Have you seen those gorgeous glass beaded trees? The ones like they have at Frontgate for $129.00 for the set of 3 (on sale from $179!). I wanted them SO badly! I love natural materials for decorating, but sometimes you just can’t beat glitz and glamour! I do love me some sparkle!!
While shopping, I found some similar trees at TJMaxx, but they were still more than I wanted to spend (about $75).
So I decided to try my hand at making the cones myself. I found this great tutorial online for making the cones out of poster board and I made 3 cones of varying height in no time! They weren’t difficult, and didn’t have to be perfect, since they would be covered with gorgeous sparkle!
I bought about 15-16 ounces of glass beads: bugle beads:
cut beads:
and seed beads in both silver and iridescent:
My plan was to give the cones a good coating of Mod Podge and then shake the beads on.
I used a foam brush to apply the Mod Podge as thick as it would go (the brush in photo above didn’t leave a thick enough coating of MP). Then all I did was combine the beads in a pyrex cup and, holding over a piece of poster board, gently shook beads over the cones, turning as I went. I did the tops first and let dry, then went back and did the bottoms.
After covering each cone with beads, I shook the excess from the poster board back into the pyrex cup. About a pound of beads should be enough to do three trees this size. After the Mod Podge has fully cured (like a day or so), I will spray with a sealer spray to help prevent any bead loss. I am so thrilled with the finished product!
This project came in at under $20 for all three trees! And I absolutely LOVE them!!
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!