O Christmas Tree...

OK, this will be my first decor post on this blog.  I haven't done any photography lately since all my time has been eaten up by decorating for Christmas.  As soon as that's done I'll have to start working on gifts.  I'm a little behind, but it'll work out.  It always does.

This is my first fancy tree.  I've always wanted to have a themed tree, but then Christmas would come and I'd just decide to put up what I had.  I feel a little bit bad about not using all my sentimental ornaments, but only a little.  I'm happy with my tree.  And it's a new fake tree that I got at the end of Christmas last year for $20!  Hooray for clearance!!  Oh, and it was pre-lit.  Awesomeness!  So now I have two trees (the other one was my parent's old one and is kind of falling apart...)

So, on to my tree.  I decided to go for a shabby-chic look with glitter.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, all in all.  (I didn't get a photo of the full tree...I didn't feel like dragging out my tri-pod tonight.  I will post another shot later of the whole thing).

I made a lot of the ornaments on tree, including the topper.

It's just a styrofoam star that I found at Hobby Lobby.  I beveled the edges, which turned out to be quite messy and hard to clean up (stupid static electricity).  I then just covered it in pages from an old dictionary and good ol' Modge Podge.  I tried for the top pieces of paper to choose relevant words.  I then just tied it to the tree with twine.  I really love the way it looks.

I also made ornaments out of sheet music.  I just bought a package of ornaments from Wal-Mart (for $2.50...so not too bad) and covered them with photo copies of sheet music I used back in high school (I played the oboe).  I covered the hangers with twine using a hot glue gun.

I also covered some ornaments with Martha Stewart's glitter.  I wanted to add some color to the tree (it was looking a bit white) and a little bit of glitz.  Again, hot glue and twine adorn the top of the bulbs.

I also made some fabric rosettes from some old linen someone gave me.  I glued them to clothespins I aged with Tim Holtz's distressing ink (I love that stuff).

I also aged some silver ornaments.  I covered them in metallic paint to dull the shine a bit.  I let it dry just a smidgen and wiped it down.  I then used that wonderful distressing ink again to give it a bit more age and I was done.  It's an easy craft and quite effective.

Well that's my tree in a nutshell.  I post a full tree image later.  I'm still making some glittered chipboard letter banners for it and I may do a couple of more glittered ornaments, too.  Oh, my garland for the tree is just some lace I picked up from Jeffrey Allens.  I love how it looks on the tree.

OK, I'm also linking to my first ever linky party!!  Woohoo!  I at least got on board for the final link party of the Holiday Home series.  Visit Thrifty Decor Chick to see other Christmas trees on the blogosphere!