I am sure you will make them look beautiful, Catie...
We gave up on the real trees a few years ago, so I get the pine smell from a real wreath, and using real pine in the garland, and yes, I tuck it into the tree too!

I will post my trees later, but I know there are some with fabulous trees to inspire you!

I bought a new one for the den in an urn last year! It weighs a ton, what was I thinking???

I was inspired by VictorianGirl (on another board). She puts up something like 7 or 8 trees each year....

But in order to "sell" hubby on the idea of using an artificial tree...I REALLY NEED to make them LOOK beyond fabulous!

And that won't be an easy task since they were cheap trees to begin with.

Catie, there a lot of pictures of decorated trees in our Xmas album. Plenty of ideas to inspire decor. I'm sure you will make these look beautiful. I won't do real trees either, they never seem to make it to Xmas anymore. But for Phx, they are cut in Oct in OR and then have plenty of time to dry out well before they should.

hugs, Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas Inspiration Album

what am i doing wrong? ~~ when i click over to the inspiration folder the only pictures i can see without the img code going through them are the pictures in the very first row of each page ~~ i'm not very computer-savy; but i betcha there is something simple to fix this ~ Yes? ~~ phyl

Thanks very much Karen for your link to the "Christmas Inspiration Album". Many good ideas in there that I'll be incorporating this holiday season.

Linda ~~ 8^)

Hi catie,
nice to see you visiting here. My trees from last year are not even close to what Judith and some others are able to create but they are artifical...LOL

Kitchen Tree
{{gwi:1449153}}

This cream and gold one is decorated with items from the Dollar Tree
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This one has everything from rustic ornaments, regular glass ornaments, glass icycles, berry garland, feathers, birds, birdnests etc.
{{gwi:1449155}}

Phyl, I don't know why its coming up that way on your computer. I clicked the link from here and all the small pix came up fine, then I clicked on a couple to see individually and larger and no problem.
Did you try the slideshow to see if that worked instead for you? I don't know what's wrong for your viewing. Is anyone else having this problem?

hugs, Karen

Beautiful, Tam!
Go for it Catie!

Hi Catie!
What you should do is pick a theme and a color! If you choose let's say white and gold, silver, pink, red, or any color combination and then choose those only for your tree. The fact that you keep it similar should make it successful! You can also do multi-color, pastels, or a theme like all santas or nutcrakcers. UP TO YOU!
GLAD to see you here Catie!

Tam, I just love your kitchen tree. I'd love to see closeups of some of the individuals items you have on it and hear where you found them or if you made them. When I saw it last year, I mostly noticed that neat Santa Chef and the little guys on the ladder. The more I look, the more I like it. The other two trees are quite lovely too, isn't it amazing how the colors used on them make them look so different.

Catie, you can always tuck some poinsettias or roses on your trees to make them look fuller. And remember Judith's tip of lots and lots of lights and fill the inner part of the tree with the less expensive glass ornaments to fill in and add more reflective surfaces.

Luvs

I have all sorts of ornaments. Many are from Hallmark (thanks to my daughters who both worked at a Hallmark gift store for about 6-8 years each). I also have an assortment of "Candy" or "Sweets" ornaments. Beyond that I can't honestly tell you what I DO have...I forgot! LOL

Thank you for your ideas...I will be using many of them. I really NEED to make at least ONE of them look so good that John will forget the darn this is fake.

Tam, Your trees are gorgeous. I think the kitchen theme tree is my favorite and second Luvs post. I would love to see closeups. And I love your chefs also.

Thanks everyone - I spend too much on dishes this year and don't think my trees will look different this year. I may get a 4' artifical tree for the Master (cream/gold tree) and use the tabletop tree in the family room in the basement. But that will be it.
luvs and sandi...I looked but I don't have any close ups from last year. All the Christmas stuff will come out the weekend after Thanksgiving and I'll take close up shots then.

I don't think you need to change the looks of your trees anyway. You have beautiful trees and when you have something that works so well, why change it? ;~) And I look forward to your pics. I would love to do a kitchen tree like yours, but it won't be this year.

I have my big pink tree that I've had for abt 10 yrs. I just love it and just add new pretties I happen to find. The other smaller trees may get changed more often, but not this year.

catiecupcake, yes, you can definately make an inexpensive tree look good. My last 2 years of trees have been the tree I bought at the last minute from Walmart, it is a 7.5 ft tree and it was only $49.00, BUT.....it is a butte ugly tree LOLOL, I have so many decorations on it, it helps to disguise the uglyness of the tree. I think most trees come out pretty well if you stick to a "style theme, color theme and lots of ornies. If you are going old-time traditional with all the multi colored ornies, then to save some money, just buy TONS of the plain gold, red, blue, green type of glass ornies that come in a multi colored box set (Walmarts, Target, dollar store etc), the key is LOTS, then you won't notice as much that the tree is not real or as pretty. Your eyes will be drawn to all the sparkly, shiny ornaments rather than the tree itself.

