{25 Days of Christmas} DIY Glitter Bamboo Tree

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When I started decorating for the holidays, I spotted a gorgeous holiday decoration at Nordstroms.  Of course my first thought is that I could make a cheap version of the same tree (even though it wasn’t THAT expensive).  This project would be easy to make with the kiddos. 

Materials Needed (Makes a 10” Tree):

• 3 Craft Foam Sheets

• 1 10” Bamboo Skewer

• 1 Small Paper Plate

• Glue Gun

• Elmers Glue

• Gold Glitter Paint/White Glitter

• Gold Paint

• Scissors

• Leaf Print Outs of Various Sizes (Small, Medium, Large)

Directions:

1. Print out the shape of leaf you want for your tree, and glue onto the foam with elmers glue. If you have a fancy printer, perhaps you could print directly onto the foam, however I do not, so glue it was. You could also consider free hand drawing or cutting the leaves.  I used three sheets of foam, and that was just enough leaves (I had a few leftover).

2. This is where the kids are handy!  Get some kid friendly fiskars, and cut the leaf shapes.  Once cut, remove the paper print backing.

3. Apply glitter glue and glitter to each leaf (I used glitter glue and glitter, but you could just skip this step, or apply your elmers glue and glitter)

4. Take your paper plate and cut off the paper rim, so all you have left is a dome (if turned upside down).

5. Paint the bamboo skewer and the  bottom side of the paper plate gold.

6. Once the paint and the leaves are dry, start assembling.  Just take the leaf and skewer it up the stick. Assemble from smaller leaves first, finishing with larger leaves.  There is no need to glue the leaves on, as the hold is adequate from just skewering.

7. Move bunches of leaves about ¾ inch apart, so it looks like a Christmas tree.

8. With the paper plate gold side up (making a dome), punch the pointed end of the bamboo skewer through the center of the plate.

9. Hot glue the bamboo stick on the now bottom of the plate (the non gold side).  Allow to cool, and then sit it upright, and you have a foam crafty Christmas decoration! 

Here is the foamy goodness result:

 Only one week left till Christmas!  It's crunch time folks!

{25 Day of Christmas} DIY Foam Christmas Trees

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Tis the holiday season! I like love holiday decorations, thus I've decided to do “Kaitlin’s 25 Days of Christmas”.  Check here daily for a little Chrinspiration (Christmas + Inspiration…get it?!?  No? ) 

I have always seen and liked the foam cones covered in glitter or epsom salt or fabric, or whatever (for tutorials go here, here, or here). However, this season I wanted to try to repurpose and reuse the materials I had on hand (thus there will probably be a lot of foam/cardboard projects….I’m not cheap, I’m thrifty…..only half of that statement is a lie….)

Eighteen 25 Glitter Tree / Little Birdie Secrets Ribbon Tree / According to Kelly's Sequin Tree

Materials
-Candelabra with tapered candles (or can make individual with single candle stick and tapered candle)
-3 Foam Sheets (I got mine from Walmart, they are available at any craft store)
-Stapler
-Adhesive of choice (Mod Podge, Glitter Glue, Elmers Glue, etc.)
-Glitter and Paint in colors of your choice (I used gold and white glitter, gold paint for the chevron tree; you can skip the mod podge and glitter if you just buy a pre-glittered foam sheet for a few cents more, but where is the fun in that?)

Steps:

1. Cut foam into cone shape.  You can free hand, or use a template.  Mirkwood Designs offers a great free template, which can be found here (I used this template for the 2 gold trees, then free handed for a slightly larger third tree)

2. Cover the foam in adhesive (If painting a design on the tree, do it prior to this step and allow paint to dry)

3. While the adhesive is still tacky/wet cover the foam with glitter.  Pat down the glitter with your finger and make sure there are no bare spots.

4. Set foam aside to dry.
5. Once dry, shape foam into cone shape, and staple at the seam.
6. Optional:  Cover the glitter in mod podge to reduce the possibility of glitter loss.
7. Last step is to cover the tapered candle stick with your new Candle Christmas Tree Shade!

Be sure to check back for more holiday ideas and inspiration! As a special treat to my awesome blog readers, I'm offering a 10% discount on my Etsy products, just use the code HOLIDAY10!