DIY Rachel Re-Does It…A Halloween Tree.

Why a Halloween Tree you ask? The answer is simple: because it's not everyday that your sister has the PERFECT sized dead tree in her yard. I couldn't just let this baby get turned to mulch.

For years I've seen the super adorable branches painted black with lights on them and wonderfully laid across fireplace, mantles, or used in pots standing as an outside decoration. I have never had to chance to make them. Then this tree came along and my Rachel Re-Does it light bulb went on into full blow creative mode. When that happens, I can't stop the locomotive, so I go with it!

That would be a holly tree, and oh boy were the leaves prickly with their horrible thorns. I learned quickly to use my husbands thick leather gloves. I ran my hand down each branch and pulled the leaves off. I ended up deciding to cut a few feet off of the bottom to make it stand nicer in the pot.

 

Next I filled the pot with rocks around the base of the tree. I did not permanently instal it in the pot for now. My plan is to hang it in the garage for next year (if I can get it in there without my husband realizing I'm storing a dead tree).  

I got a can of regular spray paint. NOT the cheapest one on the shelf at Lowes. That paint does NOT work well and you will ultimately have to go buy another can of the better paint. Save yourself the dollar upfront and get a better quality spray paint. IT DOES MATTER! 

I set the tree in the pot and in the field where I went to town spraying every part of that thing! It took about one can of paint to complete. 

Once painting was complete I used lights only up the center of the tree. I didn't have enough lights to do each brand separately, and if you've ever read one of my Rachel Re-Does It projects before, then you know I prefer to do things with as little money as possible. 

We used small plastic bats to attached as decorations as well as these ADORABLE glow in the dark hanging ghost we made last year. Yes, we made then, out of glow in the dark beads, melted in cookie cutters. I can post the How To for that another time though. Back to the tree...

My goal was to redo the pot to stay Halloween themed and use a backlight at the base to increase the branch visibility. However, today is Halloween and I forgot to finish this post until RIGHT NOW. So, we will see if I get that done today. It's not likely. ;) 

Don't mind the adorable little girl on the right side of the pictures. She thought I was taking pictures of her and went into full blown "Cat Walk" mode. I don't know where she gets it from.  We topped our tree with an old witch decoration we had from the Dollar Tree. Can't beat a dollar. My hope is to expand and grow the trees ornaments over time. So next year we should have MORE on there!