It’s Christmas time here on Amidst the Chaos! This week, I am SO excited to be bringing you a FIVE day series on the step-by-step process to decorating your Christmas tree.
Over the last number of years, I’ve found myself really enjoying decorating my trees. Yes, that is plural on purpose! I often set up two: one upstairs and one downstairs. I love playing around with different colors and themes. My friends have often commented on how much they love my trees and I seem to get the question a lot “How did you do that?!”
So I thought it would be fun to take you through the step-by-step process of how I decorate my trees. And this year, there’s a special twist: tree flocking! So today we are going to start there!
You might asking yourself what on earth “flocking” a tree means. Well here is the technical, Wikipedia definition of flocking:
“Flocking” is a decoration process that enhances the way a wide variety of products are experienced by making ordinary surfaces seem far more magical and special. “Flocking” is the process of depositing millions of little individual cut fiber particles (called “flock”) onto the surface of an article for the purpose of increasing its value in terms of the tactile sensation, aesthetics, color and appearance, and/or a wide variety of other functions–such as insulation, slip-or-grip friction, etc. Flocking is used in many ways. One example… is on a Christmas tree, which may be flocked with a fluffy white spray to simulate snow.”
So that is what flocking a tree means: making it appear like it has fresh snow on it. I’ve seen trees look like this in stores for a few years now and have always been so amazed at how beautiful they look. Part of the issue is that pre-flocked trees can be quite expensive.
So for this year, I decided to try flocking our old tree myself. Truth is, our tree was on its last legs. We’ve had it for over 10 years and just as with most products that are used year after year, it started to breakdown. That is part of the reason why I wanted to try and flock this tree…because I thought it would give it new life! And let me tell you, I am SO PLEASED with the results! I now hope this tree lasts us another 10 years!
So let’s get to the details of how to flock YOUR tree!
Supply list:
- White spray paint
- Texture Wall Spray (Popcorn Ceiling Spray)
- Fake Snow
- Gloves
- Drop cloth
You will want to make sure that you do this in a very ventilated area, like outside. You will be using A LOT of spray paint and you don’t want to be breathing those fumes in. Also, this process is REALLY messy. So it’s best to be outside where it doesn’t matter how messy things get. I have a video tutorial that is at the end of this post, but let me walk you through it, step-by-step first.
Step 1: Fluff Your Tree
You need to make sure you tree is fluffed and that all the branches are open. This will allow for maximum coverage of each branch when you are spraying it.
For mine, I decided to do it in layers. You could do it that way or assemble the entire tree and do it all at once. I found it was easier to really get in between the layers without having the top two tiers on the tree.
Step 2: Spray Paint
Make sure to shake the can REALLY well (about a minute), put on your gloves and start spraying! You aren’t looking for COMPLETE coverage, but rather a “dusted” look. To achieve a true flocked look, you still want to see green on your tree with a fresh snowed on look. So don’t go over one spot too many times.
Step 3: Textured Wall Paint
Once you’ve spray painted the tree white, now it’s time to move onto the textured wall spray. The kind that I bought had three different spray levels: fine, medium and heavy. I chose to go with fine for this tree. Because this is also white, it will give the tree an even more snowy look as you spray.
Step 4: Fake Snow
You want to take handfuls of the fake snow and start applying it while the textured wall spray is still wet (Note: I wouldn’t recommend getting the spray that dries fast because of this very reason). You want to use the wetness to your advantage so that it will grab the fake snow and dry it onto the branches.
Step 5: Let is Dry
You are going to want to give it a few hours to really dry before moving it indoors. Also, I would recommend taking the layers of the tree apart and bring each layer in separately. NOTE: THIS WILL BE MESSY! You WILL loose some of the fake snow. But if you put the snow on while the spray was drying, lots of the fake snow WILL stay on. As you decorate your tree, you will notice more snow fall to the ground. Just sweep it up into a pile and wait until you are finished your tree. Then take all that snow that fell, and redistribute it into the tree.
Below you can really see the difference between the flocked lower layer and the regular green tree. I personally think it looks SO MUCH BETTER!
I will say, this project does take a lot of time and work. I could barely use my hand after I was done spraying the entire tree. It was cramped so badly. I would also say that the whole process took me a few hours (I did also have to juggle kids and school pick-ups in there as well). But if you are wanting that snowy look on your tree or even wanting to revive and old tree, like I was, this is an AWESOME project that anyone can easily do!
Bonus: for this week of Christmas tree decorating tutorials, we are also including VIDEO tutorials! So if you still aren’t confident after reading the steps, you can watch below to see exactly how I did it!
Make sure to come back TOMORROW as I give you my BEST KEPT SECRET on how to light your Christmas tree! SO much easier than the traditional way, you are going to wonder where this technique has been most of your life!
Love & Blessings,
