How are we a week away from Christmas?

This has seriously been the longest yet shortest year to date – if that makes any sense. Being cooped up constantly has drug on but the holiday season is absolutely flying by – I mean wasn’t it Halloween just yesterday? Fortunately, I’ve planned ahead on some things – like having all of the Christmas gifts wrapped and hidden. But I have struggled to keep up with other things more than not – like trying to figure out what the elf is going to do tonight or getting this blog post out earlier than a week away so that you could make it for your own Christmas tree this year.

Well, as the saying goes, it’s “better late than never”.

After Christmas last year, I packed up the Christmas tree I bought for $50 at Walmart back in 2010 into its original cardboard box, and put it on the side of the road. While it had done me well over the past decade, there were far too many lights that were blown out, the fallen pine needles were becoming excessive, and to be honest, it had just seen better days. So when this 6.5′ tree went on sale during Balsam Hill’s Christmas in July sale, I immediately scooped it up.

But then I kept thinking… “with a tree this beautiful, I can’t do the same thing I’ve done every other year.”

{Insert an obscene amount of Hallmark Christmas movies being watched…}

I’m telling you, I was already ready for Christmas by the time July came around. I bought a tree. I pre-ordered holiday food from QVC. And I found my inspiration for my Christmas tree from a Hallmark movie. It was a movie that I didn’t get the opportunity to watch last year – because let’s be honest, the amount of movies that Hallmark releases each holiday season is astronomical. I’m struggling keeping up this year and I’ve been teleworking since March. Last year I actually had to leave to go to my full-time job, so there was definitely no keeping up then. But regardless, this year I watched “A Family Christmas Gift” and when the cameras panned out on the newly decorated Christmas tree with a drum collar, I knew without a doubt, that I needed a drum collar for the bottom of my tree.

But to be honest? This project gave me more struggle than I care to admit. I almost didn’t share it. But I love it too much not to. So, unfortunately, the pictures aren’t as many as I would have liked, so I’m hoping you can still follow along.

To make your own you only need a few items:

• 2 – 23″ quilting hoops – I was actually able to find mine at Joann’s for a significantly cheaper price.
• metal flashing – I used the leftover metal flashing to make these cute industrialized metal pumpkins
• 20 – 7/8″ cup hooks
• paint of choice
• washi tape (or the least stickiest painters tape you can find)
• at least 8 yards of 3/8″ gold rope cording

Start by cutting the flashing to length. I did this by measuring the circumference of the quilting hooks, and then adding a few more inches – I wanted the flashing to slightly overlap so there wouldn’t be any gaps. Then I sandwiched the flashing in between the quilting hooks – starting with the bottom hoop first.

Once both hoops were on I started painting.

THIS is the step I had the most difficulty with. I decided to do a standard “Christmas drum” of red and gold – typically the type of drum you’d see a toy soldier holding. I had some red paint on hand from the wooden wagon that I built for Audrey a couple years ago and decided to use that. Note to self: you can not brush paint on metal. So I headed to the store to pick up some spray paint. I first sprayed a primer, and then decided to tape off two inches from each end, creating a 2 inch boarder. I spray painted all of the center portion red, then covered that section with newspaper and spray painted the outside gold. However, when I removed the painters tape, all of the paint came off with it.

Round 2. I did all the steps over again, but just held the newspaper in place, instead of taping it down, but the paint just ran everywhere – there were absolutely no clean lines. At this point, I almost gave up, but I was so in love with the idea of this Christmas drum for under my tree that I attempted another try.

Round 3. This time, prior to painting anything, to ensure NOTHING would mess up, I took the circumference of the quilting hooks and divided by 10. This gave me 7.22 inches. I marked every 7.22 inches on the top and drilled a hole to fit the cup hooks. I did the same with the bottom quilting hook, but I spaced those out between the marks I made on the top hook so they were in the center, creating a zig-zag effect. Then I found the least sticky painters tape ever – though I probably should have used washi tape which has very little stickiness to it – and taped off exactly how I did in the first round.

First, I measured two inches from the top of the drum, taping it off, and two inches from the bottom of the drum, taping that portion off. Then I sprayed the center a bright Christmas-y red. I waited for that to dry completely before taping it off with the non-sticky painters tape and the newspaper and spraying the outer boarders gold.

Once that dried completely, I inserted the cup hooks, strung the gold rope cording (tying it off in the back where no one can see) and…

…ta-da!

My Christmas drum tree collar turned out wonderful!

Was it a pain in my butt? Absolutely.

Did I want to just give up on it? More than once.

Do I love it? More than words can express. It’s so unique and fun.

So, I encourage you to give it a try! Maybe not this particular DIY, but something you’ve been wanting to create, but have felt intimidated to do so – because we all have our epic failures! The secret is to not give up and keep trying.