Mustard Seed. She couldn't find ribbon last year so she used fabric. I'm so glad I saw that post. She's always an inspiration.

Once the ribbon was in place, floral stems are added to the tree. Several years ago, I invested in some beautiful stems that look like frosted rose hips. I also found some hydrangeas with frosted ivy and deep red berries. This is the third year to have them on our tree and I still love them.
Bill wondered how they stayed fresh the whole season so I guess they look pretty real.
Eight or nine of each stem were strategically placed in the tree. 

Having the floral stems has cut down on the number of ornaments needed for the tree.
I used to go all out with vintage German glass ornaments. It was very Charles Faudree. 
It took at least six hours to decorate the tree. I've paired down our ornament collection considerably which has been freeing. 

We've spent the last decade collecting dated Lenox ornaments. We also have a few Waterford, Gorham and Wallace ornaments as well. Many of these came from garage sales or thrift stores but we've also paid retail. 

I've ordered some custom dated ornaments from Lenox.com. Bill usually finds one or two at Macys as a Christmas gift. 

It took at least a decade of collecting but we finally have one for every year of our marriage.
EBay helped fill in the gap years.

The soft ivory of the Lenox and the Waterford crystal look good no matter the color of the ribbon.

 You can hop over here to read about my Sculpey Clay ornaments.

A few glass balls in the color scheme have been inserted deeper into the tree. 

All of our trees usually have a nest and birds. A nest for good luck and birds because I love them so much.

I've called this tree Homespun Glam.
Homespun because of the torn fabric ribbon. Glam because of the ornaments.

I like it a lot.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Try ribbon in your tree. It makes all the difference. 

Katie 

Decorating The Christmas Tree

I seem to have issues getting the ribbon to look good in our Christmas trees.
 Last year the ribbon was burlap and it was easier to work with. 
This year I wanted something with a little shimmer and glitz. 

I found a bolt of silvery ribbon at Decorator's Warehouse. 
It had 50 yards on the spool and was only $18.99. 
That was a price I could deal with for the amount of ribbon on the bolt. 
It was harder to work with than burlap because it is a lighter weight.

So I watched some YouTube videos about putting ribbon in a tree. 
This might have worked but I'm super picky about ribbon. 
I want it to look like it is naturally cascading down and around the tree. 
I also want it look like it is woven through the tree.

 
The video produced by Raz Imports had tons of great advice about decorating a tree.  
The tree in the video looked fabulous. 
My tree-not so much!
  I started decorating Saturday morning. 
I got it all done and then ripped the ribbon out of the tree before I went to bed.

Sunday morning was a new day. 
 It was more challenging adding ribbon to an already decorated tree and we lost an ornament as a result.

 Five long lengths of ribbon cascade down the tree at a gentle angle. Ribbon is secured at about eight inch intervals by bending the end of a branch. 

The icy berry picks are actually two garlands that were cut into small 5 inch lengths.

They are simply laying on the branches of the tree. 

I am crazy about this technique. 

It was so much cheaper than buying picks.

Each garland was on sale for $20.00.  
Which isn't exactly cheap but it was so much cheaper than the picks would have been. 
It makes the tree look like a higher end tree.

 

 Other icicle branches ago are also nestled in the pine. 
Additional picks of pink and purple are resting on the boughs. 

These came from a Michael's clearance sale. 
There are even frosted acorns. 

 

I say this every year but this is our prettiest tree yet. 
Thanks for taking a peak.
Katie 

Linking with,
Inspire Me Monday 
Coastal Charm  
Savvy Southern Style 

 

Ribbon In The Christmas Tree

In years past I've made the mistake of realizing that my tree needed some ribbon after I had finished decorating the tree. 

Believe me that is not an easy task. 

Last year I made the mistake of not buying enough ribbon.
Then I felt it needed the white so I added that. 
There was almost an ornament avalanche. 

This year I was going to do it right.

Hobby Lobby had this black and white checked ribbon. 
I bought it back around Halloween but realized that it would be perfect with my black and white Nordic inspired Christmas decor so I went back for more when it was on sale for 50% off. 

Twist and tuck the ribbon as you wind it around the tree. 

Our tree is a 7 ft. tree. It took 45 ft. of each kind of ribbon. 

I prefer to only drape it from right to left around the tree.  If you like it going both ways double the amount of ribbon. I held both types of ribbon together as I wound it around. 

Last year I found many picks on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 

I sprayed painted them with flat white spray paint and tucked them in the tree to get some flocking. 

Our collection of antique German glass ornaments finished it off.

The tree ended up being very nostalgic looking. 

It is filled with sentimental ornaments from when we were first married and with German glass ornaments from both sides of our families. 
Both sides of our family had old fashioned Santa Clauses.

Ours were brown and Bill's were red.
I love this! 

Bill's siblings all said they thought their German glass ornaments were creepy. 
The clown is a little creepy but I love him anyway.

Katie
Linking with,
Savvy Southern Style