Festival of Trees 2016

Every year the Sweetwater Daughter and I have the delightful task of creating a tree for the Auburn Homes Festival of Trees event.  We have so much fun designing something unique for this wonderful charity.  The theme this year was "A Moravian Woodland Christmas".  Here is our take on "A Walk in the Woods.

Sorry that the photo doesn't show how interesting all the elements were.....but I took the photo with my phone.  I guess I was more interested in doing the "job" than recording it.
The project comes with a hefty budget.  This is a big switch in thinking for me....to actually NOT have to think "thrifty"!

Here are the elements:

 Giagantic Sugar Pine Cones

We sourced these from Mountain Farms....loved the price!  $35 for 20.

 We scored these resin deer antlers at Koehler and Dramm a wholesale floral market we use for Sweetwater Floral events.

This chocolate brown mesh ribbon was a great base for the tree design.

 These sprays of orange magnolia blossoms and artichokes were 70% off at Michaels.

No walk in the woods would be complete without some woodland creatures.

These were also 70% off at Michaels....and just the perfect touch.

Our design started with the idea of using Swedish "Tomte", the little elves that watch over the forest creatures.  We created these using Goodwill sweaters and some other interesting tricks.  Stay tuned for a post on making your own Tomtens!  But you have to admit they are pretty cute!

The Sweetwater Daughter found this 18 inch Tomten for the perfect centerpiece accent!

The last touches were sprigs of white painted birch and
some fiberfill "snow" tucked into the branches.

We so look forward to this project every year.
The planning is almost more fun than the execution!

I just hope that the tree at Sweetwater turns out as well....

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!