My mother has a very formal home and spends her holidays with us so there is no need for her to have a full size tree or go crazy trying to decorate her house. This is her entry way and one table top tree is really all it takes to make her house feel festive.
Her house is surrounded by wooded area and when she first moved in there was a wild peacock that would strut past her front door! So I thought it would be fun to add some peacock touches to her entry. I bought her this dried floral peacock which normally sits on the table with an orchid and the peacock feather fans that are on the tree.
This year I also found this fun peacock pillow to add to the “theme.” (I put that in quotes because I am not fond of themes but really when you have five peacock items you are on the slippery slope to a theme! I may even be there already!) The pillow inspired me to create this tree as one of her gifts this year. I wanted the tree to feel luxurious and full like it was a lush extension of the peacocks tail.
I did this by cutting out dozens of paper feathers from scrapbook papers in shades of teal. I folded the paper in half, cut the outline of the feathers (very random), then started making tiny feather like cuts over, and over, and over and over again. When I was done cutting I used my fingers to curl the feathers like you would use scissors to curl a ribbon. I tried the scissors but they tore the fragile paper but gently using my thumb worked great.
The great thing about using paper feathers, some sparkly picks from Michaels Arts and Crafts and ribbon to create this tree is that even though it is lush and beautiful it is not fragile. you can’t break any delicate ornaments. So even if grandchildren are fascinated by the tree, grandma does not need to worry. I call that a win, win!
Give paper feathers a try, they’re fun but boy are they time consuming! It took two old movies to make the feathers for this small tree. Whew!
Hope you had fun creating your tree!
