Centrepieces for Christmas on a Budget

Ever wanted a stunning centrepiece for the Christmas table but baulked at the prices? Follow my simple tutes and create your own - there by saving money and having the feeling of achievement at making your own table look beautiful.

You can use all or some of these ideas, I think they look magnificent together but it's entirely personal choice.

Basic materials list:
Tinsel
Glitter and/or glitter paint
Pine cones
Candles
Newpaper/dictionary pages/wrapping paper or other thin paper
Double sided tape
Paint
NB Please note you do not have to have all this, choose what suits you

Methods:
Pine cones -

With the pine cones, I chose to do a couple of different methods, but these are open for further ideas. If the pine cones you've found have damage like this: don't despair. You can always turn the damage towards the back or, if the damage is quite bad, use a ribbon or similar embellishment to disguise the damage.

In method one shown on the left,  I chose to go with the non-traditional colour of blue mixed with a little green to make a lovely blue-turquoise colour. I then painted the Black Opal glitter paint over the top in places as a highlighter rather than covering all the blue paint.

In method two in the middle, I painted a plain pinecone in Black Opal glitter paint - this is kind of a clear paint so it kept the natural colour of the pine cone while adding a bit of glitz.

In method three on the right, I used a red paint and red glitter for a traditional look on the pine cone. If you like traditional colours, you could choose to do one in silver and one in green.

Other methods you might like to try out are using thin tinsel, pom poms (home made or bought), miniature Christmas decorations, small pieces of holly.


For the candles, I also did a couple of other methods:

For the first method on the left, I wrapped some old Christmas-themed wrapping paper and trimmed to size, before double sided sticky taping it onto the candle. I did not attach the paper to the candle, but overlapped the paper so the paper can be slid off the candle easily - this means you can move the paper and trim accordingly as the candle burns down, or remove it completely to use the candle for another purpose.

For the second method on the right, I recommend using a thin paper such as wrapping paper, dictionary or old book pages, newspaper etc. Wrap the candle and adhere together with sticky tape. You can leave it as is, as I have done, or you can then use a hair dryer to gently melt the candle onto the paper for an almost transparent effect.




For the third method in the second left photo, I used the double sided sticky tape to create lines around the candles - I eyed the spaces in between each line. I then gently patted glitter onto the tape, being careful to brush away stray bits with a paint brush.
For this method, I recommend using a thicker style of glitter than I used, as the extra fine glittery can get very staticky and stick to everything and can be difficult to remove. Also check to see how sticky the wax on the candle is, as it is quite humid where I am today the candle was a bit stickier   than usual.

When I was satisfied with my pine cones and candles, I played around with them until I found a setting I liked.As you can see in the below pictures, the candles and pine cones look effective separately, but I think look that little bit more festive when done together.

I used some old boxes to put the candles on, placed the pine trees in front balanced on a box and each other to ensure they sat up straight. I then placed the tinsel around them to hide the boxes and to add that bit of Christmas cheer.

I hope you like my Centrepieces of Christmas on a Budget - stay tuned for my next article coming soon. Also feel free to leave a comment if there's any ideas you'd like to see posted here.

Happy crafting,
Stefanie