NotScarlett: I'm dreaming of a white (trash) Christmas

Dig my Christmas tree!

It's got teeny little LED lights, hand-painted ornaments I made myself, and a big silver star on top.

This was a last minute creation, dreamed up by B and I as a joke, but it turned out really cool. We made it with stuff we had in the house, the only thing we bought were the lights. It only took about 45 minutes from start to finish.

It's small enough to fit on a table top, but big enough to decorate with regular sized ornaments.

Any ideas on what we used for the base of the tree yet?

Come on....guess.

Didja figure it out?

Meet coney, our Christmas tree.

Please note: I DO NOT advocate stealing construction signs, cones, etc. If you happen to have one laying around the house as part of an ongoing practical joke your significant other and your sister have been playing on each other for over a year, by all means, dust it off, and get to decorating.

For those of you interested in how I pulled this one off, here are the details.

1. Wrap cone in wrapping paper to cover up the fact that its a big orange construction cone. Packing tape works great for this. It doesn't have to look pretty, you're gonna cover it up anyway.

2. At the base of the cone, if you've done a sucky wrapping job, no worries, just tape one end of some tinsel there, wrap it around a few times for some camouflage, and tape the other end.

3. Starting at the top, secure some garland ( I used some leftover garland I had on hand, it's the kind that has "branches") in the hole on the top of the cone by shoving it down in there. Wrap the cone with the garland, adding in new garland as needed. The branch garland works really well for this because it is bendable and you can just hook a new piece onto the old piece, no tape or any other fastener needed. Do this until you like the way it looks, then twist and fluff the little branches of your garland so it looks more tree like.

4. Add your lights. If you have a man of the house. let him do this part. It will make him feel manly and important.

5. Stick your tree topper on, decorate your tree with ornaments, and stick it somewhere you can enjoy it.

Instant tree!

If your neighbors see you wrapping a cone in wrapping paper and garland while walking past your open window, just wave. They probably already think you are nutty because you walk the dog in mismatched pajamas.

I've entered this as a tutorial for a decoration in the latest Whiplash competition.

We're grilling up some of B's famous steaks tonight and heading out to look at Christmas lights. I'm working on cleaning the house and prepping for our Christmas brunch tomorrow. We've already hit the liquor store and plan on celebratin' right proper with some cranberry mimosas and martinis.

Wishing you lots of love and joy, wherever you are and whatever you are celebrating!

Comments

You KILL me! Merry Xmas to you and your little family! Def have a mimosa in my honor, k?

Posted by: Skylar | December 24, 2006 at 08:10 PM

LOVE IT. You must have picked those WT skills up from your days in the 909. It actually looks pretty awesome for a cone. Nice work. MERRY MERRY xmas to YOU and B, nina, sam., crick.,mom, jeff, all the damn cats, and whoever else I missed that I know. :) love ya

Posted by: stephanie | December 24, 2006 at 10:16 PM