Christmas Tree 2011

We finally finished decorating our tree two days ago. We got it on Saturday afternoon, but had a concert that night and when we got out the lights for it on Sunday, two fairly new strands of 250 lights didn’t work.

Two. From sitting in the box in the attic. How does this even happen? Such a waste.

And since 500 lights was pretty much the bulk of our tree lights, we had to get some more.

Which of course couldn’t be found in 250 light strands.

Three 100 strands later (+ two 150 strands we scrounged from our outdoor lights), we were ready for decorating. Here are some highlights of my favorite ornaments right now:

I love how the glitter on these vintage book page birds I made sparkles from the reflection of the lights.

And these round, accordian-fold ornaments look so good the tree. They are easy to use on other places around the house, too. They look good hanging from a window, topping a feather tree, and accenting a “JOY” banner.

The only thing I’m not sure of is what to call them. I’ve seem them referred to as “pinwheel” ornaments, which they really aren’t, “flowers” which sorta work, but there are actual flowers made out of book pages I’ve seen with rolled-edge petals, so that’s confusing. They seem to be fans, but double fans, I guess.

Hmmm, I’ve got to figure it out soon, because I’ve got a tutorial coming (which you can now find here).

And of course we have fun bringing out ornaments from years past. These balls we made with glue and glitter were simple and fast and they remain some of my favorite ornaments.

We did lines on some, swirls on others. Mine are a little more precise than the kids’ were, but my son actually made one of his balls into a globe with glittery continents. I mean, I know it’s a globe with continents, though other people might not recognize it at first.

Don’t you love the memories that accompany unpacking the ornaments each year?

Here’s a shot of the full, lit up tree. I added burlap ribbon and a burlap tree skirt which I think coordinates perfectly with the faded, vintage book pages.

But I still had to have the glitter in the form of bead garland, shiny balls, glass icicles and chandelier prisms. And pops of purple.

It’s the best of both worlds.