Heirloom Christmas Tree

I think I have found my new favorite project. The Heirloom Christmas Tree is designed by Mary at SVG Cuts. I can't fathom her brilliance in designing this pattern so well.  She definitely has an engineer's mind. This is a take on the ceramic Christmas Trees from the 50's. My husband remembers having one in his home.

 It's amazing how it all goes together. The instructions give you a visual as to mountain and valley folds which make the pieces almost fall into their peaks. There are eight sections of two pieces each, so when broken down and assembled it's very logical. The tree sits atop the base, so if you need to change the light bulb it's easily accessible. It has an electric candle light inside that illuminates the little bulbs and the holes in the tree.

Here's a view of the bottom, showing the hole where the candle light goes.

The base of the lamp is fairly straight forward. The very bottom has three layers of cardstock, so it feels sufficiently sturdy. Mary suggested getting an LED bulb which has low wattage, but is much brighter. I think I'll invest in one of those.

Here are a couple more views!

As an afterthought, I decided to replace the glitter paper star at the top of the tree for one that is used for the actual ceramic trees (like the bulbs). I noticed that before when I lit it up and it was dark, the star was just lost as there was nothing illuminating it. This star doesn't light up a lot, but it does light up a little bit, and in certain light it's quite bright. It seems that the LED bulb illiminates outward very well, but not so much upward. The star is really quite pretty. It is made by the same company that makes the bulbs (Darice). It took a little maneuvering and thought to get a little insert piece I made  into the top of the tree, since the bottom of the tree had already been closed up. But, with some trial and error I was able to make a tool out of a dowel and a piece of chipboard, and insert the little piece into the top so that the star could be inserted into it.

Hope you enjoyed this Heirloom Christmas Tree. You can  get the pattern to make one yourself by clicking the links at the top of this posting.

Enjoy decorating and planning for Christmas! I sure am!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!