May is about the farthest cry from Christmas as any other month but June I guess.  But as most of you know who have been following our Tree for all Seasons article….any month is perfect for a seasonal tree!

If you believe in the old saying that “April showers bring May flowers”, then a tree full of pretty spring flowers makes perfect sense.  Then, what else to go with those flowers?  Well, I’m sure you can think of all sorts of things.  Watering cans would be adorable, and a variety of gardening tools could hang as ornaments as well. 

W

e chose to create our own little white picket fences and then added some smaller scale straw hats with ribbons.  The straw hats were very inexpensive with half a dozen coming in a package.  We had the ribbon and just embellished them with a dot of hot glue and the ribbon.

The white picket fences were fun to make and didn’t cost an arm and a leg either.  I purchased sheets of white craft foam and just went crazy with scissors and glue.  If you’d like to make some for your May tree, below are the materials and the instructions follow!

Materials List:

• 2 sheets of white craft foam to make approx. 6 fences
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Craft foam glue

Notes:
Both the rails and the pickets were 3/4” wide. The rails measured the full width of the foam at 9” and the pickets were 4 ½” tall.  I was able to get 4 rails and two rows of 12 pickets out of one 9” x 12” piece of foam.  The next piece needed to have 10 rails and only one row of 12 pickets to get enough pieces to make 6 fences.

Instructions:

1) Using the ruler and a pencil draw the rails and pickets onto the white craft foam and then cut the pieces out with scissors.

2) Snip the corners off one end of the pickets to create the pointed top.

3) I eyeballed the layout of 6 pickets per fence and held them in place using craft foam glue.

It takes about 24 picket fences to cover a 9 foot tall tree.  I used approximately 20 little straw hats, 5 or 6 forsythia garlands, about 18 miniature alums and a dozen of the white floral bouquets. The tree went together fairly quickly but I must admit that by May, (5 months after Christmas); I needed to replace a couple of strings of lights.  I guess at .99 for a string of 100 lights, you can’t expect them to last, lit every night, for months!!

If this whole concept seems interesting to you, consider doing a Tree for all Seasons that is only 4 feet tall and place it on a buffet or on a hall table.  You will use less material and many fewer strings of lights!  Purchase flowers, flags, straw hats, birdhouses, snowflakes, whatever you need for your monthly trees the year before you try the project so you can buy them at half price right after the season.

Consider making ornaments as I have now and then.  It’s a great family project and one that will cause the creative juices to flow all year long!

Shari

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