A Little Christmas Craft

Thank goodness.
I've got my craft mojo back !!
I don't know where it has been hiding, but thankfully it has returned just in time for Christmas.

I have been busy whipping up a Christmas banner and a gorgeous wooden Christmas tree, which I was inspired to make after attending the Spotlight VIP night.

THE TREE

Getting started

Even though I have done my best at giving it a go, I am not very clever at using power tools. Actually, to be honest I am quite useless with them so it's best that I stay away to ensure the safety of all around me (hubby happily agrees) So to avoid any disasters, I purchased a pre-cut wooden tree to make life a little easier. I found this particular one at "Spotlight" it was approx $30 and exactly what I was after.
Next I was on the hunt for lots of pretty bling to decorate my tree, because you can never have to much bling at Christmas, can you ?  I kind of went over board on "bling" purchases, but honestly, it all called out to me from the shelves, just begging to come home with me :) I swear .

Once home and unpacked, I couldn't wait to get started. For months now I have been "craft challenged" wanting to get creative but stumbling every time I tried, so to finally have found a "cure" for my lack of "craftiness" was exciting.
Firstly, I began by roughly painting the tree white, using a sponge roller, leaving it quite patchy in places to give an older, worn effect. Once dry, I began to arrange the bling, not attaching it right away so that I could play around till I was completely happy with the placement. When I was, I made sure that it was securely in place with clear adhesive and I sprayed the finished product with a clear gloss to give it extra shine....

Painting process

I must say that I am quite happy with the finished product. My Christmas "welcome" tree is now proudly displayed in the front hallway of our home, so that it is the first sign of Christmas that any guests see when they visit us this silly season.....

The finished product

THE BANNER

How lucky was I to find Christmas material with Owls printed on it :) yes I do have a slight major obsession with all things "owly" So of course I had to bring it home with me and figure out some way of incorperating it into my Christmas craft. The solution ! a Christmas banner.......

To cute not to buy

To begin, I cut the material into large triangles, then attached them to even larger triangles that I had cut out of gold card stock that I found in my scrap booking collection. I then found some Christmas ribbon and glittered bells that I also used to decorate each triangle.

A close up of the banner

So that I could hang the banner easily, I used tiny wooden craft pegs to attach each triangle to a long piece of gold string, then hung it to the wall above our family dinning table.

Final product hung