Christmas Tree Skirt Cheat

Do you ever cheat?  A little short cut, here and there?  Not with important things, mind you.  I'm talking decor.  I'm sharing a little non-sewing secret today, and maybe it's something you already do, in which case, great minds, right?

Each year we choose a color scheme for Christmas.  Last year it was black and white.  The year before that?  Orange.  The best, and you'd be surprised how many orange ornaments are out there.  This year we're going more traditional with red.  Now sewing a tree skirt every year would stress me out because o1 I don't like to sew things that we use once every few years and o2 I don't like sewing tree skirts.  

So what I do is just use fabric!  That way I can just wash it up afterward and use it for another project!  Plus, it gives a more organic, swaddling, flowy feel.

You'll need about 4 yards, depending on how loose you want to wrap it around the base.

Use some old towels to give it even more "poof" and just lay the fabric on top and around, allowing the folds and wrinkles to take over.  Tuck the selvedge under and

voila!  A big, full "tree skirt!"  That "2" fabric sure has come in handy!

We usually decide on our color the year before and buy things on clearance after Christmas for a huge bargain.  I also am starting a new tradition this year.  I saw this over at Dana's blog and thought it was brilliant.  We all love an advent countdown.  Tired of chains, but didn't want the kids fighting over the candy or gift advents (or make 5!).

So I decided to do a book advent, but we don't really have a collection of Christmas books, so I took a trip to the library and found some fun ones to wrap up.  The Christmas books are all in one section, so it's easy to peruse and find some good ones.  I pulled the red wrapping decor and had at it.  Want some inexpensive ideas of wrapping presents?  This is from last year.

The amaryllis are coming along nicely (the paperwhites not so much.)  Do you plant amaryllis and paperwhites for the holidays?

Stockings are ready to be hung (with or without care).

And I bought myself a little productive time by putting Drummer in front of the high contrast photo wall ;)  He's ready for a few of his portraits to be up there.  Next up: decorating the tree because it only took me 3 days to find enough time to put the lights up.