Budget · Better · Best: How Ribbon & Technique Transform a Christmas Tree

Welcome back to the channel for Christmasing. I'm Gina Loves Christmas. This is Christmaser University. We're gonna ribbon three trees right now. If my fit didn't get you excited, just, I wore this intentionally. This was supposed to spark excitement. Three trees in a row as fast as I can. Budget, better, best. What does that mean? The cheapest ribbon I could get my hands on. Craft store ribbon. The ribbon I usually use. My technique works with every ribbon. So, today I'm gonna prove it. I even have deco. I'm calling DecoMesh good for you right now. That's how much I love you. Two rolls of DecoMesh. They were $10 each. They were 50% off. That's five bucks. This is a $2.99 roll of ribbon from the 99 cent store. We all will miss the 99 cent store, but I have this roll of ribbon and this is the recipe for this tray. I wanna list off the thousand reasons why I hate DecoMesh, but instead I'm just going to use it. DecoMesh is sticky. DecoMesh, there's a place for it in this world. Usually for me, it's not gonna be in my tree. This particular one though, I think it's kind of pretty. It's plaid. It's got some reflectiveness to it. It is also a soft DecoMesh. And if you're gonna use the DecoMesh, you should definitely go for one that is softer to the touch over the one that feels definitively plastic. Definitively. That was a lesson right there. You bought it. All right, I'm making a single loop. It's a single loop. I did the same thing. I'm not gonna wire it. There's literally no need. I'm gonna go into the top of the tree and with the branch, I'm gonna wire that right into the tree. And here we go. Class has started. We started quick today. I wasn't gonna go off on stories today. I'm just gonna get the tree done. So DecoMesh, I'm gonna use it for instance of where I used it. DecoMesh is great outside. If you watch other content of mine, you'll see I use it when I do wreaths outside to create a big base to hide my pine. It's good at hiding things. And so for this instance, it's a good product when you're trying to hide something or cover something fast and affordably. I am going to assume I can find a picture of me straddling a 10 foot wreath, 10, 20 foot, I don't know. I was like this and I'm pretty tall and I covered it in all different kinds of DecoMesh because it was gonna sit outside in the sun off this giant building. And I'm gonna tell you this right now, that was the product to use. So there is a place for it. I'm just looping my way down, tucking the ribbon in and the DecoMesh in. I'm sorry, I'm never gonna call it a ribbon. It's not, it's not what it is to me. You'll have to trust that I did something really good over there. I'm gonna do it in the front now, same thing. I'm gonna make one loop, just a short little roll, one loop, and it's going in. Reintroducing my pop, just like I would ribbon, letting it do its thing. Look, you're never gonna be the control of DecoMesh. If that's what you're using, you need to release all control. It's going to do its own thing. All you have to do is guide it lovingly throughout the tree. And as you can see, it's a very quick product to use. So if you're into speed, like I would do this for an outdoor tree, 100%. I'd let this live at my house, outside. But it would be beautiful inside. Wait till I add the 99 cent store ribbon. It's gonna be mind blowing. I'm gonna cut it at an angle, cause that's what I like. And it's gonna create a cute little curly tail. See, it's cute, it's curly. Now, let me tell you this. If you're using DecoMesh outdoors, do not let the tail fly. What happens is when you let the tail fly, as soon as the wind picks it up, it's going to start spraying the product, and it's not going to be cute. You must always tuck in the end, if you're using it outdoors. I think I'm gonna do two rolls on this tree. This is a seven and a half foot tree. Also, this tree is a very bit of a cheap and cheerful tree. I bought this tree at a home improvement store. I bought seven of them when you're after Christmas. They were 90% off. They were like $20 each or something. I don't know. They were so cheap. And the guy's like, ma'am, you're not gonna get all those in your car. I had my son with me. And I was like, yeah, I actually am. And I did. And we use them all the time and make them look like a million bucks. I love these trees. I haven't seen them since. When working on an artificial tree, if you're using ribbon, you really, really want a tree that is going to bend. You want to branch the bends, because the tree's helping me right now. The reason I'm able to move this fast, is cause the tree's doing its thing. And if you're working on a real tree right now, you have to create something to hold on. And