How to Make Winter Trees

Clearly this year I have an infatuation with making trees. First a feather one you saw in my dining room, then a felt one last week at Redhead Can Decorate. And today I’ve made even more. I guess what I love about these is that they are more of a winter decoration for the home and not so much a holiday one, so they can last well past the 25th.

These warm winter trees can be used for decking the halls, or mantels, or shelves, or maybe even your seasonal table. You can create them with all types of supplies and they can stay up in your house all winter. How is that for simple?

Since I couldn’t decide on just one type of tree to make, I made three. They are a ribbon tree, a feather boa tree, and a washi tape tree. I had the chance to partner with The Ribbon Retreat for these supplies, many thanks to them for the fabulous items! Here is how to make winter trees of your own.

Supplies

Cone Trees – For all the trees I used paper mache cones from the craft store, or poster board cones I made myself. To so this you just roll the poster board into a cone shape and secure with staples or heavy tape.
Ribbon, feather boa and washi tape – For these trees I used:
Marabou in white
White glitter ribbon in white 1 1/2 inch
Velvet ribbon in grey 1 1/2 inch
Washi Tape in Candy Stripe-Gold 10 mm

Feather Boa Tree

Making a feather boa tree is super simple. All you need is a paper mache cone {or one you made out of poster board} and a feather boa. For this I used the marabou feathers in white. They are so soft and light and come in all kinds of colors.

1. First I stuffed the end of the boa into the top of my poster board cone since it was open just a little and I hot glued it there. If you use a paper mache cone, just glue the end of the boa to the tree. 2. Then just wrap the boa around the cone, covering it as much as you’d like, gluing it every few inches. It helps if you use a cone that is the same color as your boa. If needed, simply paint the cone with craft paint.

Since I didn’t know if the two boas I used were going to cover the entire cone, I started at the top so if I ran out I could cut off the end. Which is exactly what happened, so I did cut of a few inches of the poster board. You can cut off the bottom of a tree cone, but not the top, so if you do this kind of tree, make sure to start at the top or have lots of boas to cover the tree!

Ribbon Tree

I had the idea to make a ribbon layered tree by placing the looped ribbons around the tree in an overlapping pattern. I’d never made one like this before, but knew the velvet ribbon would be perfect for this project.

1. First, cut the ribbon into 3 inch lengths. This makes a nice “loop” size, depending on the size of your cone, maybe you’d adjust it to look proportional. I used two each of the 1 1/2 inch velvet ribbon in grey and glitter ribbon in white for this project. It’s actually a lot of ribbon so make sure you order enough. This finished tree is about 15 inches high, for reference.

2. Fold each piece of ribbon in half with the good side facing out and glue it to the bottom of the tree. Make sure it sits just above the surface when you put it on a table. You don’t want to place it too low and have the ribbon bunch up because it doesn’t hang well.

3. This is how you glue the ribbon onto the tree. Put a line of hot glue along the back of the loop, which is technically on the good side of the ribbon. Place it on the tree, then place a line of hot glue on the inside of the loop and press the other edge onto it. This will give you the loop shapes.

4. Here is the bottom of the tree with four layers of ribbon on it. I staggered the loops so they overlapped the one below it by half the width of the ribbon, kind of like you see bricks. I actually ended up making one row of grey velvet ribbon and one layer of white glitter ribbon because I liked the way it looked better {unlike what’s pictured here}.

Here is the close up of the finished looped ribbon tree. Isn’t it just beautiful? So wintery and festive!

Washi Tape Tree

The last tree I had the idea to make was only with washi tape. Yes you can make a holiday tree out of it!

Again, this is so easy and fast. 1. Take your washi tape and line it on the cone. 2. Then keep adding strips of tape to cover the cone. It doesn’t even matter what color the cone is since it will get covered by the tape {if it’s not transparent}.

The ribbon tree took the longest of course, with all the gluing, but the other two take less than 10 minutes! This is a fast and easy way to add some winter festivity to your holiday decorating, don’t you think?

I even make a small all-grey one with some left over ribbon. Making these in different sizes will give you an interesting collection of trees. I could see them in any color or pattern of ribbon. What color would you make?

Thanks so much to The Ribbon Retreat for the ribbon, washi tape and feather boas for this project, please visit them when you take up your next ribbon or fabric project!