It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Sneak peak.

I've been wanting a Christmas tree (for Agnes).  Something large but in scale.  It is tough to find one with somewhat skinny branches.  Most look like they just took the top off a large tree -- with only 4 or 5 rows of branches.

I wanted a 10' tree (equivalent) -- that meant finding a 20" tree with small branches.  I looked high and low.  All the usual places.  Then I found this one it's about 16" without the stand and the star topper.  So, that's an 8' tree.

I started by rearranging all the branches (to display it -- the job had been hurried).  I wanted glass ornaments.  Not an easy feat.  There are a lot of miniature ornaments, but nothing I can honestly saw I wanted.

I decided to make my own.  First was the stand.  Well, it came in a big burlap sack.  Not to scale and not the look I'm going for.  I cut a water bottle and inverted the top.  It wasn't heavy enough to hold the tree, so I packed it with all the sculpy I'm not using anyway :).

I'm going to make a skirt from the left over brocade from the carriage.

Next the balls or as my mother says the Christmas bulbs (and she doesn't mean the lights).  I used glass beads.  I found some large ones.  I decided on clear/crystal and red.  Just the crystal was pretty, but I think the red helps it "pop".  I strung those on jeweler's pins and used a pair of pliers to fashion a hook.  So far, I've hung 96.  I have about 16 left to go.  As you can see, the red ones are the ones missing.

I need to shoot it outside.  It's just on my kitchen counter -- The balls look like plastic ones.  That's kind of disappointing considering the expense of using glass.   Still needs work....