If mesh is flammable, I'm in trouble...

Friday night I put up the purple silver glittery masterpiece, but this year I made a few changes.  

Ya know how we un-crafty, un-creative people go on Pinterest to be inspired to create AMAZING things?  And 90% of the time they turn out to be eh...?  

While I was wasting time on Pinterest one day I saw where people had pinned all these BEEEEE-U-TI-FUL Christmas trees.  Like they looked like a professional had walked into their homes & waved a magic wand & I was hooked.  I don't know WHY I think I'm capable of such nonsense when I'm SOOO not...but Pinterest sucked me in - again.

There were only two ideas I found on Pinterest that actually worked the way I wanted them to.  TWO.   The first suggested to put lights between your branch rows.  Mom always said "lights make the tree" so I always tried to shove them deep into the branches to make them prettier, but this idea worked even better.  I put on a row of branches, then lined each branch with lights.  I didn't get all crazy & wrap the lights around the branches ( I have NO patience for that) but I laid the lights down one side of the branch, then came back on the other side of the branch.  Essentially each branch had 2 sections of lights on them.  I must say that doing the lights this way made a HUGE difference on the tree.  I can totally tell where I ran out of lights to do this method at the top.  (More on that in a minute...)

The other idea I read was to use pipe cleaners rather than hooks for ornaments.  I bought green pipe cleaners since my tree is, well - GREEN.  They stick out like a sore thumb.  I tried to fold them over & push them back into the tree to hide them, but they are noticeable if you look.  

 The other good idea I read was to have different shaped ornaments.  When I re-designed our my tree into the purple silver glittery masterpiece I had only silver & purple balls.  This year I bought a few new pieces that were not round...

 The purple glitter flower - I DIE.

 I also bought some more silver glitter twig thingies to stick in the tree.

This was my our tree 2 years ago.  Sure, it's cute & all...

 But this year I added mesh instead of ribbon.  And you are gonna wonder, "WHY didn't she have purple mesh?"  Well- don't worry your pretty little heads about that, because I DID have purple mesh.  HOWEVER after I wrapped the tree in it, it got lost.  It did not 'pop' like I wanted & I had to un-do it all.  (that's part of the reason it took me 3 hours to decorate the tree...I was exhausted!)  I also saw on Pinterest to put the mesh at the top & work your way down rather than 'wrapping' the tree.  Of course it looked wonderful on that tree....  

And of all the things I choose to obsess about - this stupid tree is one of 'em.  I don't know why - no one comes to visit my tree.  No one drives by our house JUST so they can see how crazy  Mrs. McAfee decorated her tree this year.  But I sit & stare at it - then I get up & re-arrange ornaments....

I step back & give it a hard stare - then I move mesh...

If you look closely - you can see those damn pipe cleaners holding the mesh onto the branches.  

(In the spirit of full disclosure - what I lack in obsession in normal, every day life - I make up for w/ impatience.  I'm SURE I could take the time to painstakingly position the mesh & pipe cleaners in such a way that it's hidden.... but no - I don't care quite that much.  NOW-if I thought my tree was going to gain some sort of critical acclaim you can bet your booty I would.  But just for me, B-rad to look at & Sonny to lay under?  Nu uh...)

On Sunday (TWO days after it was 'done') I got the bright idea to add some purple mesh. (I may or may not have been on Pinterest) so I took the purple mesh I didn't use & cut it into like 12" strips.  Mesh is VERY easy to work with & it curls naturally... So I 'tied' (I did NOT use green pipe cleaners) the 12" strips of purple mesh to some branches & let the curls hang down.  

And if you think that the purple mesh curls are haphazardly thrown together - tsk tsk - that would not be obsessive...

 And to be fair, I wanted you to see the change from Friday night to Sunday afternoon...less than 48 hours later...

(and as a side note to the lights - this tiny tree has 600 lights on it right now.  Lining the branches takes a lot of extra lights & I had bought 2 more '100 light' strands before I decorated. {That means normally my tiny tree had 400 lights on it.} but I ran out at the top.  I have bought another '100 light' strand to add next year.  NO I am not obsessive patient enough to un-do everything at the top to add another strand of lights.  I'm crazy, but not that crazy...)
And I may be a bit biased here, but I think the purple mesh is a good addition...

 And for a minute I need to say God bless B-rad.  I don't know many husbands who would let their wives have a PURPLE Christmas tree let alone the 9,000,000 pounds of glitter that go along with it, but he does & he doesn't say anything about it.  
He has recently been 'into' purple himself though.  The newest bow he is buying is going to be purple.  Now - I would never say that my love obsession w/ purple has swayed him in any way, but lets be honest here - he didn't stand a chance w/ all the purple crap I throw at him.  He had no choice but to embrace it...