How to Make a Cone Tree Decoration for Christmas

Mom loves Christmas decorations more than anyone else I know, so I'm making some new ones this year and really going all out in the living area.

Pinterest has lots of cone tree decoration ideas and I had the perfect thing to make my own with.

Someone gave me about 60 of these sewing thread cones and they have just sat around in the garage for over a year.  In place of the thread cone you can use a styrofoam cone.   But since the store bought cones are expensive you can make your own from poster board, cereal boxes, etc.  The candle stick is one I picked up at Dollar Tree, but you might find some at a thrift store or garage sale even cheaper.

First I traced around the bottom of the cone and then sketched another circle about 1/4" smaller inside it.  I cut this out of a scrap of foamcore I had left over but cardboard would work too.  I glued it in place inside the cone, it was about an inch up inside.  I used Elmer's glue because I forgot about the hot glue gun which would be so much faster.  

I had picked up a package of sparkly sheets that are 8 1/2" x 11", 3 to a pack at Dollar Tree.  This one had red, gold and silver.  I didn't need the red for my other project so I could use it for my tree.  It took a little playing to get it to cover the whole cone and go higher at the top to form a point.  I only had this little triangle at the bottom to fill in with a scrap.  I used Elmer's to glue it onto the cone, a piece of scotch tape to hold it while it dried.  If you have double sided tape or the crafter tape that is just the sticky part you can easily use that.  Spray adhesive would work too but I am way too messy with that stuff.

At Walmart I picked up some mini garland for $1.47, I can easily make 2 trees with it, maybe three.  The stars were from Walmart also, 99¢ for a huge package from the card & wrapping section.  I used hot glue to apply the garland, working in 2-3" sections at a time - apply the glue to the tree.  Hot glue did not work on the stars so I used 527 glue.  E6000 works as well or any kind of silicone glue.

• Tip:  I would squeeze a bit of glue onto a paper scrap and use my tweezers to hold the star while dipping it in the glue and placing it on the tree.  I just went random but if you are into astronomy I can see making actual constellations, maybe on a blue tree!

Look for more versions coming up, I need to build a forest!