Remember I was proto-typing some felt balls like the ones in the photo below last year? I promised I’d show you what I was going to use them for, but I guess then I kinda got busy (hello Christmas!)
The proto type stage went fine . I figured out exactly how to make ’em. All was good.
And I started cutting little felt circles to make the balls. But then I realised that I’d probably not thought this project through properly. See the wooden trees below?
They’re from Muji. Bought them very (very!) reduced last January because they’d lost their ornaments. I figured “I’m crafty, I can make something to replace the ornaments!” But of course then I got busy with other stuff and the trees were in their boxes in a wardrobe, kinda forgotten. And then it got to the end of October and I still hadn’t made anything and I knew I wouldn’t have time to make anything elaborate.
I thought the felt balls would be the solution!
But to make enough balls for both trees, I’d need atleast 180 little felt circles. Which I’d have to cut by hand. 180. By hand. Not elaborate at all, right? And then I’d have to sew all the balls together as well. So I scrapped the idea. For now. Maybe I can find some felt circles somewhere. That will make it a bit more manageable.
But back to last year. I decided I’d go to the local 99p store (like a dollar store) and have a look for some small baubles. They didn’t have any that were small enough, but then I came across some door wreaths made from these little bells. And they were the perfect size! Success!
So I took the wreath apart and tied the bells on with ribbon in different colours. Took me maybe 45 minutes all told. It wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted, but it did the trick!
When we were in Denmark I actually found some small glass baubles which are small enough for the trees, so now I have two sets of decorations for them. And I have still spent less than what it would cost to buy one (large) tree at full price. I love it when I can decorate on a shoestring! :-)
I have thought of painting the trees white, but I think I’ll leave them as they are for now. Maybe if they start to change colour naturally I’ll give them a lick of paint.
If you want to see what the trees would look like with their original ornaments, take a look here. Towards the bottom.
Oh and this type of tree isn’t a Japanese invention – check out this German one. Although the Muji version is a lot more subdued of course!