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For everyone on the "Nester Tour" my whole blog is Christmas and it won't let me link my whole blog up, so please click this link and you can start at the begining and see all the posts. Buckets of Christmas Ideas

Last year I gave you a full home tour.(You can scroll down to see it.) I change things around every year, but since I already did a tour, I decided I want to walk you through the creation of some of my tree's. Every tree post has some type of hint or idea to decorate.

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This is the first tree you see when you walk in the front door. This tree is amazing! Evryone should have a tree like this - I change it around every year and it looks totally different. This year it has red balls and a red sheer window curtain for the tree skirt. It is beautiful and perfect for the spirit of Christmas!

Dated Ornie Arch

This isn't a tree, but it can count for one!

There are hundreds of ornaments on it. We have been married 35 years and there are several ornaments for every year we have been married. The years we moved there is a mailbox with a new address. The year we had a baby there are that child's baby shoes. The years our children's went on missions are trinkets from that country. The years we added new people in our family from weddings are ornies that represent them. The years we had grandchildren are teddy bears. Each year has an ornament that represents that year. Vacation ornaments. The year my parents died and grandmother died are ornaments from their tree's. An ornament in tribute of 9-11, the dedication of the Nauvoo temple, and other significant events that are a par to of our family history.

Here is a picture of our dated arch:

My New Blue Tree in the Library

This Tree's Hint - Fil in a sparse tree with anything that goes with the color or theme.
I found some blue ornies at a garage sale this summer and the mood has been with me since, I had to create a blue tree.

Topper

I don't have a topper yet - I have been sick and it has been subzero, so I haven't been able to go and get ribbon to make something, like I said I don't have much blue!

Filler

I had some creative twist that is that old irridescent kind that a friend gave me, leftover from a wedding. I stuffed it in the middle of this tree. The effect is breathtaking! I tried to get a good picture to show you.

Ornaments

I don't have alot of blue ornaments, particularly this color of blue, so I made a few birds, snowflakes, glitter balls and gathered some old craft items that were the right color and started creating.

A friend of mine gave me this nativity ornament last year and it has a bit of a blue tint - it is perfect!

Tree Skirt

The Tree skirt is just blue net - I had just the right shade leftover from one of our daughters weddings.

Treasures of the Heart in the Library

This Tree's Hint - You can decorate a tree with ANYTHING!!!!!

I really did some deep cleaning this past summer and I found a bunch of cute little things our children have given me over the years. They are tucked in boxes and never seen, so I thought I could make a tree out of them! WOO HOO! I love it. I still have a few more things to go through and will find some more treasures, but meanwhile let me show you, "Treasures of my Heart"

This is a picture of the hearts I made to help pull it all together. When I got things hung up it seems disconnected. I added these hearts and some gold balls and it tied it all together! Just the trick for it. I have stuffed animals all over the interior of this. Cute little things my kids have made me or given me. They are perfect filler and like a little secret you can look and see.

All kinds of cups and boxes and handprints are on this tree.

These are stuffed animals my children have given me. The board on the front is one that our daughter painted for me with all kinds of melted crayons - such treasures!

The Woodland Tree in the Library

This Tree's Hint - Use Garland to decorate a tree. This tree has 5 garlands and very few ornies and it is totally fun!

This is a fun tree! It is mostly decorated with garland. It takes about 10 minutes to set up. The ornaments are all the woodsy type ornaments we have. There are tin stars, tree's and deer, flannel penny ornies and finished up with sparkly red balls. It is a fun tree - oh I think I already said that!

TOPPER
The top is a twig star with flannel ribbon. Things are sticking out all over the place - I love this kind of stuff!

ORNAMENTS

There is a twig garland, a berry garland, a stick garland, a bead garland and a flannel ribbon garland

Vintage Tree

This Tree's Hint - If you do an era tree - study out the time period to duplicate it. I used a fake tree for several years and it just didn't quite look right, when I added a real tree and ice scicles it became resplendant!

