Tree Decorating 101

I was talking to my mom on the phone today and she asked me how I decorated my tree, I started to explain my process when she stopped me and said,
“I think that you might need to write it all down…”

First, here is a tip that I learned when I worked in a home décor shop, if you cut finger hole in a dress sock, it will protect your hands and arms from the prickly branches while to be “fluffing your tree.”

While “fluffing” the tree, pull each tip on a branch in different directions, where it almost looks like a star.



Once I have my tree somewhat fluffed, I add a garland. My tree is a prelit, 7.5 tree, so I use two garland. I work the garland in to the base of the tree, and use the twigs of the branch to wrap around the garland to secure it. You could use floral wire if you wanted, but this would work well, and helps cover the base of the garland if it is a different color.

I then added my “Nest Arrangement” to the tree. Here, I grouped one nest, two different feather picks, and an acanthus leaf pick together. I wanted this to be my focal point, and staggered them around the tree. Next I add my pine cone picks to the tree, I take my pine cone pick and gently open or spread everything out, where it a little more open and light, not so clustered together. Then I add it in an upward motion, to give the tree more dimension, and use the tree twig to wrap around the end to secure it. Finally I added my Christmas ornaments. I usually start with the largest ones to fill in whatever wholes I have and then work to the smallest. I didn’t want to fill the whole tree up; I wanted to still see some of the green, for a little more natural look. Here’s another tip. When I add the ornaments that have a long string, I wrap them around the twig and then fold the tip of the twig over to secure it. This helps the ornament from falling off, especially in high traffic areas or if little ones like to touch. They don’t slip off.
The Last thing I do is make a bow for the top of the tree and then add my hydrangeas and feathers, I uses two different shape of hydrangea, because that is just what I had around the house, the loose feathers I had left over from my mantel project. I just keep moving them around until I like the way that they look. There really is no method to my madness here.

Hope this information has been helpful.
I’m off to finish decorating…
-Cheers, Amy