Genuinely Jane Studios Guest Designer

For this, my second and final project as Guest Designer for Genuinely Jane Studios, I used Genuinely Jane's Studios adorable "Alterable Wooden Tree".  The first thing I did was to paint the entire tree with Vintage Antique White (Martha Stewart paint from Michaels).  Once the entire tree was covered in a nice coat of paint and dried completely, I "dirtied it up" a bit with some Tim Holtz ink.  Next, I traced the shape of the tree onto a vintage dress pattern and gentle cut out the shape with scissors.  I then painted the top of the tree with a very thin layer of Mod Podge.  This made it sticky enough to adhere the dress pattern permanently to the tree while leaving it loose enough to work with while I was positioning it.  There were a few little spots that needed covering, and I just patched it up here and there with little pieces of the vintage dress pattern and a dap of Mod Podge.  I was VERY pleased with the result.  My next step was to find lots of little buttons in white, red and green and apply a light layer of spray adhesive and then sprinkle them all with ultra-fine white diamond glitter.  Once I had  added my button rows of garland, I added some ribbon up the sides of the tree that I tied into a bow on top.  This ribbon is from Maya Road, along with some red and cream hand-made scrunched seam binding.  I cut a small star using a Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags star die-cut.  I covered it with Mod Podge and doused it in silver glitter.  I mean, what's a Christmas tree without a star, right?  The final touch to this tree was a little sentiment made from the Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags die-cuts and matching stamp set (Wish) adhered with a rusty little safety pin .  Two additional little decorated focal points on the tree include some rusty jingle bells tied with natural jute, another tag, a little Melissa Frances pipe cleaner candy cane, holly leaves cut from a Papertrey Ink die-cut, and some red holly berries that I covered with ultra-fine diamond glitter as well.  They're just so sweet!

I think I've covered my entire supply list, but if there's anything you see that you'd like to know about, I'm happy to share.  Just let me know.  I had a lot of fun with this project.  As I said earlier, when I originally got this wooden tree in the mail, I literally had NO IDEA what I was going to do with it, but once I had firmly committed to the idea of using the vintage dress pattern for the base....I was really happy with the outcome.  So, here is my finished project!

And finally, here's another close-up of the candy cane, doily, holly leaves, and berries tied with jute and vintage baker's twine from My Craft Spot, and it also shows the dress pattern.  I just love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a peek at my project.  I really appreciate your visit, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about this vintage Christmas tree.  I also hope you will stop by Genuinely Jane Studios to check out their fabulous wooden albums and designs.

Before I run off, I'm sharing my lovely vintage Christmas tree in the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge Blog - W is for Winter Wishes - Did you see my tag (top photo)?  My tag says "WISH" and this Christmas tree is a Winter Wish Tree - It reminds you to make your Christmas wish!  ....and I'm "WISHING" to win this amazing prize from Stamp & Create!

Frillie and Funkie Challenge Blog - Challenge: Christmas Preparations - This is my first Christmas decoration of the year, and this challenge thrilled me.  I find this tree both frillie and funkie, and it did challenge me personally (read above).  Thanks for a great challenge!

Ribbon Carousel Blog - Holidays & Celebrations - This is a holiday (Christmas) project and a celebration of me trying something new in my crafting!

Have a very blessed week!
Karen