I have tried to do this tree as original as possible. I love this tree. It is like a blast from my childhood! I have any toys from our childhood as part of the skirt. There are ice scicles, bubble lights and a live tree. It sparkles more than any other tree in the house! I didn't use the old lights however because of their fire hazard. It smells and looks wonderful! All the ornies are from 50's and back. The oldest I have is a tin star that dates about 1910.

Every ornament on this tree is amazing - here are a few that were my grandmothers. The elf is from my childhood.Here are the tin star ornaments.

I love all the shapes of the vintage ornaments....there are a few birds too! All my grandmother's.

A few of the toys that make up the tree skirt - with a splash of cotton batting - all tree's in the 50's had this!

Our Santa Tree

Linking Up With Deck the Halls -

(Link in the side bar)

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This Tree's Hint - Scroll down to filler section.
When I started getting too many ornaments to put on one tree, I split the tree's up. The Santa Tree used to be anything that was Red, White and Green. Over the years as our collection has grown, it now has it's own tree. It is a favorite. It is in our Kitchen/Family/Dining ARea in one corner with the Vintage Tree in the other corner.

Topper

The topper is a stuffed animal, a bow and some funky picks. I love it!

Filler

All kinds of stuff fit here and there in this tree, there is a little candy house that has become tradition, words like Happy, Believe, etc. I also had a bunch of poinsetta's that had fallen off their stems and so they are stuck deep inside this tree. You can't see them, but their color add's a full look to the tree. If your tree's look sparse, stick something in the middle of them. Anything works, I have used net, sheers, sheets, pillowcases, stuffed animals, anything. You can make any tree look beautiful and the filler is a HUGE part of that.

Ornaments

Very few of the ornaments on this tree are the same. Many are homemade, things we have made over the years for Family Home Evening. Lots are gifts, some are from the ornament exchange I am a part of.

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Tree Skirt

This has a standard skirt, but I added all the stuffed animals, tin cans and wooden painted pieces I did years ago to be a part of the skirt. I also hung all the little things around the outside of the tree that are wall hangings.

My Grand Children's Forrest!

This Tree's Hint - I buy objects that each child loves and after Christmas they go into my toy closet. It is a great way to get new toys and have fun at Christmas at the same time.

My friend Melody told me about doing a grandchildren's forrest and I loved the idea so much I did one too. Here is my version of our forrest which grows every year!

(We jut found out we have a grandchild due in July -I will be adding another tree next year!)

TOPPER

Each year I make a different topper which has our darling grandson's photo's on it.

This year I made star's. Here they are:

Wyatt age 4

Cody age 22 months - (Pix coming from Walgreen's tomorrow!) I wanted this space ready for it when I get it. This is how the ornie looks pre pix.

Gabe - 14 months

Teague - 4 months

Tate - 4 months

TREE THEME

The theme I use for each of them is what they are interested in that particular year. Wyatt loves helicopter's and jets this year. Last year it was trains. I bought matchbox helicopters and made them into ornies. It also has his last few years photo ornaments on it and a couple of other treasures - a spider ornament we made, a candy train ornament we made last year. But it is mainly helicopters and jets.

Cody loves cars and trucks, all sizes and shapes. His tree this year is full of matchbox cars. At the end of Christmas they will be added to the matchbox car collection that he loves to play with. His ornament from last year is also on it. Gabe is 14 months and loves teddy bears. His tree is full of all kinds and sizes of small teddy bears.
Teague and Tate were born one week apart in August, so their tree's are exactly the same, filled with blue rattles and baby bottles.

Last Year Toppers
These are the toppers I made for last year. They are photo ornaments made on CD's. This year they made great ornaments. I also made balls with their handprints and snowmen made out of them. If you scroll down my blog you will see them.

PICTURE BOOK
This year I made a picture book. It is a paper bag book with all kinds of nooks and crany's. It is a grandchildren's christmas picture book. It begins with the year Wyatt was born with a picture of our family on one side and the grandchildren that year on the other. The year is on each page. There are also pockets that hold other christmas pictures for that year. I want our grandchildren to feel very loved and part of our family. Inside Page