If I could I would prefer a Live tree too, but I decorate so early, the poor tree would be dried out and really, really ugly by Dec 25. LOL

1st shot of ugly $49.00 Walmart tree:
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2nd shot of Ugly $49.00 Walmart tree
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Here is a link that might be useful: My blog

judith ~~ your trees are just breathtakingly beautiful ~~ i never tire of looking at them! ~~ any chance you recall how many strands of lights you have on a typical tree? ~~ i see NO evidence of wires ~~ what's the secret to that???? ~~ you surely are some kind of magician in taking *inexpensive* and making it look like a *million bucks*

from phyl, a big fan of yours!

I'm allergic to real trees, so all ours are artificial. I love the scent of them, but break out in rashes if I touch them. DH hangs a large, real mixed greens wreath, that he takes care of, to give us the scent of real pine trees inside. But, living in the middle of miles of juniper and pinon pine trees, all I have to do is open the door to smell real trees ;^P
We put up one in our living room, family room, dining room, guest room,DD's room and sometimes in our MBR every year. Here's a couple of pics from last year. BTW, a trick I have of making the less expensive ones look more real is to tuck in many real pine cones and pieces cut from a very realistic pine garland, different than your tree.
Lynn

Here's the inexpensive small one I put up in our family room. I took off the regular base, and sank it into an ugly, on sale pot I painted and antiqued. See the added greenery and the berries? This is our Spanish Colonial tree.
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Here's another inexpensive tree we put up in our MBR. Again, the added greenery and real pine cones makes it look a lot more realistic.
{{gwi:1449158}}
We have our big, family tree in the living room. Sorry I don't have any close-ups of it, as they were all blurry, but I do add a lot of extra greenery and pine cones to this one.
{{gwi:1449159}}

Phyl, thanks for the nice complements. Actually the cheap Walmart $49.00 trees pictured above is pre-lit, I think it has 650 lights. Normal rule of thumb (they say) is 100 lights per foot of tree. BUT, when I had my very full lovely (but un-pre-lit tree 7.5ft) I had to put 12 sets of 100 lights on it to make me happy! It was quite a sparkler, but way too much work for me, I hate putting on lights (hense the ugly pre-lit Walmart tree)(I would be all scarred up on my arms from stringing the lights myself and it took me all day to do). So, you can make a pretty tree from an ugly one after all. Now, I know my look is not for everyone, but I like a heavily decorated tree LOL, I have seen some elegant, contempory type trees with "less" decorating on it. It just depends on what the person/family really wants.

This is a $20.00 6ft tree from Dollar General - I got it after Christmas for $10.00 - this was last years look but this year it will have more flowers and well just ALOT more of everything. I love the look of Judith's pink tree and will continue on that theme. It is our masterbedroom tree. We got 4 more trees just like it in last January's clearance and will do them in theme colors also with lots of 'bling' and sparkle.....

Lynne

Judith THANK YOU for yoour pics (and THANK YOU everyone else for yours too). THAT is how my tree needs to look in order for John to say "WOW, is THAT a fake tree?"

Actually mine need to be EXTRA GREAT because I only paid an average of $7.50 for my 6 1/2 ft trees LOL.

And Judith...it is YOUR fault I hit Michael's today as well as Target. Tomorrow I hit Walmart!

Woooo Hooo, You Go Catie-Girl, shop 'n load those trees!

hugs, Karen

Everyone has such beautiful trees. I love how everyone decorates differently.

Catie, when you take it out of the box you have to fix it, spread out the branches and that takes a while. If it isn't that full you can get the over sized ornaments.

Yeah I know that I will have to "arrange' the branches....I had a small fake tree once before (4 ft). But I have to tell hubby about the trees first. He just HATES fake trees....gotta figure out how to sell him on it...hmmmmm

Catie...how about showing him the photos of the ones you've seen here or in our Album? Much better than just trying to use words on how nice a fake tree can look.

hugs, Karen

Like I said Catie, get some real branches and stick them in. If you don't want to do that, buy some life like sprays at Michaels, and stick them in...it will look fine!

Well, Catie, if he hates fake trees that much, it may be a hard sell, no matter what. If I did not put my tree up so early, I would still have a real tree, there are so many great things associated in memory for me with a live tree, but like I said, if I wanted to decorated the way I do, and when I do, a real tree just would not survive. I ALWAYS view my tree with a certain amount of dissapointment because it is not real, but is is the trade-off I have choosen to get the look I want early in the season, plus some of my ornies are heavy (especially this years ornies) and again, a live tree could not support them.

