My friends (two sisters, Missy and Suzy) and I got together recently and I helped them make Jewelry Christmas Trees. I considered inviting a few more people, but this was still during Covid, so I decided to keep it small.
What I did ahead of time (Maybe four hours? Plus the shopping time)
- Purchased matching frames for each friend at a thrift shop.- $8 for each frame.
- Purchased thick foam board for the backs - $5 for one sheet, out of which I cut both backs.
- Cut the foam board to size so it fit in the frames.
- Purchased several strands of battery-powered lights so they could pick what they wanted - about $8 per strand
- Printed out two copies of all the patterns for the frame eight by ten opening, so they could pick the pattern they wanted
- Set up tables
- Got out all my supplies, jewelry, glue sticks, and background fabrics - approx $5 was used for each fabric back. Black velvet.
- Made sure I had all the necessary tools, bowls, etc
- Bought wine - approx $15
- Bought Lasagna for dinner - approx $15
- Christmas Music! - Free!
What they did at the party
- They looked through my background fabrics, and both ended up selecting black velvet for their background.
- Selected the strand of lights that they wanted to use.
- Chose the pattern that they wanted and cut the pattern themselves.
- Marked where the lights should go on the foam board.
Then I cut the fabric to go on the foamboard, sprayed the boards with glue, and applied the fabric to the foamboard.
Then they
- used an Exacto knife to cut holes, and push the lights through the fabric, making sure they liked the placement.
- glued the lights onto the back of the foam board, so they wouldn't fall out.
- flipped the back over, set the paper pattern down, and started planning their trees.
- began to glue everything down
Some of my supplies
Mid process, you can see it is still light outside. That's my husband in the background.
Both intently working away!
We took a break for dinner.
Suzy's tree when not lit. The base is half an old belt buckle.
Missy's tree, lit. Somehow I didn't get a photo of it unlit.
They worked for about six hours from beginning to end. See how the porch light is on?