the way to do that, let me just show you really quick. I'm using a piece of wire. It's a little, you could cut it yourself. I used to do that back in the day when I was younger, but I'm not anymore. So I'm pre-cut now, cause I'm older. But if you were gonna do that, you would just grab this. See, I'm creating, if you can see tight, I'm creating all the pinch pleat pucker pops. These are all present in this deco mesh. The deco mesh is not going in my tree like flat. It's not happening. It just does it easier, cause it's just a thinner product. You're gonna take your wire, wrap it around, give it a twist, and then still going into the heart of the tree. With deco mesh, we're going in. We're not dancing on the outside of a branch. We're definitely going all the way in and letting it do something nice. So if you were working on a real tree, you would do it the exact same way, except for instead of using your branch, that is wire in the artificial tree, you're going to have to add your own wire. It's fine. It's just gonna take you a few minutes longer. It's fine. Okay, let's see. This is cute. I like it. As always, what do you have to do? I'm gonna decorate the back of the tree, obviously, but you must put it on the top of the back. If you don't do the whole back, don't tell me. I don't wanna know. Jesus knows. He'll tell me, but you must put it in the back. Instantly, the tree just became more than. You have to do it. I will always, I will always be going for the angle. Always. I know what you're really waiting for. Gina, tell me about the magic of the dollar store ribbon. I'm gonna. Okay, this is cute. All I did was a series of single loops when I started each one. Single loop, single loop, single loop. No, I didn't wire anything together. I just kept it flouncy. And when you were done with this tray, you could keep the roll and you could rewrap it back on there. We do this. When we use DecoMesh for other holidays, we definitely save it because ours no longer is made and we love it. So we're recycling and you could keep it, but keep your roll. It's gonna be very, very handy. 16 yards of ribbon, $2.99. Let's do it. So this is very thin, but that's okay. It's going to be beautiful because the three simple loops works for all ribbon. I don't care where it came from, even if there isn't wire in it. I, oh, Kylie's here too. I instantly was like, oh, well there's no wire in DecoMesh. And I just did that. Even if there's no wire in it, the three simple loops are timeless and they work with all ribbon. It's an inclusive process. Okay, I'm gonna do a double. I'm gonna do a double. Am I gonna do a double? I'm gonna do a double. God, so cute. Okay, I'm gonna do a double. Now I'm gonna do a triple. This looks beautiful. Here's what's different. This ribbon, well, this ribbon is not gonna give me many, many ears. That's fine, it doesn't have to. This ribbon is very, very thin. It has the wire in it. It's doing what it's supposed to do. And it's going to be beautiful and it's gonna bounce and pop off the string. All ribbon, I love ribbon. And more importantly, I love being able to create with all things. Okay, so this is, look how good that looks. Can you see it, Kyle? I can see it. That is a good looking bow. That's a triple. We're going in with the triple. Let's go. I'm gonna bring her right into the front of the deco mesh. Having a little bit of variance all over here. She's cute. So cute, right? We like. Now the glitter's only on one side, which is fine. And that's the side we want to use. And I'm gonna have her drip right down this tree. I'm not overlapping this with the deco mesh. This is gonna have its own little moment. Right into the heart of the tree. I'm gonna work it a little more. And that's okay. Working it out. Creating a nice little reshaping. I'm just reshaping the ribbon. All you do. You're just working the ribbon. The ribbon's just gonna do its thing. Always working the ribbon, getting it right back into its original shape, which was right off the roll. It's pretty. Okay, same thing. We're gonna get our pinch, which is gonna give us our pleat. I'm gonna get in the pucker, and I'm gonna get the pop back. Hard half twist. Now here's where it gets tricky. These little edges, they're super thin, and the ribbon is also super thin. So I just have to work it a little bit more. Pinching in my hand, hard half twist, and getting my third loop up. Working just the same. The gorgeous triple. Boom. It's good. I'm so good at this. Somebody said the other day, you should be in a fast bow making competition. The best part about Christmas is it is not a competition. It doesn't matter. Hopefully what this proves is it doesn't matter what you're using, that you have the skill, and you have the know-how to make everything beautiful. Bow