Decorating
Tips for Metal and Artificial Christmas Ornament Trees
Since metal ornament trees
have no foliage, you can load up our trees with your prized
ornaments, use ornaments combined with other decorations or just decorate
it - swapping out flowers, ribbons, etc. according to the seasons or other
holidays. The latest craze for
decorating these trees is using miniature photo frames to create a
"family" tree. Just about anything 2-4" in diameter or
smaller can be used to decorate a metal ornament tree.
You are only limited by your imagination! :-)
Use
your KCIC Ornament tree for other seasons beside Christmas. How about a
display of red ornaments for Valentine's Day, green ornaments for St.
Patrick's day, red, white and blue ornaments for July 4th, etc.? You can
display miniature photos, Easter eggs, Easter ornaments, decorate it with
ribbons, seasonal or topical real pine or artificial garlands, winter
flower nosegays, etc. Lights on a metal tree could be dangerous. If you
decide to do that, make sure the lights and bulbs are UL listed and
approved for use on a metal surface or metal tree.
Be careful of scale, weight
and balance when decorating your tree. Too many ornaments or
decorations could cause the tree to be unbalanced which will then lead to
tipping over and /or breakage. Better to be restrained in your additions
to the tree or secure the tree so that it can not be knocked down or
tipped over.
Following is an excerpt
from an article written by Glenna
Morton, (About.com Interior Decorating Guide) with more
decorating ideas:
Tree
Themes - Spark your creativity with a color
or style theme. A "copper" theme could use metallic copper
ribbons, copper cookie cutters, wooden decorations sprayed with copper
paint, etc. A style theme such as "country" will give you clues
as to what will look good (raffia,
vines, birds' nests, antique toys, cookie ornaments, and so on.)
More
is Better - It's fun to have more than one tree. Make the
second one smaller (or a different metal) and theme
it to the room. For instance, in the corner of a large kitchen the
tree could be decorated with kitchen utensils, baskets, dried herbs,
raffia bows.
Natural
touches - Use natural materials to add a finishing touch to
your tree. For instance, tuck clusters of dried
flowers into some of the spaces between tree branches. Use a wire or
ribbon to hold the bunches together. Small handfuls of twigs could also be
used.
Silk
flowers - Silk
flowers add a nice touch to more formal trees. Clip each branch into
small sprigs, and lay them between the branches. An average size tree will
need approximately 3-5 dozen sprigs. White flowers will give almost
a snowy effect while red will brighten the tree. (Our note:
secure bunches of flowers to the tree using thin wire the same color as
your tree if possible.)
Metallic
touches - A simple spray of gold or silver paint will
embellish preserved leaves, pinecones or twigs. Spray lightly for a misty
effect, or cover completely for a more formal look. You can also spray flexible
nylon rope from the hardware store for a look that mimics expensive
gold cording.
Tiny
candles - Buy some old fashioned clip-on candle holders
and add small candles to your tree. Due to fire hazard these candles
should never be lit, but they will add a wonderful old fashioned look as
well as some color to the tree. Try gold, white, or red candles. (Our
note: we have two
ornament trees with cone-shaped frosted glass votive holders that you
can use for this purpose. You can purchase the votive holders /candles
separately. Call us or e-mail
us for more
information. )
Miniature
baskets - Search for tiny
baskets or little vine wreaths at craft stores. Decorate
these for your tree using a hot glue gun to attach berries, tiny sprigs of
preserved evergreen and dried flowers. Finish with a knot or bow of ribbon
and a ribbon loop. Make at least a dozen. If you can find varying sizes of
wreaths, use smaller ones at the top of the tree, graduating to the bigger
sizes near the bottom. (Our note: attach them to the tree using one
of our metal ornament
hangers.)
Ribbon
Streamers - For something a little different from a traditional
garland,
attach long ribbon streamers to the top of the tree. Then wind and swirl
them through the branches, down to the bottom of the tree. Long strands of
raffia could also be used for a country tree.
Get more ideas and
products for decorating metal ornament trees at
Ornament-Trees.com. |
