// POP COLOUR - Michael's Dream Tree Challenge 2017

It's Dream Tree time, y'all! This is by far my absolute favorite Michaels Makers challenge each and every year, and this year is my fourth (!!!) tree! You can see the past 3 years here if you're interested: 2016, 2015, 2014 (loved this one so much!) This year I wanted to do something totally different, partially because the Jasper Cashmere tree I received last year was seriously so beautiful and I knew that I wanted to use it again in my living room, and also because I really wanted something fun in my studio. Michaels gave us a couple of different trees to choose from this year and I jumped on the white pencil tree since it was so unique. Not going to lie though, I was kind of intimidated to decorate it! I've never decorated a pencil tree before and I had absolutely no idea how much stuff would fit on it. I have a boatload of things to return but I can safely say I am totally head over heels in love with the way this tree turned out. My tree is publishing 2 weeks after most of the other Makers' trees simply because I opted to do one of the two limited collections and they were put into stores a bit later. The collection I'm featuring on my tree is the Boho Collection and I am so into the color palette! I immediately knew this is the collection I wanted based on the colors alone. I've always been more of a muted pink kind of gal, but here lately I can't get enough of bold, bright color on a clean white backdrop.

While most of my ornaments are straight from the Michaels' shelves I knew I wanted to DIY some things to tie it all together. I ended up taking some clear ornaments and shaking some acrylic paint around in them to get the colors I wanted. I also did some splatter and brush stroke looks on some white ornaments. A few of the clear ornaments include pink crinkle paper and teal paper trim. I love the look of the texture in them. My favorite ready-made additions from Michaels are definitely the super soft pom poms. The little animals are adorable, too. Only one store in the Nashville area carries this collection (Bellevue!) and I bought most of it, but hopefully they've restocked since I swept through. (You can check each individual product's availability at your local store - just in case you weren't aware! Just search by zip code on the product page.) If you're not local to me or you don't have a Michaels nearby you can still get a good bit of the collection online - and you can usually scoop up a code for free shipping! Currently this collection - and Michaels' 4 others - is 50% off.

I'm totally a "More is More" gal when it comes to decorating Christmas trees. This tree, despite being quite skinny, boasts so many different kinds of ornaments and garlands. I picked up a few awesome things (like pom pom and tassel trim) that would have made for great makeshift garland, but I'm not sure it would have fit on my tree haha Instead I opted to use some of it on my gift wrap and bags. I just hot glued a few strands of it here and there, and I love how it helps tie the whole thing together. Below I'll link some of the stuff I used in case you want to put your own spin on it.

From trees to ornaments and holiday décor, Michaels has everything you need to MAKE this holiday your own! You can even shop over 100 Christmas Trees at Michaels.com. Thanks for checking out my tree and giving me a space to share things like this. I definitely want to get myself back into regular making, no matter the medium. 

xo KB

SHOP THE TREE

white pre-lit pencil tree (under $60!) // vintage glass ornaments // pom pom tree skirt // metal wire cactus // pom pom trim stocking // pom pom ornaments // assorted plush animal ornaments // felt tree ornaments // bright pom pom garland // fair isle ornaments // embroidered bird ornaments // small wood chip tree // large wood chip tree // small - medium - large bottle brush trees // large felt tabletop cactus // mini tabletop cactus // pillow // wall garland // wooden wall prints

// On The Glitz: A Glittery Glam Christmas Tree

This is without a doubt my absolute favorite project to work on every year. This is my third (!!!) Dream Tree with Michaels and I swear it never gets old. (See previous years: 2014, 2015) This year's tree took a 180 degree turn on like, November 7th... Yeah, like, last week. I had decided on my theme back in October and I spent a solid day picking out ornaments and things to craft. The theme was neat (in my opinion), but it wasn't really ~me. I love the creative freedom we get in the Michaels Makers program, and I really wanted the tree to reflect our home a bit more than first theme did. I recently repainted the living room and bathroom in our house, totally on a whim. The bright white reflects so much light, it really makes the space feel bigger. There's a lot of gold and pink in the living room (but the boys dig it. Well, Toby does. L doesn't care) so one day when I was lurking the #MakeItWithMichaels hashtag on Instagram I saw the newest collection of ornaments that were hitting the shelves and OH MY WORD! If I were a Christmas ornament or decorative accent, I would totally be in this collection. It spoke to me on an almost spiritual level. I scooped up stuff off the shelves at the One Hundred Oaks Michaels as the associates were basically unboxing them. (I totally apologized profusely for being all up ~in their biz, and they were so sweet). Anywho, I wanted to decorate around the colors and textures of the new throw pillows and accents I recently picked up/upcycled, and this collection fit so perfectly! Here's my ~glitzy glam Christmas tree! 

