O Christmas Tree

Weird title for an after-Christmas/after-New Year's blog post, right? Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I love after-Christmas bargain shopping. This year I hit up Michael's, and stocked up on some cheap-irific Deco Mesh with the intention on creating a front porch Christmas tree whimsical bonanza. Or something like that. Consider this a tutorial in case you too bought some craft supplies at a deep discount. You'll thank yourself next Christmas, I promise.

[Side note: Sometimes bloggers DIY in their really pretty home studios. Sometimes they edit their pictures. Sometimes they manipulate stuff to create the allure of a highly styled publication. I don't do those things (except add snow to my pictures. Snow makes everything look prettier). All of the following pictures were taken in my post-Christmas-almost-post-apocalyptic dining room. It was and is still a gigantic mess. But I did have a super cute helper!]

Step 1. Gather what you've got. Buy what you don't.
In my case, I already had some old tomato cages and a garden urn that I could repurpose. If you don't have those things, you'll need to buy them. You'll also need some wire twisty thingies (I bought a wire garland on the Deco Mesh aisle), some ribbon, lights if you want them, and some kind of topper (that required a second trip to Michael's because, try as I might, I can't make a decent looking bow). ​

Step 2. Jam the tomato cage into your urn, and tie the top pieces together with some twine-ish/wire-ish stuff. ​

My tomato cage perfectly fit into the urn. That's serendipity right there. I also spotted a piece of gardening wire on another tomato cage in the pile in the backyard, so I swiped that to tie the top pieces together. Worked like a charm.

Step 3. Add twisty ties in random places, or wrap the tomato cage with wire garland. Then cut the Deco Mesh into roughly 10x10-inch squares, or 12x12-inch, or 10x12-inch.
​Really, this isn't an exact science. Just try to make pieces square- or rectangle-like.

Step 4. Smush the edges of the Deco Mesh toward the middle of each piece. Then stack two pieces of Deco Mesh to make a plus sign shape (+).  Put pieces on tree and secure with twisty ties.
​Repeat a bunch of times. Fill in any gaps with more mesh. 

 Step 5. Decorate, and voila! (Photo was edited to add snow, 'cause whimsy.)

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Step 6. Store the tree in your basement, attic or garage until next year.
​You'll see it, smile and say, "Oh Yeah!" and then feel the merriment seeping into your veins. It'll be legend... wait for it! ... dary! Happy new year friends!