Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sneak Peek: Christmas Branch Centerpiece


Good evening, all. Wow, Can you believe only 1 week until CHRISTMAS? The year has flown and I'm just so excited to celebrate Christmas; the day of our Saviour's birth. The city is all a hustle and bustle so I guess Sydneysiders are all just as excited!

So last blog I left you with spray paint in hand to begin my next project: a Christmas tree branch centerpiece for my Christmas table. Well, it is finished! Two cans of white spray paint, a terracotta pot, a branch and some baubles later and we have a pretty centerpiece.



Sorry the photos are a bit dodgy. The lighting isn't great and while experimenting with the it the camera's battery ran out. No worries, you'll see it in its full glory on Christmas Day when I take it with all the decor on the table. I wanted to give you a little sneek peek to inspire you. Perhaps you need a centerpiece yourself or just an alternative to a Christmas tree. This would be perfect!

I will give you SIMPLE instructions to make this tree. It is so easy and it really looks expensive. You'll have to take my word on it. It looks much better in person than in the photos!

1) Go on a lovely nature hike. I took my two kids and dog. It was a hand full as always! We collected branch after branch until I looked into the woods and saw a dead tree. I told my toddler to stay put (there are red bellied snakes (YIKES!) in the woods by our house) and I ventured into the bush to break off a branch. I was so excited with my discovery. It was just what I was looking for. The park goers, however were looking at me like I was crazy. I just shrugged my shoulders and shouted, "I have big plans for this branch!" I think I've probably got coined the name, "weird tree lady" or "girl of the woods" or something now. Oh, well. I'll be the one with a FABULOUS Christmas table I thought! :-)

2) Buy or recycle a plant pot or similar to use as your base. I bought a simple terracotta pot for under $5.00 at K-Mart and spray painted it the colour I wanted which was white.

3) Spray paint the branches (unless you decide to leave them natural). I wanted the pot and branches to match so the ornaments stood out so I choose white. I like to keep it simple for the most part.

4) After your pot and branches are dry and to your liking, it is time to put this beautiful Charlie brown Christmas tree together! I filled my pot up with unused landscaping rock we had lying around and it worked really well weigh down the pot an to anchor the branch into place. Once I pushed the branch down through the rocks it was very stable and I didn't need to to anything else but decorate!

5) Time to decorate! Depending on the size of your branch, you might want large or small bauble ornaments. I used a box of small and a box of miniature baubles. The colour scheme for my Christmas party is silver and gold so those were the baubles that I used. I think they look really great against the white. I actually used all gold of various hues and only 6 silver baubles which were the only minis. I just really liked the gold. I just wanted to a bit of silver to tie it all in with the theme.

6) Lastly, you will want to put something around the base to cover up your filler. I really liked the idea of covering the rocks with moss, but I didn't have any on hand and I had a bunch of leftover baubles around so I decided to fill the remainder of the pot with baubles to hide the rocks. I used medium sized silver baubles and accented it with a few gold minis.


That's it! As simple as that and I guaranteed if you saw something similar at the shop it would cost you a pretty penny. Well, at least here in Oz! I spent under $10.00 on this project! Gotta love that.

Okay, well on to making the Christmas favour/place settings. Until next time, Happy Crafting and Merry Christmas!

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