Soooo, how about a compromise with your hubby, have one tree fake, and one tree real? Maybe a real tree in the family room and a fake in the formal room (or what ever room works for you) I was thinking for my self to have a small REAL tabletop tree in my bedroom, and the fake larger one in my everyday room. But like Karen said, you will have to show him some photos of trees that you think might impress him. Kathleen brought up a good point of using some real branches in the tree or in other areas of the home, giving out that wonderful "smell" of a live tree. Good luck and let us know the out come.

I am hoping he will give it a try this year and then if he still hates it, we will get a fresh cut one again next year.

The fresh cut ones are NOT freshly cut, at least not around here. Last year's 'fresh' cut tree was like I said a fire hazard after being up for one week. They are over priced and sometimes VERY hard to decorate. I am thinking I can convince him to try it this year but when you only pay what I did (full price was $20 on these trees) I gotta work extra hard to make them "special".

I spent more money today on decorations to "fill in" the branches that are surely to be on the "sparse" side...LOL

Once he sees that you just have to pull it out of the box and plug it in (if prelit) and not drag it home on top of car he may like it. I didn't want a fake tree either. I had always purchased real trees until they were costing $90 - $100 and just didn't want to do that for a month. I have been using artificial for about 8 years now except for last year when the prices were only $40.

Ya don't get pre-lit for $7.50 a tree...LOL But it is small enough that I can string the lights myself...and even if I knock the darn tree over in the process, it isn't gonna kill me if it lands on me....NOT for $7.50 LOL

I've had artificial trees for years and years (since the 70's) and living in Hawai'i I would never buy a real tree. Those things are shipped so early that they are dead and dry and a fire hazard long before Christmas.

If the branches are kind of sparse and far apart I would wrap some green or blue/green tinsel garland in the inside of the tree. That makes it look full and shiny after you put on all the lights and ornaments.

I have so many ornaments that I can do 2 or 3 trees if I had the space. I love to fill up the tree inside and out with the ornaments.

Now that I have a crazy cat who likes to climb the tree I have to put up shatterproof ornaments. But there are great ones available now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas trees etc.

Here's a couple of pics of my fake tree from previous yrs.

Jim

Catie, my dh was the same way...wanted the huge fresh tree, $100 down the drain! Plus the work involved..He would put so many lights on the meter was spinning out of control.

A few years ago he was sick and couldn't get the tree, so I did! An artificial pre lit ....he moaned and groaned a lot, but gave in. He still makes a comment every year, but so what, I ignore!

I buy a real dwarf Alberta spruce and deco that, so it is real!, and then plant it!

Tell John to get over it! LOL I think dh is actually happy he doesn't have to string all those lights!

John (like most men) is set in some of his ways. I have been able to convince him to give some things a try, so I am hoping that he will give in on this too. I am secretly hoping that he decides a fake tree is really the way to go and will let me pick up a BETTER one for Christmas 2009.

beautiful trees Chijim and dorothy!!! I will be referring back to this thread for reference when I finally drag out those trees. I have been picking up a few things to fill in the trees when I get to that stage. :)

How nice that we have Dorothy joining in from Hawaii. Welcome to the forum Dorothy. Are those angels on your tree and shelves, I couldn't quite see all the details in the picture. Your tree looks lovely.

Jim, your tree is lovely with all the flowers, fruit, birds and candles. Those candles look so real, I had to look two or three times to be sure they weren't! LOL

I gave up on my real tree last year too! I always wanted one but like Catie said, they always ended up getting dry way too fast to be safe--especially if they had been sitting in the lot during our Santa Ana winds. So I found a fake prelit one at Lowe's on sale and in many ways I'm glad--now I can just drag it in and sit it up whenever I'm ready. Going to look for the trees used to be one of our family activities together, but this will be easier in many ways and no worries about hiding a bare spot to the back, or a top that isn't strong enough for my topper, etc. ;o) Luvs

Dorothy, Welcome! Your tree and all the angel decor is lovely. Can't believe you have it so beautiful with a "crazy cat". I am SO dreading trying to decorate this year with a 7 month old one myself. My adult cats are no problem but he's an Orange Tornado.

Jim, how long it did it take you to do that tree??? Wow.
And are you attempting all your fabulous decorations this year? If so, good luck. LOL.

hugs,Karen

looking at all these fabulous trees make my picture look a little sparse but rest assured this year will be different. I found the forum late in the holiday season and have been dreaming like crazy ever since. Catie I have no doubt that you will have a gorgeous tree given all the additional inspiration we have all been given since this thread started and I am confident your husband will come around. Maybe you could suggest that the money you saved on not buying a real tree this year can go into more ornaments **hint-hint**.....