making might be one of my superpowers. I can put a bow on anything and just make it cuter. And you can too. I'm bringing this one in, making it a connector ribbon. Oh geez. Oh geez, no. Kyle and I did this a few years ago. It was November, very late in the season. And I promised a ribbon video. And look, I'm just not gonna lie. YouTube is a lot of work and effort and energy for us. We came in here while the boys were having pizza with grandma and grandpa, and we filmed you a video. And it is, to date, our most watched video. It's chaotic. It's all over the place. And there's just something, some about it, some about it that makes people come back for more. And we love that. So I'm going in and finding, I did overlap this one. I wanted you to see what that would look like. Looks pretty. But I'm creating depth. Look at that. My whole hand fits right through it. So if you are layering your ribbons, you have to always make sure you are not right on top. If you are right on top, then what's the whole point? Just buy a ribbon that looks like it's two in one. This is how we create dimension. This is how we make it look expensive. You say, Gina, but it's gonna use more ribbon. It doesn't matter. It's gonna be enough. It's gonna be enough because it's what you have. However much you have will always be enough. I think we can all agree this tree looks really good. This one, I am cheating. I'm not going all the way in, even though I'm starting at the top, because the deco mesh is a little consuming. And you're just watching your ribbon. You're seeing what it's going to do. This is coming out. So I'm just gonna, I'm not working with a hard and fast rule on this one. I'm gonna put the ribbon where it's going to look best and play best. And right here, this feels like it has 10 times more volume and body than it does. It's just fine. Oftentimes when I am working, 99% of the time when I am working, okay, all the time, I don't have a vision really of maybe what I'm gonna do. I open my ribbon and then I just go for it. I am not like, if you're trying to duplicate something, I'm just gonna put the ribbon here and here and just make it look the same. Just don't do that. Just work around the tree and do what feels good. And if it feels good and the product feels good in your hands and it's working for you, you're just, you're gonna be a winner every single time. And that's what I want for you. There's a song on the new Justin Bieber album called, Which Eye. It was in my head, it should have been easy. And I always think that's maybe how somebody feels if they're like, I'm just gonna make that tree look the same and it doesn't feel so easy. I just wanna remind you, when I'm decorating, I'm just not thinking about it. I'm thinking more what I'm gonna say to you next than I'm thinking about possibly where this ribbon's going on the tree. That part's gonna work itself out and it will work itself out in your living room as well. I promise. I actually have two more little bows made because we, we film for all platforms so we're doing multi-purpose things here. So I do have a little bow over there and I can put that on too. But that's how far it got us. Looking good. You gotta do it. I know, I don't even have to ask what that looks like. I already know that looks good. This tree's so good. It has bendy branches in the top. Most trees don't have any. Like this is a much better tree but there's nothing bendy up here. This one's just got, it's just a good tree. It's bumping the cost of my tree up. It's bumping it up to like right under 20 bucks but I do have this and I just have to do the back really quick. Let me do it. Indulge me if you will. Mostly just because I want to stretch my dollar ribbon. I probably bought that three or four years ago and it's been sitting in a drawer of things I'd like to do. It finally, finally got to come out. I just didn't want to waste my ribbon. I have two more bows. I'm gonna pop them in the back. Every time you give a ribbon a half twist, you're reintroducing the pattern of the ribbon. This is a sheer ribbon but the glitter is only on one side. So if I omitted my twist, I just put this one and it was twisted wrong. And if you use it that way, it's just not going to be the performer. And every ribbon is a performer. That's it. That's adorable. Isn't that adorable? I just went ahead and put a few ornaments on. This is less than $20 worth of ribboning and ornaments. I just want to tell you this. I know you're gonna be surprised when I tell you I do have all of the Dollar Tree area reps phone numbers in my phone because they sell ornaments similar to this size. It's actually right between these two but I put the other ones on the tree. For $1.25, used to be $1 inflation. That is a screaming deal. And I