Consciously creating a beautiful life.





Sunday 13 November 2011

DIY Christmas Tree

Since living in Africa, I had to say good-bye to beautiful green fir or spruce christmas trees.
I don't really like artificial trees, so every year it is again a challenge to find something that could work.
We had the fruit stands of the aloe cactus as a christmas tree, we had a tree bent out of wire, we had a cardboard tree and the shape of a tree put on the wall with tape.

So this year we will have a wooden tree.

The idea for that comes from Wood and Wool.
I love the stuff Ingrid makes, but she sits in the Netherlands and I don't think a tree would make it over here in time.

So I improvised and scraped together every old plank I could find in the cellar.

The tree will also come in very handy as an advent calendar.
Being half german, my daughter insist on getting her calendar every year. Like with the tree we had a lot of different varieties already.

This year I will turn the tree into a calendar and will (hopefully, if I can think of what to do by then :-) ) show it to you next weekend.

But here now for the self-made Christmas tree tutorial:


You will need:

Wood glue
A drill and drill bit
Wood screws
old planks
a saw
a screw driver





Start by cutting the planks into different lengths. Then put some wood glue on the middle of the shortest plank:




Drill a hole through both planks (but don't drill all the way through the one at the bottom):




Screw the two planks together:



Now continue like this with the other planks:




Turn it over, and there you have your tree:



I would have loved to hang the tree and it can easily be done by adding a screw at the back of the middle plank, but our walls are made of clay and cow dung and don't hold anything remotely heavy.
The tree didn't look very secure standing like this (my biggest dog likes to sleep under the table and sometimes lifts it when he gets up) so I decided to make a stand out of an old can and some wet soil.
It didn't look too pretty but luckily I had duct tape (isn't that just the greatest invention ever! The stuff has about a trillion uses), and I beautified it:





So here is the tree for now. Next week I will show you the advent calendar version, and after that the magical transformation into a christmas tree. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!



I couldn't resist to try out some decorations. By now it is actually too dark to take pictures, so here just two to give you an idea:





I am linking this post to the blogs on my link party page


  

37 comments:

  1. Love this! It's very festive.
    Come link up!
    http://singingthreelittlebirds.blogspot.com/2011/11/inspire-me-monday-and-big-thank-you.html

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  2. Thank you Julie! I linked up to your lovely blog :-)

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  3. I LOVE this.. So super cuute.. : )) I am hosting a christmas tree reveal shortly and if you don't mind I'd LOVE to feature you pweease.. THIS IS soo cool..I lived in Africa so I can relate to your creativity for something green and fresh for Christmas.. LOVE this.. : ))

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  4. Thank you very much Marilyn, please feature away :-)
    ps: love your blog!

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  5. It really is quite charming! So different but it really does have the holiday feel :)

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  6. Thanks guys! Sara, I just linked up to your blog :-)

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  7. This is just darling!! I love it all lit up. Creative and beautiful!

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  8. Thanks for sharing! New follower! Visit me at http://raisingdieter.blogspot.com/ for recipes and a giveaway!

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  9. This is super cute!! I'm a new follower!

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  10. What a fantastic christmas tree - so lovely!
    And thank you for the "making of"

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  11. It's so simple and so festive. I love it!

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  12. This is beautiful. We switched to an artificial tree a couple years ago but somehow it went missing during our last move. (Not sure how that happened since it was in huge freaking box) but I'm hoping to talk hubby into a real tree this year. Hope to see you at DIY Home Sweet Home. I'm also your newest follower. Cute blog.
    Jamie
    http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/
    P.S. I have a linky every Monday. Would love you to stop by and link up.

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  13. Look's good. Great idea!
    Greets, coffee

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  14. I am in love with this it's definitely on my to do list I'd love it if you add this to my link party over at http://raegunwear.blogspot.com

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  15. I love your tree!!! I'm pinning this to my Christmas board!

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  16. Love it--so Charlie Brown and just perfect! Thanks for sharing at Beyond The Picket Fence.

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  17. Coming by way of Time Travel Thursday. What an interesting post from Africa, mud and cow dung walls to a plank tree and large dog ... wondering if he's a mastiff or what . . . anyway, the tree looks great - wondering how you will finalize it. Enjoyed my visit, Thanks, Jenn from Texas USA

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  18. Your tree is so so cute! I love it!

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  19. This is very original and I love the use of recycling here.

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  20. Prove that your Christmas days are just started, Your work is superb and best for beginner of them who does 't start work on this year 's Christmas. Very original looking and cute idea for me.
    gift ideas for men

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  21. Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and a warm welcome to the new followers!!! I will do my best to make it an interesting and beautiful ride :-)
    Hi Jamie, will link up on Monday. Good luck with the real tree!
    Hi Jenn, he is not a mastiff but at least as massive. His mum is a labrador/bouvier cross, no idea who dad was (she went awol for a while) but he was big :-)

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  22. Very creative! I love how it turned out. I am now living in the Caribbean and made out tree out of driftwood this year. I'd be great if you wanted to check it out! http://thespacebetweenblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/pinterest-challenge-driftwood-christmas-tree/
    Karah @ thespacebetweenblog

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  23. love it♥. so adorable..
    im your newest follower. would love a follow bsck
    http://sewcraftable.blogspot.com

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  24. Thanks for linking to the Home Decor and Organizing Link Party this week. This tree is amazing. You've inspired me to make one this year. I'm featuring this today. Come over and grab a featured button if you like.

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  25. Too cute - love it!!

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  26. Once again thank you so much for your beautiful comments! You make me very happy :-)
    Leanne, thanks a lot for featuring me! This is so cool, will go and get my button!
    Hi Jessica, welcome to the blog, I am following you too now :-)
    Hi Karah, your driftwood tree is gorgeous! Really beautiful. And that view from Pilates...

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  27. Love your twinkly tree! great blog to visit. I'll be calling here many times. penny

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  28. Welcome to the blog Penny, great to have you here!

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  29. Hello awesome!! Love it. Thank you so much for linking up to Fresh Fridays!
    This made it into the top Freshest Projects of the Week!
    http://www.releasemecreations.com/2011/12/fresh-fridays-link-party-6.html

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  30. how cool is that??!!
    it shall be, this year.
    thanks!

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  31. looooove it! I sourced you in my blog! thanks for sharing!!

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