Ideas for a carpenter/construction themed christmas tree?

Question

The residential construction company I work for is sponsoring a tree in a christmas tree decorating contest. I have to decorate a tree in carpenter and construction theme. Looking for creative ideas. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Go to a toy store and buy miniature back hoes, haulers, graders. trucks, and other pieces of 'heavy' equipment. If you have a craft shop near by, you might find these items in wood. Then buy small hammers, levels, saws. framing squares, etc. Use these as your ornaments along with a few well placed miniature hay bales.

Buy a large piece of flannel to use as the tree skirt and use a similar wide plaid ribbon as garland well tucked into the tree branches for added depth. Make small bows out of one of the primary colors in the flannel & ribbon (red?) and hang them in the places you need to fill in. Use wide ribbon in the same plaid to make the topper for the tree. Make two large bows and place one on each side of the tree then fan them out for an attention grabbing topper.

Don't skimp on lights and if they are wrapped around the branches the tree will have that fairy tale quality. Use minature white lights so that every 'ornament' is highlighted. Hang the items in a loose triangle. One on the tip of a branch, one a littl further in and the last one well into the branches. This adds interest and deepth to the tree as well. The triangles can overlap.

I used to work for an interior plant company and we spent months decorating trees. The link below has good suggestions for the lights, etc;
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/decorating/article/0,1793,HGTV_3545_1378781,00.html


Sounds like a fun project. Hope you win the contest! :)

Answer 2

The hammers, pliers, saw, etc.. is good ; but, get it in the toy section. I liked the nail idea. Walk around a hardware store for ideas. outlet or switch cover, tool belt for tree's skirt, picture or toy of Bob the Builder for tree's top, perhaps a carpenter print fabric from fabric store for tree's skirt.

Answer 3

One idea is to use wire to hold 3-inch silver colored nails (point down) to the branches for icicles. You could also goto Home Depot or whatever and just look through the store for small parts that you can hang as ornaments (PVC pipe couplers, 240-volt fuses, etc.).