Everything on the tree (including that fabulous tree skirt) is from Michaels. Most of the ornaments are ready made, but I did grab a box of gold and pink "decorative filler" styrofoam balls which I simply stuck a straightened out ornament hook into. Easy peasy! Didn't even need hot glue! The gold garland is one of my favorite things on the tree. I love the different sizes of all the balls and baubles. In this collection they also had those awesome glittery tinsel "trees" you see on my trunk next to the door. They're so pretty and they come in like three different colorways, but holy glitter. If you're at all anal about glitter, don't get them. But otherwise, they're so fantastic and worth the extra sweeping. 

Looking at these pictures makes me realize just how much of our decor is from Michaels or the product of a DIY for Michaels haha! I'll try to link as many relevant products as I can, but if it's not linked feel free to ask and I'll let you know where it's from. You must stop in at a local Michaels soon though because you gotta see this collection. There's a white version and a pink version basically, both with gold accents. There aren't really many pieces online.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "Those poor boys!" because it's so feminine, but I bought the boys their very own 4 foot tree - with multicolored lights, as requested by Toby - to keep in their room. (Yeah, their. Linden has been bunking with Tobes lately and boy it's nice to have my bed back! Tangent, sorry) Anyway, making and shopping for ornaments will be activities in their advent calendar come December, so I'm excited to decorate it with them. They are 110% in the driver's seat with theme and everything. We'll likely decorate this tree some more with our personal family ornaments, but I'm really excited to see how theirs ends up. They helped decorate this one and it was the most precious thing. I really really love this time of year. This year is extra special in so many ways. I want the boys to remember it forever. All the feels to be felt!

As for your holiday decorations go, Michaels has their largest tree assortment this year, including colored and flocked trees. Check out all of their trees, ornaments and coordinating holiday décor on Michaels.com. Are you feeling inspired to start decorating your own tree? Eh? Maybe? Make sure you visit Michaels’ blog, The Glue String, to see the rest of the Michaels Makers’ dream holiday trees that were created this year.

xo KB

PS; This tree is by far the prettiest artificial tree I've seen, no lie. I totes called it flocked on snap, but it's ~"cashmere" tips and they make a world of difference aesthetically. Seriously, love this tree!

sources: tree // assorted gold ornaments // sequin pillow // instax holders //

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// Michaels Dream Tree Challenge 2015 - Visions of Sugar Plums

In standard Michaels Makers fashion, I put my Christmas tree up on Halloween. This is the second year participating in the Dream Tree Challenge, and my tree couldn't be more different than last years! Last year we did a Rustic Cabin Christmas theme, and this year I opted for something much more feminine and fun. This year's theme is "Visions of Sugar Plums" and IT'S SO FLUFFY! Truth be told: I didn't start on my tree until Saturday morning. I've been so swamped with a million other things that honestly, it just slipped my mind. And I kind of panicked because Mike came home from work siiiiiick. He was laid up in bed all day Saturday and couldn't lend a hand. It was raining on Saturday, too, but I put the tree out on our carport and spent a few hours spray painting it. Loads of people have asked me about spray painting my tree and how it worked out, and honestly I'm so pleased with the outcome! My initial goal was a much more opaque coverage, but I only had 4 cans of spray paint and uh, it needed a lot more. Now I'm kind of glad I ran out because I love how it looks flocked with pink sugar or snow. The tree was pre-lit so I covered each light (!!!) with a tiny square of tin foil, then after I painted the tree I just slid the tin foil off. Easy peasy and it worked so great! (I used the Design Master ColorTool spray paint from Michaels and it worked like a dream!)

It looks like a totally different tree when it's lit up. It's warm and fluffy and fun. But I also really love how it looks without the lights, too. It really has a "winter" feel to it. For the ornaments I decided to just run with a pink, lavender, and baby blue accents. I wanted to use a lot of textures, too, so I opted to stuff various sized glass and plastic balls with feather boas! I also wrapped a few styrofoam spheres with yarn, and I glued rhinestones on ceramic ornaments. I picked up loads of fun little bits and bobs to wrap around the branches, too. And because I'm overly sentimental and needed a bit more of our family on the tree, I grabbed some mini frames from the dollar section of Michaels and I added ribbon loops to the back to make them ornaments. The garland I used is just several white feather boas strung together. In all the hustle and bustle I totally neglected the underside of the tree, but Linden put one of our falsa blankets down there Saturday evening and we just kind of ran with it. Now I sort of dig it haha It worked out since I totally blanked. I also didn't add presents or anything this year because, uh, time or whatever. But now I have so many ideas! 

