Homemade Felt Christmas Trees

At last, it's time for Christmas decorating!  Thanksgiving came and went so quickly this year, and I feel like Christmas is speeding straight toward us and will be here before we know it.  So, before December hits us head-on take some time to get ahead of the game and make some fun Christmas decorations that also make great gifts for friends and family.  This craft was inspired by my husband who said, "Hey, I have any idea!  You should make some Christmas trees out of those foam cones at the craft store..."  He's often my muse for creative things - and this idea of his was a great one.

We made two stripe trees, a loop tree, and a pom pom tree.  Aren't they adorable?  And, they were super easy to create.

The materials list includes the following:

- Sheets of felt (or pom poms) in your desired colors.  (I bought one sheet each of several different colors, and had plenty.)

- Styrofoam cone from the floral section of your local craft store

- Dress-maker's pins (as long as they're straight, long, and have a small head they'll work)

First, we'll start with the Stripe Tree:

Directions:

1) Cut strips of felt long enough to wrap around the circumference of the cone.  My strips were approx 1/2 inch in width.  You want them to be wide enough to overlap each other a bit.

2) Start at the bottom of the cone and wrap the felt around tightly, securing it with a pin.

3) Move toward the top, pinning each layer of felt around the cone, making a point to overlap the layer below.  This adds a nice gradual transition and texture to your tree.

Now we have the Loop Tree.  This one took some more time, but looks festive and bright:

Directions:
1) Cut strips of felt about 1/2 inch wide and 2 inches long.  You can cut them wider and/or longer - you can't go wrong with your creativity here.
2) Starting at the bottom of the cone, fold your felt strip in half creating a loop.  Push a pin through the top of the loop and stick it into the cone.  Place the next loop right next to it, working your way around the tree, one level of loops at a time.

3) Repeat (repeat, and repeat...) this process.  When you get to the next level of loops, make sure the new level hangs over the pins on the lower level.  I mixed up my color patterns a bit for each level of loops, but again you can't go wrong with any colors or patterns.
4) For the top of the tree, I cut some thinner strips of felt, looped them, and placed them in the top to hide the top-most layer of pins.


Finally, for the Pom Pom Tree, which was inspired by my Pom Pom Wreath from a previous posting:

Directions:
1) Using small pom poms, start anywhere on the tree.  Stick your pins through the poms avoiding the very center (or core) of the pom pom.  This keeps them more sturdily attached to the tree.  (Otherwise, the pins tend to pop out a bit.)

2) Stick your pom poms into the tree.  Cluster them closely together to avoid the cone from showing through.
3) Keep going until the tree is full of the poms.  Soon it will resemble the pom pom wreath below.

Here is my cute little tree family, sitting on our hutch in the dining room.  These trees make me smile any time I see them.

Happy Christmas crafting!  More to come soon.... -Kristen