Little Tree Love

Here's our living room with our spazzy little tree and stockings. I didn't want our traditional ornaments, didn't want to buy new ones, but also didn't want to spend years making homemade ornaments. The beauty of a little tree is, it doesn't require as many and my criteria for make-able ornaments was this: fast and easy. Just in case you're crushing on one of them, I'll tell you how I made them. Except the star in photo three...sorry, it's from Ikea. The homemade part is the paper chain behind it. 

1 The little wooden angels were in my ornaments because I thought I could do something cute with them. I thought that for three Christmas seasons. That's the other thing about minimalism. When I contemplate keeping or passing on a "project" item, I think realistically about whether I have a good idea for it, whether I want the product bad enough to put in the time or additional money necessary, and if I'll love having it once it's made. The byproduct of this thoughtfulness is I get serious about finishing anything I kept. Like these angels. Anyway, I sewed thread through the button holes so they look sewn on, and then hot glued them to the angel. Skip the thread to make it even easier.

2 These crazy pom-poms are sold at Hobby Lobby. I found the hardest part was threading a needle with yarn! I was flustered right at the get-go. Internet to the rescue, I found out you cut a strip of paper a little skinnier than the eye of your large needle and fold it long-wise over the end of your yarn. Stick the folded paper through the eye of your needle and wah-lah! Your yarn is in. P.S. Pom poms aren't readily found in the colors I'd hoped for. If there's a unique color you're trying to add to your tree, you're more likely to find it in yarn and then use white pom poms.

3 The paper chains are made from scrap paper cut about an inch by seven inches. I was using scraps up and didn't have very much of the grey pattern, so I did five cream - one grey. If you're buying paper, you could do this to keep it cheap. Heavier paper's harder to keep together, but you can staple it. Bonus: even little kids can help with these, handing you the next color you need, counting out loud to make the pattern, etc.

4 I'd also saved some wooden letters during my first clean sweep. I traced the letters on scrap paper and used my homemade modge-podge to attach it. I used a hand staple gun that rarely gets the staple flush and put staples at the top of the letters, hooking my ornament hooks through the staple. I'm sure there's a better way, but I was stumped, since it falls forward if you hang from the back of the letter. 

Happy tree-trimming or pie-eating or person-snuggling.