Better late than never: jeweled tree



Even though it's April, and we are all dreaming about when and if the weather is ever going to be nice, I still wanted to share this holiday "gem" of a project I did. Heck, I saw some flurries this week so why not, right? One of my beady friends Erin is a designer for Halcraft (a brand at Michael's) and she posted some pretty cool projects back in December made with these rhinestone pieces that are typically used for jewelry. While I love the serving utensils she made, I especially fell in love with the blinged up tree she made. Finding a DIY of a super expensive item is what I live for! That's not to say this project can't add up. Here's the details of my experience:

Erin used a styrofoam cone for the core of her tree, but some after holiday shopping at TJ Maxx produced a 4 sided pyramid like tree (pictured above). Two of it's sides is a lovely silver velvet and the other two sides had a neat worded print canvas. It was $5. I didn't think the base it was on was regal enough (the thing it came off of on the left), so I also bought a mercury glass like candle pedestal for $7. As much as I loved the text print fabric, I spray painted it with some silver paint I already had so all 4 sides would be cohesive.

Using a picture of Erin's tree, I set out to Michael's to buy the rhinestone pieces I needed. I guesstimated how much I would need, and ONLY bought them when they were on sale 50% off or more. Here they are all laid out to start thinking about the design.

I cut out some paper in the same shape as the sides of the tree so that I could lay out the design before I got started. Ohhh, pretty! Since my tree did not have a styrofoam core (it's cardboard), I could not use wire to stick the pieces into it. Instead, I used hot glue which held pretty good to the fabric and dried fast so that I could just keep working away.

Here is the completed tree! I just love it's modern shape, yet vintage look! Thanks Erin for sharing these projects with the creative community!