Blue Woodland Christmas

This foyer, decorated in a woodland theme, has blue and white ornaments, blue ribbons, birds, reclaimed wood art, and golden paper chain Christmas decorations.

Shades of Blue

In the past, I decorated my Christmas tree with blue decorations. In fact, it was rare if I didn’t have some shade of blue on a Christmas tree. Then I gave away most of the blue decor because I thought I was finished with blue forever! One day, I found a box of blue Christmas decorations that I hadn’t donated. I added some new blue ornaments and ribbon, and I had a blue Christmas tree again!

French Blue

French blue seems to always pop up in Christmas decorations. It is a classic color, and many of my old ornaments are the same French blue color as the new ornaments today. Most of my old ornaments are made of mercury glass and have tarnished. My new ornament collection is about half mercury glass and half plastic–which is usually labeled shatterproof. Fortunately, many plastic ornaments today are visibly indistinguishable from glass ornaments.

How to Easily Transition to a New Look

It is easy to transition to a new look on a Christmas tree. I do it all the time! The secret is to have a base color that you use every year. In my case, it is white. I add a new color to the base color to change the look of the tree. For example, a couple of years ago, this tree was red and white. To transition to the blue tree, I removed only the red ornaments and stems and used all the white Christmas ornaments. Then I added blue Christmas ornaments and blue ribbon. The tree was transformed!

How Much Color Will Transition a Tree

You might think it takes a lot of ornaments to transition a tree to a new color, but it doesn’t. It only takes a few ornaments in a new color to change a tree. This tree is 9 feet tall and is fully decorated all over. I used only 25-30 blue ornaments for the whole tree. For a smaller tree that isn’t exposed all the way around, the number would be much less. If I had used 100 blue ornaments on this tree, blue would be my base color, not white.

Angel Topper

I bought the angel topper before the holidays, put it away, and forgot about it. When I finished decorating the tree, I remembered the angel; however, it was too difficult to get a cord through the decorated tree! I placed the angel on top of the tree, and the tree lights lit her skirt. I actually think this plug-in oversight worked out for the best because the lights gave her a nice subtle glow.

Woodland Tree

I have always loved birds on a Christmas tree. I found this sparkly bird and knew that I wanted to use it. I added berry and flower stems, mushrooms, owls, and pinecone ornaments to create a natural woodland-type tree.

Green Tree

After having an all-white flocked tree, it was hard to go back to a green tree. But it was necessary to change the white one because it had finally turned brown. Flocked trees, I realized too late, turn brown if stored in a hot attic. Each year I sprayed it with a snow product, but it eventually was varying shades of brown and gray. I tried a flocking product, but the tree had so much buildup of flocking that the brown color always seeped through the new flocking. The tree had a vintage look and working lights, so I gave it away for someone else to use.

This tree has dozens of stems placed into it. Floral stems make a faux tree look real because it takes away some of the artificial perfection. Artificial trees have become more lifelike, but they still are a lot more perfect than real trees. If you place berry stems or other types of floral stems in your faux tree, you can use them to vary the length of the branches. This will make the tree look more natural.

Sparkly Paper Chains

Did you make paper chains as a child? This paperchain is made out of stiff gold sparkle paper and looks great in the pretty glow of Christmas lights. I bought two gold chains from a small shop and then decided to use more chains. I went to a craft store and bought sturdy cardstock in sparkly gold. After cutting the paper, I hot glued the chain together using clothespins until it dried. Here is a link for a similar linked Christmas chain.

Wood Tree Art

I made the wooden tree art after seeing some similar art at a store. I wanted mine simpler than the ones I saw and knew I had some reclaimed wood at home. I cut out the rectangular shapes and drilled a hole in the top for a string. Then I hand-painted different types of Christmas trees on them. The trees are easy to paint because they are similar to drawing stick figures.

Christmas Mantle

The mantle had a woodland look with twinkling birch trees, golden deer, white bells, and greenery.

I hung gray velvet stockings with white ribbons and bells on the mantle. I placed Command Hooks underneath the cedar garland to hang the stockings. When using a Command Hook, make sure the weight of the Christmas stocking, filled with goodies, meets the weight requirement of the hook.