Winter Wonderland Tree Centerpieces - Coffee Filter, Burlap, and Linen

In my last post I showed you our Polar Express ward party.

These are the centerpieces that we used to decorate our dinner tables.

I've had so many questions about the tree centerpieces,

so here's the how-to's on making your own

VERY SIMPLE and inexpensive trees!

We had tried other kinds of trees too, 

but nothing seemed to work out for us except these three.

Once we were done, WE LOVED THEM!

Our three kinds of trees were

LINEN, COFFEE FILTERS, AND BURLAP

It all started when I saw a post on Facebook from my friend

Kendra from My Insanity.

She had made these coffee filter trees the year before for an event.

Honestly, it was love at first sight!

My Insanity Coffee Filter Tree

for instructions.

So my committee and I got to work.

Turns out these were super fun to make

as well as fast and easy!

l to r: Tracie, Suzi, Devin, Kathy and Beth.

For ours we used 2 sizes of coffee filters and 3 sizes of cupcake liners.

I love how they turned out!

The main trick is to weave different sizes together.

Don't use all one size, then all another size.

We learned quickly to alternate the larger sizes on the bottom

and alternate the smaller sizes on the top.

I love all this paper texture!

The coffee filter wreaths cost us around $1 each!!!

Next we decided we needed more than just the one tree for a centerpiece

to fill up the tables just a bit more.

I love various textures,

so we went with a linen, only because someone gave

me a huge garbage sack filled with scraps from their

old curtains or something.

It was free, so hey, it was worth a try!

Oh yeah, love that too!

I wanted it bulked up, so decided to do this loopy style.

First, cut the fabric (any fabric, it doesn't have to be linen) in long strips

any width you want.

Mine was about 3 or 4 inches wide.

Then double it over and hot glue the raw edges together.

Next, cut the folded edge about halfway to the raw edge.

Hot glue the raw edge around a poster board form cone.

Sidenote: we priced all kinds of foam and cardboard cones

and let me tell you, they are expensive!

The cheapest, BY FAR, is to make your own cones with a 

poster board rolled into whatever size you want.

Hold the cone in place with staples and hot glue.

Keep going up and around with your pieces.

When you get to the end of a length

overlap slightly with a new length

and just keep going.

Because of the donated fabric, these cost around .25 cents each,

just the cost of the poster board.

For our final tree, we wanted a completely different texture,

but still in the neutral tones.

Again, just cut strips, fray one edge and hot glue it to your poster board cone.

I don't remember how much we paid for the burlap,

plus some of it was scraps from our stashes,

but these still ended up being less than $1 each.

Ohmygoodness!

Tree love!

But if you know me, you know I like a little bling.

I didn't want to overdo it,

So I hot-glued tiny snowflakes to the linen trees (plastic confetti)

and a wrapped a tiny strand of glittery thread around the burlap trees.

Ah!

Perfect!

We made 24 of each of these trees.

THAT'S SEVENTY-TWO TREES!

Shucks, it t'wernt nuthin!

For the rest of our Polar Express fun,

SEE HERE!