Unusual Christmas Tree Ideas
By Enid Edginton
Unusual Christmas Tree Ideas

When is a tree more than a tree and more akin to a piece of art? After reading the following tree ideas you will realize that there is a very fine line between just a tree and a piece of original sculpture. If you have a passion for unusual trees maybe you will find some of the following ideas inspirational. Keep in mind that most of the tree ideas below work best as miniature tabletop trees or holiday table centerpieces.

The Bead Tree

Bead trees are simply a cone of paper that is circled by a long strand of beads that are glued to it. These beads coil repeated around the cone until they resemble a tree. These unusual trees can be made out of any material that you like - pearls, glass beads and novelty beads. You can also twine fine foil braid or ribbon around the beads to give your tree special holiday flair.

The Candy Cane Christmas Tree

This little tree looks nice using candy canes that are either red or green striped. Once again you will need some kind of conical armature. If you make a really small one you don't need an armature at all. The idea is to make a teepee frame using long candy canes. Then take smaller ones (or chop of the length of the longer ones) and place them symmetrically around the tree frame with the hooks of the candy canes u upside down and sticking up like branches. If you are really ambitious you can also glue candies to the tipped up edges with butter cream frosting to resemble Christmas decorations.

The Lollipop Christmas Tree

This is one of the simplest of do it yourself unusual trees. All that is required is a Styrofoam armature and red and green lollipops. You can also roll up a piece of stiff paper that is green in color into a cone and poke the stems of the lollipops through the tree so that only the candy part is showing. This is done so that the lollipops are facing downwards to look like tree boughs. You can use a brightly colored yellow lollipop stuck with the stem straight down through the top of the cone to be the tree-topper. This is one of the more unusual tree ideas.

The Marshmallow and Gum Drop Tree

This is inspired by one of Martha Stewart's unusual tree ideas. All you need to create this is a conical Styrofoam shape in the size you desire (to use as an armature) and some mint green and white marshmallows. You spear the marshmallows on a toothpick or pin and then affix them to the sides of the Styrofoam cone so that it simulates an evergreen with snow-laden boughs. You can also decorate this tree with edible gold or silver cake decorations. A Christmas star made out of shortbread covered with glitter makes a great tree topper for these types of unusual trees.

The Pine Cone Tree

To make this tree all you need is several very healthy looking pinecones. Glue them together in a conical shape until you have a shape that resembles a tree. Glue acorns and holly berries on the sides to mimic decorations and glue a large one on top of the tree to create a tree topper.

If this look is too naturalistic for you can always spray paint the tree silver and paint the acorns a gold color.

The Pipe Cleaner Christmas Tree

This is one of the classic tree ideas that is fun to do with the kids. All you need is lengths of green pipe cleaner cut into equal shapes and beads with holes large enough to slip over the pipe cleaners.

Your next step is to create a trunk out of a single pipe cleaner or two. Simply find a wine cork and jab the end of the pipe cleaner into the cork to create a base for the tree. The limbs of the tree can then be constructed from pipe cleaners that are twisted outward from the trunk to resemble branches. The beads can then be slipped over the pipe cleaner branches as decorations. A star shaped bead can be used as the tree topper.

The Puff Pastry Christmas Tree

You have probably seen those wedding cakes that are made of puff pastry filled with cream and then stacked in a pyramid shape. Usually these are drizzled with chocolate icing. These actually look like Christmas Trees.

You can make the same recipe and stack the puffs in a conical shape. Then instead of chocolate drizzle try drizzling them with a white icing to mimic snow. Edible gold and red glitter can mimic the effect of decorations and a pastry pipe filled with red or green decorating gel be spiraled around the cake to achieve the effect of garlands. You can also dispense with all of that fuss and just wrap it with spiral of pretty ribbon.

Of course this kind of cake will need some kind of topper. Instead of a bride and groom, why not top it with a battery run blinking



snowflake or star?

The Sequined Christmas Tree

This novelty miniature tree is one of the prettiest of unusual ideas but it takes a lot of patience to realize it perfectly. To make one all you need is a lot of hatpins with pearl tips (preferably in colors such as white, green and red) and bags of sequins in the colors of your choice. The idea is that these sequins will be threaded onto the hatpins and painstakingly tucked into a conical Styrofoam shape until no white space is left. Tiny plastic crystals can also be suspended by pins to serve as xmas decorations.

The Tropical Fruit Christmas Tree

If you like tree ideas that are made of food then you will like this exotic centerpiece. This centerpiece is made of pomegranates of different sizes (to mimic the look of a red tree.) Larger pomegranates are placed in a circle on the bottom and the smaller ones are stacked on top until a tree shape is achieved. You can then tuck lychee nuts (still in their natural gauzy white wrapping) in between the pomegranates to simulate gold and white xmas decorations. The tree topper can be made from a slice of star fruit that has been dipped in candied sugar.
For more information on Christmas trees, visit www.o-christmas-tree.com - a year-round resource for all your christmas tree and decoration needs.

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