Using Fillers in the Tree

When I use the term fillers, I mean just putting in a little something to give the tree pizzazz! It's not the main decoration, or even the flowers or ribbon. The pizzazz, as I call it, is the little sparkle, or little something all over the tree that covers up some of the green undecorated spaces in the tree. To much makes it look over done. To little doesn't give it that extra pizzazz. It's like when you decorate a cake. It's done, but suddenly you add sprinkles. It gives it a fresh new distinctive look. What's nice about using fillers, is that every year you can give your tree a new look while still using many of the same ornaments. Just change the filler. Usually, it's the least expensive item on the tree.

Some of the fillers I have used are: eucalyptus branches, angel's hair, any kind of sparly dried flowers (tiny flowers, large branch or pick), sprinkle snow, dried fern leaves, and even tinsel.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here are a few showing how I used fillers. I am also giving you tree descriptions in case you like the ideas. 

In this first tree I used gold Angel's hair as a filler. There are so many other colors on the tree already to anything but a solid neutral color would be disastrous. Gold is a neutral Christmas color. This Angel's hair brings sparkle and shimmer to the tree without detracting from the other items. This tree has a large assortment of Clothtique paper mache Angels. There are an assortment of gold ornaments. The ribbon was used to create a garland. It's a garland of loops. There are at least four colors of sheer shimmering ribbon used.

 

This tree has a filler of eucalyptus leaves. These are real and give off a wonderful ordor as you near the tree. This tree was named Golden Harvest. There are all kinds of ornaments that have something to do with the harevesting time of year. There are a variety of fruits, horn of plenty and many other assorted ornaments. There are a  lot of cherub heads and instruments mixed in with this theme. The tree topper is a simple Angel. The eucalyptus give it a feel of realness. Some of the fruit looks so real, you can just about taste them.

 

This was a tree, from one of the very first years of my decorating experience. It is a simple tree, and the focus is actually not on the tree but the display of Department 56 houses under the tree and on the wall.  It does demonstrate what I'm writing about very nicely. The poinsettias and birds on the trees were for sale. The sparkle branches are what caught everyone's attention. It offers a natural look with some added pizzazz. I also threw some sparkle sprinkle snow on and under the tree to add to the affect. Simple, woodsy and elegant.

With this tree, I added two fillers. One was a real dried fern leaf, and the other was silver Angel's hair to give it a shimmery look. If you pull the Angel's hair and make it as thin as you can it's very hard to actually see the Angel's hair. It just shimmers like the mornings first mist. In this tree it was necessary to use fillers that blended in because the colors in the ornaments and Santa figurines are pink and peach. It makes a beautiful combination. 

This tree was created with a tree just for him in mind. Everything on this tree is from the woods. It's what you might see if you go hunting or on a nature walk. There are mushroom picks, pine cones and an assortment of birds flutter through out the tree. There are an assortment of berry picks and pheasant feathers in the tree. Blue paper ribbon was used so there wouldn't be any sparkle to the tree. Two different colors of blue give it depth. The filler in this tree is wild grasses. It looks like very tall grass has been chopped down and placed in the tree. This gives it a wild look and feeling. I didn't want any touch of the feminine in this tree at all. Although it was to appeal to men, many women appreciated this tree because of it's natural appeal. It's rather like bringing the outside indoors.

Carry your Christmas Theme throughout the Room : Mantels Part 3

This final blog on mantels has one of my most favorite mantels. I love the color scheme for this particular mantel, tree, and wreath. First though, here is one with mauve, pink and burgundy. 

I used blue spruce garland stretched across the fireplace. Then I mixed in mauve roses and flower sprays with tiny white flowers with burgundy plums and green berries. Then I used a paisley ribbon with mauve, green, blue and purple plus a solid mauve ribbon to make a double bow and wove the ends in through the greenery. Check out the beauty of this antique fireplace mantel. 

Now this next series of pictures shows a tree, an up-close shot of the tree and then the matching mantel with matching wreath. The color combinations for this theme are absolutely stunning. The angels on the tree are from the Goebel Company in Europe. The colors worked in wonderfully with the tree. 

 

Look how the ribbon is held in the tree and with the use of poinsettia and berry picks. The color combination for this tree is a deep reddish burgundy, violet, green, copper, and gold.  Some dried flowers as well as silk were used in the tree. There are violet balls hanging in the tree that pulls the violet out of the ribbon and flowers. Some of the hanging icicles are a copper, violet mix. Here is a close up shot to identify the colors better. Check out how the poinsettias are holding the ribbon in place so naturally.

I used two ribbons. One is a flower ribbon, it kind of looks like the material used on furniture in Victorian homes long ago. The other is a beautiful green velvet ribbon which gives it a rich look.  The closest glass ball is a copper color with violet icing lines on the surface.  Next is the mantel and wreath. 

