Thankful Day 14: Crafty Inspiration
I saw these adorable felt trees in my Garnet Hill catalog and decided I wanted them:
But $20 seemed pretty steep for felt and glue, so I set out to make my own (Also, they’re out of stock).
Meh.
It was a LOT harder than I thought to a) get the cones the right shape b) get the felt tiers even and c) not burn the crap out of myself with hot glue. But after a couple of hours I came up with my own version which I think is just as cute as the original AND won’t make you throw your scissors across the room in frustration:
You could make them in any color combination to match your Christmas decorations (what, you don’t pick a new color scheme for your holiday each year?). Felt comes in TONS of colors and costs about 30 cents a sheet. I bought 11 sheets total but used only 8 of them for both sets of trees – plus lots and lots of mistakes. The only other cost was two 99 cent sheets of poster board, so DIY was DEFINITELY cheaper than store-bought. (I already owned a glue gun. Duh.)
If you want to do it the easy way, just buy a few foam/florist foam cones from the craft store. They run between $3-$8 each but there are always coupons and sales. Find the best art and crafts supplies like epoxy resin and more on this website.
If you want to make it the cheap way, you’ll need a couple pieces of poster board. Trace something large and round (I used my egg plate) and cut out the circle. Then fold your circle in half, then in half again so you have lines showing 4 quarters.
Cut out one of the quarters and roll the board into a cone. The more it overlaps the pointier the cone will be. Use various size circles to make different sized cones for a staggered look or the same size a bunch of times for a more uniform look. I used a line of hot glue to secure the cone, but tape would probably hold just fine.
For the felt leaves, fold a square of felt in fourths (just like how you started your cone). Cut the outside into a scalloped edge (or points, or use pinking sheers, or fancy patterned scissors) then cut the center out so it’s a ring. Cut through the ring in one spot so it becomes a strip. Glue one end to your cone and wrap the felt around so it overlaps up the cone.
Repeat with more felt, varying your colors and lengths. Try to line up the ends so you can have a “back” that is less pretty and can face the fall.
To make them fancier, paint on a little clear glue with a paintbrush an dust with glitter, add beads as ornaments, or add construction paper stars to the top. So cute, so easy. At least now that I know what I’m doing.
Today, I am thankful for my creativity, perseverance and that cold water soothes hot glue burns.
Trees are cute.
EVAN’S FAMILY SO DOES CHRISTMAS WRONG.
Sorry, just had to make sure you know exactly how WRONG I find his family’s traditions. I personally think you should just make YOUR traditions the ones for your immediate family. You know, because his are SO.WRONG.
I love that someone else said they made her twitch.
Did you see the knit version in the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts? http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/yule-trees Just worsted weight yarn, so you could use up leftovers. Especially if you are like me and have every version of green yarn represented in your left overs stash. :)
P.S. I am also thankful for your creativity. It inspires my own.
So glad you did this tutorial because I saw the trees too and thought-OK, I actually think I could make those (but I definitely was considering using styrofoam cones, no way would I make my own!). I would not have done the felt with a hole in the middle and probably would have wasted a lot of time trying to cut strips and get them to lay flat on an angled surface.
Did you get the Land of Nod catalog? Love all the garlands but feel like I can cut out felt mittens and trees on my own. Do you think you would need to glue them to cardboard?
I checked out the garlands in the Land of Nog catalog , they all seem rather simple to me. The beads look as though they are just felted, which you can buy at any craft store.
You could fold a piece of felt in half and get two of the same mitten. glue them together and decorate both sides, depending on where your planning to hang your new handmade garland!
I might have to make one of these. I have loads of felt so..yeah.
Yours turned out so cute! I wish I had time to be crafty…
Very awesome…. made me laugh for 2 reasons, #1 I am so not crafty and would spend the extra money to buy them, #2 My uncle is a photographer for Garnet Hills and very likely took that picture….
CUTE! Have you always been crafty? Just trying to figure out how jealous I should be.
I think yours are a lot cuter :D thanks for showing us.
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