would go and I would buy cases and cases and cases. Oh, you have 30 cases? Swing by, grab them. Oh, you have 40 cases? I'm gonna come and grab them. I just bought all of them. So if you live near me, this is not a pro tip for you. But if you don't and you need larger scale, cheap ornaments, that's where you get them. Nothing is safe with me. If I find it and I like it, I don't care how much it costs, I'm gonna get it. And while I have a large budget, I was also young once. I remember what it was like when I was doing the do and no one knows how to do the do like me. I am your professor. I have a lot, a lot of years under my belt. We're going in next with craft store ribbon. So 13 yards is what we're going in with next. I have one roll of this red and I'm gonna be covered in tree flocking in about three seconds. It's gonna be totally worth it. This is lame. And if you recall, lame is what our dresses were made out of when we were young. And if you had a lame dress, it was special. And I had a blue one. It is reflective. Everything here is giving off reflection. It is good. Ribbon is thin, but ribbon is fine. No, it's not making its own bows, but it's just beautiful and fine. I'm making a single loop. I don't know why, cause I wasn't thinking about it. And I just went ahead and did that. And I only have 13 yards of this one for the whole tree. I have a lot of other ribbon from the craft store. I got a 90% off last year cause I knew I wanted to make this for you. So I'm going to work this around the tree. I'm gonna call this like the base ribbon. Almost if I were using a velvet and a print, I'd go in first with my velvet. So I'm gonna build a bit of a base down the tree and just go from there. This tree's a little complicated, but we're gonna work with her anyway. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Okay, I'm going up. This is a nine foot tree. Oh, we took out a whole section, so it would fit in the studio. So if she looks a little off and wonky, it's cause she is. Now I'm going to try to find interior branches to bend on this one. Same thing as always, finding the natural bend in the ribbon. This one is a really soft one, but it's okay. It's going to be fine. Why is it going to be fine? Cause I am not going to pull this ribbon down and try to get more out of the ribbon that it needs to give me. By leaving that pop and by getting that body in the ribbon, and body, yada, yada, yada, yada. Okay, I'll just keep singing it. But by getting it back in the ribbon, we're giving the ribbon space to be who it is. Space to move, space to give back to you. If you continue to pull your ribbon down, cause you're trying to get more out of it, your ribbon's not going to give you what you need. I'm giving it extra, it needs it. And it's, this is, this one's really, she could have a little droop to her, and that would be fine. I don't know, I don't think my ribbon's going to droop. But I'm not trying to be frugal with my ribbon. I'm going to use exactly what I have, and it's going to be enough. I didn't fall off that, so I'm winning today. I'm going to stay with single loops. Candy cane shape, fold it off, pinch. That's a good pinch. All the pleat, all the pucker, give it a pop. We always need, this little tail's a very important part of ribboning. Half heart twist, reintroduce the ribbon that actually looks the same all over. But you still have to reintroduce it. There will be a difference. I'm not going to look for it right now, but there will be. That's a single loop, that's what I'm using. Problem is, I only have 13 yards. But I have a lot of the plaid, and I really actually want to ribbon this tree a lot because I have a good amount of it. And all trees are the same color, so we're rationing our ornaments. And I'm just doing whatever I want. I'm going to keep that loop a little closer together. I don't want this to feel too stretched or out. This seems like it wants to do this, so I'm going over here, just navigating as I go. I'm going to cut this. We cut all ribbon. I cut the deco mesh like I didn't care. I'm going to cut this one like I don't care. The joke is still good, but it's still dominant in my mind. I cut the umbilical cord without a second thought. You have to cut it, it doesn't matter how much it costs. You have to cut it to get what you want. Just don't cut it into little strips. It's the only pro tip you need to know. How much do we have left? Oh, good amount, 13 yards. It's a larger tree, probably like eight and a half feet. I'm going to come down here, meet in the summer. I know, as I'm going, I know how much plaid I have, so I know I'm going, these are basically, all these ribbons are going to get built off of. So I'm not too worried that I don't have a ton. The only thing I ever worry about, honestly, if