The wreath has one large bow in the center top of the wreath. Burgundy poinsettias, berry and gold leaves surround the bow and help tie the look to the tree and mantel. Gold and copper glass balls are clustered on either side holding the ribbon into the wreath similar to the way the flowers did on the tree. On the mantel you see two additional Goebel Angels on the mantel helping to tie it to the tree. More green berries are used across the mantel mixed in with the greenery. Lastly, you see more gold and copper glass ornaments on the mantel to bring some sparkle and shine. The tree has a lot of glass that adds sparkle and shine. What a combination of antique and modern look. This is one of my favorite displays from the Bed and Breakfast.

About my Signature Tree: The one at the top of every blog!

The tree shown at the top of every blog is my signature tree. It comes up every time someone looks at my blog. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about it a little. First of all, this is my absolute favorite of all the trees I have ever done (and there have been hundreds). This tree was the entrance tree one of the years I decorated. I personally think it was the best. Here is the tree again from another angle to give you the full entrance view. 

This view doesn't show the top of the tree, but it does show the entrance as you would see it if you were a customer walking into the store. The wall behind the tree has a variety of sheer panels hanging. I then took a panel of each sheer color and twisted it and draped it across the top to give it a curtain affect. I did the same thing around the entrance door and around the base of the tree. Around the entrance I hung some of the large and small clear glass balls to give it a complimentary look to the tree. In the tree itself, I placed Angels that had dresses and robes in the same type of fabrics and colors in the tree. I made a flower garland and wrapped it around the tree. In this flower garland, you will find leaf picks with coppery mauve tones, flower picks with purple, mauve, and white, and berry picks with burgundy, purple, and copper colors. There are 6 Angels in the tree. These Angels were about 18" in height and are made of porcelain.  They were over $200.00 each. I used an assortment of clear see through ornaments that give the tree a beautiful sparkling jewel toned look. There are also an assortment of sparkle glass balls in the tree with a blue/purple color to bring out some of the rich royal colors. Golds and Purple colors have always been associated with royalty. On the outer most part of the tree, I added lots and lots of icicles, and lastly gold shimmering Angels hair. This display took me about a week to do. I am not a professional curtain hanger, but I think I did a nice job. This was a ten foot full American Fir tree. Again, thank you for reading and if you try this tree, give yourself plenty of time to complete it. The final retail price on this tree was probably around $4000.00 easily the most expensive tree I have done to date.

Carry your Christmas Theme throughout the Room : Mantels Part 2

Well here I am back again with more mantels. I wanted you (the reader) to see the variety of different things you could do with mantels. By now I'm sure you guessed that you typically want a base of greenery to add your holiday decorations to. Again, make sure the greenery is secured to the mantel so if something like a person, child, or household animal gets a hold of it they can't pull it off. This first mantel is a bedroom in a Bed and Breakfast. Notice how a wreath to match is placed over the mantel and there's a flower basket that matches at the base of the mantel. 

For this room I used a small flower pick with white and mauve flowers with burgundy berries. In addition to these small flower picks, I placed some mauve berry sprays in the arrangements also. On the mantel I added a ribbon with mauve, pink and burgundy colors, and on the wreath there is a bow with the same ribbon. When you decorate arrangements just try to leave some of the natural greenery showing so it doesn't look over done. 

This next mantel is one of my favorites. There are two ribbons in the bow used. A solid green velvet ribbon and a paisley ribbon with the colors of pink, peach, purple, and green. A smaller french ribbon was added in last and it was a two toned ribbon. The ribbon just kept changing from green to peach, then green to peach over and over again. A beautiful flower pick with pink and peach flowers is used in the arrangement. To add some sparkle I used pink, peach, and gold glass balls.

These Bed and Breakfast have beautiful fireplaces too. The one in the photo above is black marble. This next mantle is quite simple. There isn't much to it but the colors off set each other and make a nice presentation.

I used blue spruce greenery on this mantle because it looked beautiful with the wallpaper in the room. Then a simple arrangement of burgundy roses are arranged across the mantle with a larger cluster of them in the center. A large bow was made out of a gold sheer ribbon and then the tail of the ribbon trailed down the sides. Some gold berry picks are placed amongst the roses. This is quite contrasting, and look at the fireplace. It's absolutely stunning. The brass plate at the bottom grate perfectly sets off the gold color in the arrangement.

This next mantle is about a simple as you can get. The fireplace was set off in an unusual place in the room and didn't get a lot of activity in that area. It has a simple but elegant look. The ribbon has blue, teal, burgundy and a copper color in it. A very large bow was made and placed in the middle of the mantel. There are some copper flower picks arranged around it and it's all on a bed of greenery. A matching flower basket is placed on the floor next to the fireplace.

The fireplaces in these Bed and Breakfasts are stunning. Each room has it's own fireplace. Stay tuned for one more article on mantles.