You Urned It! Potted Christmas Trees - How To & A Giveaway

Are you all decorated?  
After teaching the tablescaping at
Gatehouse No.1, hubby was
so excited and wanted to come home
and decorate.  
Now when does that happen?
I had to hold him back until
at least the middle of November!
The best part was he was so helpful
this year.  Usually he brings up the
tree and the giant nutcrackers and
a couple of boxes for the village and that is
it.  Not this year, he helped all the 
way through and we had it done
in 3 1/2 hours!  Record time!!!

I had already gotten started with the front

door and these two 

Potted Christmas Trees.

I had so much fun taking the tree
decorating and mantle decorating
classes at Gatehouse No. 1's
Open House.  They had created a beautiful

Christmas tree in a pot and

gave it as a giveaway at the

end of the week.  No, I wasn't

the lucky winner but it got me

thinking.

I happened to stop by Big Lots

to see if they had a new pink tree for

my kitchen tree as the bottom had

developed

"club feet"

over the past two winters with the

plastic feet twisting over on themselves.

They only had another thin tinsel one

and I got the bright idea to buy a second

one and wire it to the first one and since

the "clubbed feet" weren't going to

work, I bought some Plaster of Paris

and searched the house for an urn

to secure the little deformed tree in.

Well, it worked so well and I got so

excited that I went right back and bought

some aqua ones for the front door.  I already

had these iron urns and I decided to use those

instead of the feet.  The weight of the iron

urns will be great on windy days.

Big Lots had these $20 trees in pink, aqua,

purple, white and green so after making

the two aqua ones I ran back and got two 

purples and wired them together and made

this one, 

again with a found urn.

This purple one sits on my coffee table

and I created this vignette to go with it.

I love these little boots.  They

remind me of little boots I bought

my little granddaughter Jacquelyn.

She is so proud of her shoes or

boots that she bends down to

touch them so that you will notice 

them.

I was asking one of my granddaughters

what color of tree her daddy might like

and she said, "Pink!"  Then I said, "That

sounds like what you would like."  Then 

she said, "Pink and tiger (meaning leopard

print)!"  When I told him, he laughed and

said since the tree was for her, he would

be fine with that so I made this one.

I had used the leopard print ribbon

on my purple tree so I used it on

their tree.  She will love this.  It

has all kinds of girly things in "tiger".

I have to admit that about half way through

on this one, I heard a pop and the heat of

the Plaster of Paris cracked the ceramic

urn so I would recommend fiberglass or

metal.  She was so thrilled when she saw

her tree.

Instructions For Potted Christmas Trees

2 - 4 foot tinsel trees

(Big Lots and Wal Mart have

these for $20 each)

Heavy craft wire

4 lb. Plaster of Paris
(I bought mine at Michaels and Home Depot)

water to mix

Urn made of fiberglass or metal

Begin by taking the tinsel trees

out of the boxes.  Flatten one side

of each tree and place the flat

sides together.  Wire the two trees

together at the top, middle and 

bottom of the trees.  

Mix the Plaster of Paris with water

enough to make a smooth paste

and pour into the clean urn.  Let

set up a few minutes then stand 

the tree bases in the wet Plaster

of Paris.  Check from all sides

to make sure the tree is straight.

Let set up for 30 minutes to one

hour.  After this amount of time

you can begin decorating.

We learned at the class that you should

begin by decorating the top.

When you add picks or stems to the

top, leave them full length and run 

them down through the tree limbs

right next to the trunk.  This gives 

added stability to the tree.

Then place your large ornaments and

set them deep into the tree.  You don't want

everything out on the edge of the tree.

Wire them back in deep.  I just ran my 

wire through the top cap of the ornament

and didn't even use the little loop attached.

Smaller ornaments that you want to hang

on the outside edge of the tree can be

hung with the attached loop.

You want to create depths of layers

in the tree.

Finish with ribbons that you curve throughout

the tree or layer in multiples.  The ribbon can 

be wired in or just use a branch of the tree

to pinch it in place.

You can add picks or stems at the end

just tucking them into the tree.

I love these big droopy ones.

The great thing about these trees

is that they are table top trees

that you can put on the coffee

table, dining table, buffet or

in a child's room.

Have fun making some

potted Christmas trees.

Don't forget my giveaway

from Me Oh My Couture.

Become a follower of 

Me oh My Couture's

blog or on Instagram 

meohmycouture

and leave me a comment.

You can win any one item

from her shop.  This is my

daughter in law's new blog shop.

The winner will be chosen randomly

and the giveaway ends

Thursday, December 5th at

Midnight.

Good luck!

She has darling little girl clothes

and if you are looking for something

for a little boy, she has adorable

blankets.

Sources

Trees - Big Lots and Wal Mart

Urns - Previously from Tai Pan

Ribbon - Tai Pan, Big Lots and Wal Mart

Picks and Stems - Gatehouse No. 1,

Wal Mart, Big Lot and Hobby Lobby

Ornaments - Ones I had, Wal Mart (Leopard

Print and pinks and golds), Big Lot (silver and birds)

I will be posting with

Home Sweet Home

Pink Saturday

The Scoop

Seasonal Sunday