Now, the information I'm passing on may seem obvious to you. I would never have thought to make these suggestions except for a visit from a friend. She kept gazing at our tree and finally she said, "I get it! You put lights on the inside of your tree...that's why it's extra sparkly."
So here's how I get maximum sparkle...'cause I'm all about sparkle in Christmas decorating.- I use multi-colored lights, but I always add a stand or two of white lights up the inside of the tree. It really brightens up the tree. We use a real tree, but if you use an artificial one, you can wrap the white lights up the trunk before you put on the branches (learned that from my aunt!)
- Next, I hang a bunch of plain old glass ornaments all inside the tree...more sparkle from the reflections. I literally have a big shopping bag full of cheap red and gold and silver glass balls that I hang mostly on the inside of the tree.
- Then I add the garland...mine is reflective for more sparkle.
- Finally I hang all our special ornaments which we've collected through the years. Our tree has no theme...we hang everything from the ones the kids made in school to antique ones from great-grandparents, to the ones we've been giving to the kids each year.
My last tip is to buy your Christmas ornaments on sale. I love glass ornaments from Germany and Poland. I wait until the after Christmas sales and buy them at a huge discount with some of my Christmas gift money. I got the garland last year..it was still in the store at the end of January. Originally it was 17.99 for a strand 60 feet long. I got them for 1.99 a strand! Gotta love that!
13 comments:
Great tip. I decorate from the inside of the tree - out. A stran or two of all gold lights also allow the tree to glow. It is all about layering.
And ornaments with mirrors that dangle are icing on the cake.
These are great ideas! Thanks for sharing. ~Mindy
This is what we do too, it makes all the difference!! Your tree is stunning.
Jenni, I bet the gold lights look great too...I'll have to try them sometime.
Beautiful tree ... I just love looking at everyone's trees and getting ideas.
What a super tip. My tree looked rather dull this year, I'll have to remember that for next year.
Next year we'll get our big tree out again. I can't wait to try your tips!
Oh, I'm so upset. I had some really nice stuff to send you in a comment, and somehow I messed up and it's gone.
Anyhow... the most important thing that I wanted to share with you is that I am proud of your new venture in this antique's mall with your vision of taking something old and turn it into something functional. Isn't it great to think about stuff like that? I have turned that way with my own business ideas. Just let those creative ideas keep flowing.
Good to see you again... and sorry about messing up my original comment. Love the tree.
Hugs,
Penny Suzie
Funny I do white lights in the middle with colored lights on the outside too in addition I too use reflective garland - my girls love sparkly stuff so I have no problem going a bit garish.
A tip for people who do fake trees - leave the light white lights on the trunk when you pack up the tree - it makes next year loads easier.
Great tips....I will try that with the lights..we did not put them on this year as my husband was away when the tree went up...it is his job to sort the lights out....and good job we didn't as our apartment block had a fire in the communal circuit box and it caused everyone's electronic gear...on or off as long as they were plugged in ...to smoke and in most cases all the electronics were desroyed. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had lights wrapped all around and through the tree!!
We will do it next time though and we have bought surge protector power packs which also shut the power off so should be okay with the tree in future. Am loving your flickr photos and have put you on my google reader
magikquilter...how scary!! I think a surge protector for the tree sounds like an excellent idea!
What a beautiful tree! I love all the sparkle. Thanks for the good tips.
Those are some great tips! Filed away for next year!
Heather
Post a Comment