Lynne

WOW for all the word 'ugly' used to describe the trees on this thread I have one word for you all 'NOT'! The trees are so wonderfully beautiful! I got filled with the Christmas spirit while viewing this thread!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pictures everyone! Beautiful trees!

Here's how I got my husband to come around to an artificial tree. I said, "OK, but you're in charge."
I wasn't there when he went to pick it up, pay the man $100 for a skimpy tree, strap it to the car and bring it home.
I wasn't there when he had to clean up the path of needles from the car to the living room, because it had already started to dry out.
I wasn't there when he had to shorten some of the branches at the bottom because he hadn't given any thought to the fact that we have just a few square feet into which a tree can fit.
I wasn't there when he brought the boxes into the living room, fought to untangle all the lights and check for sections that wouldn't light.
I wasn't there when he had to get back in the car and go stand in a long line to buy two more sets of lights to replace the ones that wouldn't work.
I wasn't there when it tipped over as he was working because it didn't get set in the tree stand just right.
I wasn't there when he had to check for water each day and (surprise, surprise) sometimes forgot for a couple of days in a row.
I wasn't there when it was time for him to repack all the ornaments, each with its own tissue paper covering and rewrapped all the lights around rolls of newspaper.
And most importantly, I wasn't there when he had to clean up FORTY-ZILLION needles.
And through it all, I only said, "What a lovely tree."
The next year, I said, "Shall we think about an artifical tree this year, or do you want to continue with the real tree? I have to admit, you did a lovely job last year."
He said, "Go pick it out, and make sure it has lights on it."

purplemoon, i was looking at your pictures in your album and i saw the fairy stacked plates. could you share with me where you purchased the fairy? she is beautiful and as well as all your pictures are, thanks for sharing with us! Janie

OA, that story had me cracking up. What a lesson learned!

Janie, you are probably talking about Judith's stacked plates in our forum's Xmas Album. I think she got her fairies at Marshalls, and they do have some now I understand. In different colors. I have a purple fairy I bought off eBay, but haven't used mine yet.
I'm so glad folks are getting inspired off our album. I sat here last night running the slideshow, again, as I am planning to start decorating soon. Just so many ideas and picking a few is so hard. (especially with the cats to consider in my plans). Tho big, gorgeous, heavy decorated trees are just a dream for me. Not that I could do one physically anyway, but sure love to dream about them.
I couldn't even sleep night cause my mind wouldn't turn off with what to put where. LOL. I think by dawn, I had a few of my areas planned tho.

hugs, Karen

thanks Karen for the info! there are alot of good ideas on the christmas album. tfs

OA, that was hysterical! Esp the tipping over part, and I can relate to my 6'4 dh wiggling under the branches with a soda bottle full of water...what a pain!

I stick real branches in it for the smell!

The tree I have now for the den is the 3rd. The first 2 went back...not an easy job!

Hey Catie, you have gotten so many wonderful ideas here, and the pictures are beautiful! I'm sure John won't be able to say no to a tree that looks like one of these.

Speaking of trees falling over, two years ago my 9ft fresh cut tree topled over. It put a huge gash in my bookcase and broke close to 30% of the ornaments I had on the tree. I lost many precious ornaments from my childhood...so that is another reason for wanting a fake one this year...if they fall, there won't be as much weight falling over as with the real tree.

Catie..I also think that by adding mixed greens to your tree, will make a huge difference in it's appearance. Usually the high end trees will have that mixture. You can see, by all the trees posted here, how beautiful they can be. Everyone did a fabulous job..so beautiful and all so different. Judith..your $49 'butt ugly' is like out of 'The Ugly Duckling' >> you turned it into a Lovely Swan. We always, always had Real Trees. Each year, (Family Tradition) we go to our Favorite Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our tree. It would stay fresh up to 1 full month. When we moved here two yrs ago..we were in Michael's and saw a 9' Tree w/mixed branches,(on clearance) and fell in love w/it..I thought I'd NEVER give in to that, or give up our Family Tradition. Soooo, we decided to Still go to the Tree Farm and cut one down and We use it On our Porch. Also, I now have three Artificial trees. Besides the 9', I have a 6' that I use in the Upstairs Hallway, and just the other day, I purchased another 7' from Kmart..which also has the mixed branches. I really think that makes the difference. I do miss the smell of the Real tree, but this year, I will be making scented ornaments using Pine Essential Oil and see how that works.
So Catie, to 'Ease' DH into it, you might want to consider doing two trees this year. One real one for DH, and the Other one you bought..who knows, maybe next year..he might not mind it at all.
jane