A mini tutorial for a tabletop Christmas tree in a grandmillennial or chinoiserie style.
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This year for the Festival of Trees and Lights benefiting Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation, I decided to decorate a 30″ wreath, a 36″ wreath, and a 3-foot tree. When brainstorming what to do design-wise for the small tree, I was trying to think of something a little different than traditional red and green, that could sit as part of a tabletop or buffet display. I have a full-size grandmillennial / chinoiserie tree to match my dining room colors, and people seem to really like it, so I decided it would be a fun challenge to create something similar on a smaller scale.
First up was finding a base for the tree. I wanted to use some sort of porcelain or ceramic pot instead of a traditional skirted tree. I would have loved to use a vintage cachepot or something similar, but in the absence of that, I found a sweet light blue ceramic pot from Home Depot.
To mount the tree to the pot, I trimmed down floral foam and stacked it to the top of the pot. I then used a ruler to find the center of the foam and then inserted a small wooden dowel (smaller in diameter than the actual tree pole) straight down the center of the foam. When it came time to mount it, I put hot glue down the hole and then pushed the tree straight down into it. I topped it with more hot glue.
The supplied tree was green, and I thought having a flocked tree might stand out in the crowd. So, I tried out a product that was surprisingly easy to use, SnoFlock. I suggest doing this process outside, if possible, but it was fine indoors with all surrounding surfaces covered.
For ornaments: I couldn’t find any chinoiserie-specific ornaments that weren’t cost-prohibitive, so I made some by decoupaging napkins onto shatterproof ornaments. I did this for my full-size tree as well, and they’ve held up for a few years now. (My friend Monica has a great tutorial on her blog.) I also added a few iridescent nutcracker ornaments and mini shatterproof balls.
I wanted ribbon to be the star of the show, so I found some gorgeous ribbon by Farrisilk – if you’ve never used their ribbon before, you’re in for a treat. It’s available at specialty retailers, but I get mine from a few shops on Etsy. This 1″ wide light blue velvet with the faux pearls was pricey, but so unique. The platinum ribbon is 2.5″ wide. It sold out, but this is similar and also from Farrisilk.
I didn’t want the tree to be limited to 1 side, so I made a total of 2 bows (each bow with both types of ribbon) and attached one on each side.
Finally, to add some more glam, I added some faux pearl stems. I had these giant pearl stems from a previous project, so I cut them into segments with wire cutters and then wired them onto the branches of the tree. Here are some similar stems.
The Festival of Trees and Lights is November 10-12, 2023 at Louisville Slugger Field. This tree and many other gorgeous decorations are for sale, all benefiting Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation.
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