Ribbon Trees and Wrapped Candles for a Winter Mantle Display!

Now that the holiday decorations have all been put away, my house was feeling a little empty- a little plain. I wanted to add some zip to my decor that celebrated winter and I was inspired by all of the beautiful tree crafts that I had been seeing last month on Pinterest. So I decided to create a few trees of my own…. winter “ribbon trees”. I paired them up with some simple paper-wrapped pillar candles and created a lovely cozy winter display for my home!

Creating the Ribbon Trees:

I took a bit of a different approach to my ribbon trees, rather than simply wrapping them in one long piece of ribbon from the bottom up, I wanted the ribbon to be wound tightly to the foam cone without gaps- something that is difficult to do because of the way that the cone is smaller on top than it is on the bottom. So to achieve the look I wanted, I cut the ribbon into strips, measuring each one as I went along, and when I wrapped the ribbon around the cone, I did so at a slight downward angle, so that the top of each strip of ribbon was nestled tightly against the cone. I secured each strip of ribbon in the back with a straight pin.

The first ribbon at the bottom of the cone actually hangs beneath the cone when you pull the top part of the ribbon tight, so I used my scissors to trim the ribbon so that the cone would sit straight when completed. You can see the back of a completed cone on the right side of the photo collage above. Perhaps if I were a more careful crafter I could have taken the time to align each wrapped ribbon in the back neatly, trimmed the edges and created a perfectly straight line of pins going down the back seam…. but I decided that no one is going to see the backs of my trees, so I didn't take the extra time!

I also wanted to create a few sparkly glitter trees as part of my mantle display….

and then I remembered how much I hate working with glitter! It seems simple enough… spray your foam cone with adhesive glue and then sprinkle the glitter on top. Shake off the excess, make sure all of the areas are covered well, adding extra sprinkles of glitter where needed……and in a just a few minutes, you have a completed project, right? Except that it isn't possible to work with glitter without getting it everywhere! Even when you are working over a tray and a plastic tablecloth! Before you know it, it's stuck to your hands and then everything you touch becomes glitterized! Oh- and the adhesive kind of gets on everything too.

And then once the tree is finished, the glitter still leaves a trail wherever you've displayed it. Yes, I love the look of glitter- just not the mess! (Maybe some of you have some glitter-tips for me?!)

Creating the Wrapped Candles:

I love how simple this project is…. a white pillar candle, a free digital scrapbook page that I found online and printed on my home printer…. some scrapbook adhesive to hold the paper in place (I glue the paper to itself), and a pretty ribbon to finish the look.

I love how they look all over the house… and I love how easy it is to change out the papers and give the candles a whole new look each season!

Enjoying the Displays

And tomorrow I will share with you 10 fantastic winter subway art prints that I am displaying with my trees and candles!

And for the first time- some of them are ones that I created myself!

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