oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree

Well, the wreaths are done, the mantel is decorated, the trees (Yes trees!) are chopped down and sitting in stands... And the tree skirt is made for the living room tree.

I can't say they are decorated yet.. but that will come this weekend. The other night, I made the tree skirt.

After finding tons of ideas on Pinterest, I decided to combine a couple ideas for my own creation.
The first idea I saw was this one:

How fabulous is it?!? I am in love with some burlap!

The next idea came from Marian over at Miss Mustard Seed. A blog I simply adore! She occasionally writes for HGTV.com as well with tutorials.

No sew ruffly goodness! *Heaven*
So those were my inspiration images.
This was my take:

I made the simple circle skirt, from burlap. I then created the ruffles semi using Marian's method of no sew, and then some strips of fabric, I couldn't help but take the sewing machine to them. The burlap was bought on sale at Hancock fabrics, and the ruffle material is muslin bought out of the remnant baskets..

I created the stencil template on Word.. Sized to like 450pt Font for the initial... and 200pt something for the EST 2011.. Carefully cut it with an xacto knife.Using a sharpie, and other black marker I loosely got the letters transferred on. Sure I could of done a freezer paper method, but I didn't have freezer paper and didn't want to go to the store for any... When in doubt, wing it!

Once the stencil was semi transferred on, I took acrylic artist paint and went over the letters. 

Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!! 

This past weekend I went and chopped down my trees. For the last few years I've been going out to a place called Brewers. It's a tradition that started one year with good friends, Frank and Hannah and their kids.. and I've upheld it since. This year I took my friends girls with me and they LOVED it.

Here I am chopping down the tree for the living room while the oldest holds it steady. I usually  get a Leyland Cypress... Never heard of it? Yea me neither until I moved to the South! It doesn't shed like most pine trees and is incredibly long lasting! It's a hybrid of a Monterey Cypress and Alaskan Cedar. It's beautiful! Not a bare spot to be seen, perfect tree shape. Divine. 

Here I am dragging the trees with my helper to the check out and netting area. Unfortunately it was about this time that my camera battery decided to die.. So I didn't get very many pictures after this point. Thankfully we ran into Frank and Hannah getting their tree! So Hannah took some pictures and I used her camera a bit. I'll have to get the other pictures from her.

Things are starting to look Christmasy around my place! What about yours?