DIY Ruffled Christmas Trees

So early on in my business as Purely Posh, I connected with an amazing woman and photographer. She had opened her own birth photography business and wanted to create a special “Baby’s First Christmas” Set up for all the babies she witnessed coming earthside that past year. She asked me (and more importantly trusted me) to come through in a big way with helping her create props and banners for her set up in the studio. Her name is Erica McCauley was one of my first clients. And looking back, a year later, I call her my friend, advice giver, business mentor, repeat client, and truly I look up to her in so many ways. You can see her beautiful work {HERE}. I recommend following her on facebook, she has a magnificent way of reminding us mothers how beautiful our journeys are and giving you those warm tinglies.

Any Who! I included a few different sets of trees and coordinating banners for her, that way she could mix and match pieces to make each session different and unique. She wanted to stick to a white/gold/earthy color scheme and had sent me a few ideas to use a jumping off point that she had found around the internet. One of which was ruffled crepe paper trees, the ones I saw were pink and blue and had lots of embellishments. I knew I wanted to do something similar, and without a tutorial to follow, I just learned as I crafted, I am going to show you how simple these guys are to make, and seriously CHEAP!

What You Need:
– A roll of crepe paper (I got mine for $1 In the party section of the dollar store.)
– A cone (or you can make your own like I did with paper, learn how {here})
– Hot Glue + Glue sticks

Seriously guys, It’s so easy. First you place a strip of hot glue a few inches long, across the bottom of your cone, this is where you are going to attach the upper portion of your crepe paper. now as you lay your streamer across your glue, take your thumb and gently push the paper (where the glue is) in the opposite direction just slightly before returning in your original direction, creating a slight ruffle. Once you get a feel for it, you turn into a {ruffling} machine!

When you complete the entire circumference of your tree, just trim the streamer, move up to the next level and do the same thing. Make sure that each level is straight as you’re {ruffling} and begin/end each layer on the same side of your tree (this will be your back, it will still be pretty, but the front is amazing in comparison).

When you get to the top, layer a few pieces of your crepe paper together, cut them into a rounded/half circle-y shape, and wrap the top of your tree with it (rounded end on the bottom) Top with a pretty embellishment or trinket if your heart desires, and You’re done! This small tree took me about a half hour, start to finish, with two cranky kids scurrying around my feet in that pre-dinner meltdown mode that kids seem to ritualize. So all in all, Not Bad!

For Erica, I made three of varying sizes, topped with a wooden gold star, and a light shimmer of gold spray glitter. I made my cones out of 12×12 cardstock (2-4 pieces depending on cones), a roll of crepe paper streamers, and little a time. Such an awesome outcome for such an easy DIY. I hope this helps you create something festive, fabulous, and budget friendly this holiday season! Thank you for stopping By!

Holiday{Heart Hugs} – Jess