Make a Paper Chain/ Christopher the Christmas Tree

I don't know where to start this one so I'll play it safe:

Hello! How's it going? That's good. Me, I'm doing well. 

In October I took a couple days over to fly out (in a horrible sketchy plane) and be a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding. I have four 'best friends' but this particular one has been around for many years, she and her twin sister have been my 'besties' since we were ten, and friends since we were seven. You can see a precious before and after type picture on my Instagram by clicking HERE.

Anyway, as wedding favours she had little baby pine trees and a very cute pinterest-y display. I snuck this picture while picking up empty pop cans and beer cups. Sober bridesmaiding at its best.

Now this may seem like a complete 180 degree topic change but I promise it's related: My favourite Christmas movie growing up was Christopher the Christmas tree. I know that it's not on many lists, but it just always got me. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube HERE. The premise is very ugly duckling-esque but without spoiling the ending... Christopher was a baby Christmas tree who was never taken into anyone a home to be their family tree because he was so small and "ugly". So I took my little baby pine tree and names it Christopher. He sat in a mug for three months until I finally made him a home.

You would be surprised how hard it was to find a basic clay pot that wasn't enormous or teeny. I found this guy and his base at Michaels for under $5 (with a coupon of course). 

Now I have a pretty realistic view when I have ideas of how things are gonna turn out. I picture something in my head and know it's going to be 30% not as nice. So when I decided I was going to turn this clay pot aka Christopher's future home into a kate spade esque room decor masterpiece, I knew there was going to be a learning curve of sorts. After like six coats of white paint, some gold I borrowed from my moms ancient paint stash and a monogram stencil curtesy of markandgraham.com and my Silhouette Cameo, I was done and you can see the result at the top of this post...

30% people. I know it's not perfect but for my first attempt of stencilling I'm pretty pleased. Not perfect, but hey, it's... authentic.

Now to complete the look I figured Christopher needed some decorating... And conveniently a WTJ page came to mind. To see how Christopher's lovely garland came to be you can check out my latest Wreck This Journal series video.

Not perfect, but cute tight? 

Thanks for reading (and watching)!

Adrianna.