Homemade Ornaments and Tabletop Trees

Since most of our worldly possessions are stored away in the US still, including our Christmas decorations, we've needed to start from scratch over here in Europe.  I never wanted to invest much in a whole new set of ornaments, since we never knew exactly how long we'd be staying, so we still mostly have a basic look with cheap gold balls and a few pretty extras which were given to us.  I actually love the simplicity of a single color and uncomplicated approach to decorating, but I found myself wishing I could fill out our little tree a bit more.  

I have seen many versions of ornaments lately for sale with feathers, and it got me thinking... rather than using tinsel to soften the look of our tree, why not a few feathers?  

White feathered bird ornament 

Peacock ornament

Aqua feathered long tail clip on bird ornament

You never know if you'll end up loving a spontaneous decorating choice, so I decided to pick up some inexpensive loose feathers and make my own fluffy Christmas ornaments.  Using some of the gold balls we already had, I rounded up some satin ribbon and gold string from my gift wrapping stash and got to work.  This is honestly the quickest, easiest project you'll ever do!  Just tie it all together and hang.

The finished product 

Don't you love these adorable tabletop Christmas trees?  A huge tree-- the bigger the better!-- makes your home feel especially festive for the holidays, but for whenever you're short on space or time (traveling for Christmas?), a tabletop version brings nearly as much cheer, and not as much work.

Traditional Home

Martha Stewart

Merry Christmas (almost!)

Liza