I was really panicking that I wouldn't love this year's tree because I truly am still so in love with last year's. Luckily I ended up surprising myself and really digging this one too. Mike laughed when he woke up and saw it. He said "Everyone on the internet is going to hate you because you subjected me to this" ha! He gave it two big thumbs up though and said he actually thought it looked awesome. Toby loves it, too. Linden just likes to poke the lights. Georgia keeps parking her big butt underneath it and it's pretty adorable. I honestly wasn't too sure we'd even leave a tree up this year because we were afraid Linden would just pull it over. He's been surprisingly good about keeping his hands (mostly) off it so maybe we'll leave it up! I'll probably go grab a handful of the ornaments from last year though, and throw them on it, too. But now I am preparing to decorate the rest of the house for the holidays! I'll write more about that later though.

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  

Anyway, here it is! My Dream Tree. What do you think? Totally overkill? Way too feminine for a house of mostly dudes? Deliciously adorable? haha! I honestly feel like it's the tree I've always wanted. I'm sure the boys will overrule me next year, so I better enjoy it while I can! 

If you want to check out the other 49 Michaels Makers Dream Trees, you can see them on the Michaels' blog, The Glue String. There are some ornament projects and tutorials on the Michaels site, too. // If all of this wasn't rad enough, you can get free shipping on all Christmas trees (6ft or taller) between now and November 14th. Go on! Get your tree up! There's no shame in stretching out the season! (Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving!) 

xo KB

// Christmas at the Cabin - Dream Tree Challenge

If you follow me on Instagram then you may have noticed that I have a fully decorated Christmas tree chilling in my living room already... yeah, it was up before Halloween! Do you think I'm totally loony?! Well, I promised you there was a reason for it! I participated in Michaels' 3rd Annual Dream Tree Challenge this year and it marked my very first project as part of the Michaels Makers team! I'm not a DIY/craft blogger by far, but I definitely consider myself a maker and I thought that by accepting this invitation I'd be able to push myself out of my creative "rut" and get back to making things post-baby. So far I'm really enjoying the creative push!

I love decorating our Christmas tree. Every year I get so excited to reimagine our tree and adorn it with personal ornaments and touches. Without fail, we always end up going the way of brown and gold for our tree. It's our "happy place" when it comes to festive holiday decoration. Since I was challenged to create my ultimate "dream tree," I knew exactly where to start.

Mike was a huge help on this and we worked together every step of the way. I suggested a "rustic and natural" theme for the tree, and he said it felt like Christmas at a cabin. Hence the title! So that's the theme this year... A Cabin Christmas! We wanted to "bring the outdoors in" and so we chose a variety of things from Michaels to make it happen. I'll be 100% honest with you, I was nervous. I had no idea how this would all fall together. Even after we started decorating it I was questioning whether it made sense or not! But now that it's all done, I'm SO in love with it. It really is our Dream Tree!

It was important to us not to just go grab a ton of ready-made ornaments to toss on the tree because we really had a specific vision in mind. Since the "Raw" collection launched earlier this year, I knew so many of those pieces would make great decorations. We kept a pretty simple color palette (varieties of brown and cream), but really relied on the textures to make the tree. There's everything from cork tags to decorative potpourri, grapevine balls, and silk flowers. We did buy a couple of ready-made ornaments like the kraft stars, wooden snowflakes (love these!), and the icicles. Everything else was pulled apart and/or attached with some ornament hangers or twine.

One of my favorite bits are the ivory and gold glitter orchid flowers that we pulled off of a big bouquet and glued to hangers. Mike had the brilliant idea of taking apart some gold boutonniere style pieces and wrapping around stems throughout the tree. We even hung cinnamon sticks straight on the tree so it'd smell good! 

And can you see our "tree skirt" up above? That's three bags of Spanish Moss! We really wanted to sell the rustic theme and I'm so glad we went with the moss rather than a traditional fabric skirt. It can be a little messy if you scatter it around, but luckily Toby and the dogs stay out of it, and Linden can't crawl. We got lucky this year haha! 

One of my favorite things about our Christmas trees each year is how personal they are. Everyone gets a new ornament every year, and we add them to our growing collection. In order to make this tree a bit more "us" we added wooden initials for each member of the family, and I Mod Podged some Instagram photos on thin wood circles to make our own ornaments.

I'm really over the moon about how the tree turned out. I feel like it's the perfect tree for us. It came out far better than I could have ever anticipated! And it's got Toby really excited for Christmas this year! If you want to check out the other Dream Trees from the Michaels Makers, pop over to their blog, The Glue String, for links and photos!

If you're in the market for a new tree this year, Michaels is having their Make It Merry Tree Event November 2nd through 8th and all trees 6ft and taller are 50% off. Their Make It Merry lookbook is full of tips and projects to get you stoked on the holidays.

Now you can anticipate one Michaels' Makers crafty post from me each month! I'm excited to see what types of challenges are ahead. I'll be back in a couple of weeks to share my holiday tree decorating tips (you know, if you trust me to give any advice on that! haha) but until then let me know what you think about our tree! Did we manage to pull off the rustic cabin look?! xo

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