we're being honest, is when you got a really big tree and you are decorating it super, super tight and you started and you didn't pattern properly and you look like you're going to run out of ornaments. That is a stressful moment and not one I like to have. I don't worry with ribbon. I don't have to worry about that. I'm going to, I don't know if you can even see this because I know the tree is cropped right at the edge, but I'm going to go and I'm going to give it like a proper height top right here, extending the width of the top of the tree. Craft store, this is plaid, single ply. There's definitely wire in it. It's not hard wire. I'm going to say that the wire in this one was actually stronger than the wire in this. Now, when you are shopping for ribbon at a craft store, it's okay to open it. No one's going to arrest you. Don't steal ribbon though. It's not Christmas Eve. You can open the ribbon and you can touch it and you can try to make a little bow with it. You can do these things. Not one time have I ever done that and anyone said a word to me, not one single time. So you can do it too. Double on this one. I'm going to come in the top and I'm going to create something up there. I don't know what yet. We'll see as soon as I get up there. I changed my mind at the very last minute on this tree. This was going to be this one. Oh, it would look really good on a green tree. But then I found a ribbon that I didn't know I had in here and I'm like, oh, we have to use that one. So things changed pretty quickly around here. Here's the thing. I'm going to move it. I need this to be a little bit deeper in there. And then this isn't as easy as normal, but that's okay. I'm just going to put it in there. Look, I'm being very aggressive here. I am not being gentle because I'm not, what am I going to do? Hurt it? Not going to hurt the ribbon, but I do need it to do what I want it to do. And I know what that's going to be, but I'm going to have to work a little bit harder to get there. And this one I am going to layer and I have to use the exact same branch inside because the one that's available to me. But I am going to do that. And I'm going to do one more. See, as you can see, I'm like trying to get the pop and the ribbon's going, what are you doing? It's fine. It's always going to be fine. I'm going to get the pop. I'm going to be aggressive about it and get what I want. I'm going back in, even if I have to do it a few times. And I'm going to stop there. As you can see, the ribbon has a little bit of a fall to it. When all is said and done, it's going to be okay here. It just requires more movement and maybe a little bit of a tighter loop here, but I don't want a tighter loop, so I'm going to keep doing it my way. I already said I want to heavily ribbon this one. I'm going to bring in something over here with the same fabric. I'm going to keep going in with that same ribbon. I'm going to do a triple. I'm going to go up here with a triple. Going to fill in space of this big gaping hole back here. And if you're working on a flocked tree, you might too. The tops are wonky on the flocked trees. You kind of just never know what's going to happen up there. That's good in the top. And then I'm going to bring this one down the side. I always say the same thing. You're either going to use a lot of ribbon or a lot of ornaments, one or the other. So this one, we're definitely going to go heavier on the ribbon, one, because it was 90% off and two, because I got it. Still going to be pretty. They're going to be really, they're all going to look like they're relatives, these trees, but I'm done. Very similar, similar designs, similar styles of ribbon picked out. I just really created a masterpiece back there and kind of like can't see it, but it needed to be done, so I did it. Okay, I'm going to continue to come into this tree. I'm going to do a triple. Let's, let's build that together. All right, I'm going in with a triple, a pinch. Make sure I hold that ribbon and keep my loop very much dominant. I'm going to pop it out, give it a hard half twist. Coming back up, very easy at this point because this is very, very thin ribbon. Hard half twist, last one, connecting it into my finger. Hard half twist, it's a very soft triple. A Christmaser just messaged me. She, for the first time, got some of my ribbon in her hands and she was like, oh my God, it's so different. She said, and she sent me a video and I could hear my voice in the background. I'm like, am I on your television right now? We did it together. And she said, it's, it was harder, but wow. Just wow, wow, wow. And I get that. I get every time I make it, I'm like, oh, it looks so good. So I understand when there's a struggle and it's like, it doesn't look like it looks