Christmas Craft- Recipe For Diva Ruffle Trees
Ooh La La. I just made this gorgeous Ruffle Ribbon Christmas Tree at my MOPS meeting this week at Covenant Church.
I’m in love with the sparkly pink snowflake ribbon I chose for this Fancy Christmas project & I used a cool vintage pink knobby glass as its “trunk.” The bottom is actually an old pink candle votive that I already had in my home…so no added cost to the project! Tip: There were a few bare spots where I could see the green foam tree cone underneath the ruffles when I got home so I filled in the bare spots by wrapping pink tulle in between the ribbon rows which worked awesome! This special tree is for my 7 year old daughter- a big fan of Fancy Nancy. She was so excited when I gave it to her after school. Of course, because I have 3 kids, I had to make two more!
Here is a picture of all Three Mini Christmas Trees that I made…
This one was made for my 5 year old son. Luckily, I had an extra black fence finial in my garage…have no idea why I had a random finial in my garage. I put his tree on a tin can “trunk” which actually opens up- so cool so he can keep Christmas treasures, money or candy in it- very FUN! AND he made the little red star ornament himself after Kindergarten today.
Lastly, AND with a lot of personality, is the tree I made for my 2 year old, Claire Bear! I used a vintage floral ribbon (un-wired & sewed) and put a snowman ornament on top of this tree, which she picked out from the Christmas box herself. This tree is also all hot glued vs. pinned so she doesn’t unravel the ribbon or stick herself with a pin. The base is a small pink tea tin I had in my kitchen cupboard. I wrapped it with ribbon and glues a few sparkly jewels on. The tin also opens, so she can keep holiday treasures in it for years to come. She was carrying this around all morning- so sweet.
Note: These trees do take some time and patience to make BUT they are so cute and well worth making. I’m actually thinking of making a few more to give as gifts and put homemade caramels beneath in the tins! I’ll post my caramel recipe soon as well.
Here is the recipe to make these holiday trees. Thank you so much to Leslie from my MOPS group for this super fun project. I actually enjoyed making them even more at home since I could focus on being a crafty Diva vs. chatting and seeing my fabulous friends at Church.
Ingredients
- Small Sytrofoam Cone Trees which you can pick up at most craft stores
- 10-15 feet of Wired Ribbon or 8-12 feet of Unwired ribbon
- Glue Gun
- Pins
- Finial or Small Christmas Ornament for top of tree
- Ideas for the base "trunks:"
- -candle stick or votive
- -wine glass
- -vase
- -stacked corks
- -wooden spools
- -tin cans with lids (this way you can put treasures or sweets under the tree!)
- -piece of wood for special character
Instructions
- Cut a 3 inch piece of ribbon and hot glue it to the top of your styrofoam cone
- Place the glue on the ribbon, as not to melt the styrofoam This ribbon will make the top pretty under the tree topper
- Wired Ribbon: Hold secure one end of the wire. Pull the wire while sliding the ribbon to "ruffle" the ribbon. Note: This take a lot of patience- also work slowly as not to break the wire or make the ruffles too tight. Tight ruffles will make the ribbon hard to bunch.
- OR Non-wired ribbon: Sewing Required Take a 5' piece of thread and tie a triplle know at the end. Begin sewing a running stitch a 1/4 inch from the edge the entire length of the ribbon. Be careful not to knot up your thread as this could prove to be frustrating. The other option is to zip the ribbon through your sewing machine and then pull string to ruffle like in wired instructions.
- When ruffles are complete, begin pinning the ribbon to the bottom edge of the cone. Note: use a glue gun if your tree is for a child AND if using glue do a practice wrap around tree so you know where you want the ribbon to lay.
- Continue pinning until you've reached the top. Be sure no Styrofoam is visible (if so, no worries- trick to fill in gaps at bottom of instructions)
- When you've reached the top of the tree, tuck the end of the ribbon under and secure with a pin or glue.
- Take a pre-painted finial or Christmas ornament and hot glue it to the top.
- Place your tree on a pretty trunk of your choice
- Still have questions- please shoot me an e-mail at: Kristie@DivaDietitian.com or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
- Note: If you choose glittery ribbon, get ready for it to shed all over you and your home. When you pull it to ruffle it, a lot will come off.
- Tip: If you see bare spots on your tree, you can fill in the spots by wrapping tulle around your tree in a matching color to your ribbon OR you may want to cover your green foam tree base with a coordinating fabric if you are not using a green ribbon- so bare spots won't be seen.
*Looking for a way to keep away the holiday weight gain this season?
Tip: keep your hands busy with craft activities like making these trees, knitting or crocheting. I’m a huge fan of baking Christmas cookies and LOVE all homemade treats and sweets. However, if you are the kind of person, who can’t resist the temptation of tins of cookies in your home OR licking every bowl- think about making a craft instead, chew gum while baking (trust your recipes!) OR spend a little extra time outside walking and exercising in the fresh air or at a Zumba or Yoga class.
*Looking for more fun craft project? Here is a cool website I just found - www.MadeInADay.com
Nutrition, eat right, holiday weight gain, holiday crafts, diva dietitian, registered dietitian blog, American Dietetic Association, Skinny, recipes, healthy eating, Fancy Nancy
Diva Dietitian
Kristie Finnan is a Registered Dietitian/Licensed Nutritionist, Freelance Writer and Published Children's Author. She is the Mom of 3 and Food Snob with a passion for Nutrition Education, Healthy Kids Foods, Marketing and Social Media. Kristie is the Creative Director/Editor for www.DivaDietitian.com and www.KidsLoveFood.com & Founder of www.DoylestownNutrition.com. Diva Dietitian blogs in Full Disclosure. Please see: http://divadietitian.com/about/disclosure.
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Love, you are so crafty
Thanks friend! We’ll have to get together and “craft” one day!
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