the same. And I feel like the most important part of this video was to really see how different kinds of ribbon work in everybody's hands. So these are my hands and this is what it's doing for me. So if you're struggling a little bit and you're not using the same thing I'm using, the struggle is for real with all ribbon. Could be with mine too. Maybe it's too thick. Maybe it's too hard to pinch and twist. It's different for everybody. This one, I'm coming down a little bit. I know I'm still out of frame and that's just fine still, but I'm coming down a little bit and I'm creating the shape of the tree because the tree pops out and I need to create enough depth in the diameter so that once I get down lower and have all this ribboning, it's gonna make sense. Back in the day, and still to this day, people use fabric. They use like chiffon fabric, organza. If you've ever seen giant fresh trees and they're just filled with fabric, they use it to fill space. And that's really what, like right now, that's what I'm doing. I have a substantial tree and I have a good amount of ribbon and I'm going to fill every space with the ribbon. Will this be the style for all? No, maybe not, but it doesn't matter. You're still going to get to see how you can maximize something you have in your hands. I like it. Okay, we need a lot. We just need a lot more. Okay, let's get our plaid into the front. I'm gonna go right into the original loop. Connect that right in there. Might say like, that's a lot of plaid. I know, it's okay. I'm actually gonna bring it over here and make it more consuming. Think of it as a really stylish human. Stylish people don't care how many patterns they have going on. If they have confidence, they just wear it. So all you have to do is be confident about what you're doing. I'm gonna put so much plaid into this tree, somebody might say, that's not very stylish, but somebody else might say, that's style to spare. So perspective. I'm finding as I'm nearing the bottom of this roll that it's wrinkly, which I don't like very much, but I'm gonna keep on going. At every twist and every turn, I'm just adding a whole new bow, creating all sorts of joints and connectors because I have other ribbon. No, just kidding. I do have other ribbon though. We're just gonna, we're gonna layer here. We're layering. I'm coming in here. So I put, when I was off camera, I put a bow right here coming off of this joint and now I'm gonna put one in here. So I'm just, this will essentially have six loops coming off of this one little joint in the ribbon. I'm gonna connect it right in. This feels like a very, this feels very country. Not just because of the plaid, but even the style of the riveting feels very homey. Feels like a house I wanna be at. I just got to see what you're seeing. I was like, it's super cute. Does it need more plaid? Kyle said no, but we might revisit the plaid. Let's introduce a new ribbon. Add one roll of the red and I have one roll of the green. Also sheer and you're like, Jeannie, you kind of have a big gaping hole right at the top center of your tree. I know, I saw it. But I just thought I'd have this. I'm gonna fill it with this. So I'm gonna make a single. Actually, let's just make a double just for fun. Andy Cane sheep, pinch, pop. This ribbon, this ribbon, I'm not gonna lie, it just does better with singles than doubles. I was ambitious with the triple, but I did it anyway. All right, let's get a new ribbon in there. A new ribbon in your tree is just a possibility. All it is is possibility. Possibility of places to put other ribbons in and intertwine them and connect them. And we take all of our ribbons and we make everything very, very cozy. That is always, always the goal. What I really added with the green is opportunity. She's cute. We love a double. Kind of have this little side situation. This ribbon just likes to go to the side. I'm gonna let it. And you know what I see? I see a place for a little more plaid. Right in here, I'm gonna put them right into the joint and connect them together. I feel like we really needed that. Let's dance around the tree with this one. Just a few more. We're on the back. I started a bow up here. I have a triple up here, connected right into a joint of one of my top ribbons. I drug this one all the way down the tree. This ribbon is dancing all the way down. She's dripping right off. But I would like to introduce the screen and it makes perfect sense to bring it one third of the way down. I'm going straight into the heart of the tree where the original ribbon was connected. This is a joint. I'm connecting it right in there and creating more possibility. If you only have one roll of ribbon, you must use a little of that around your entire tree. Yeah, I'm gonna stick to that statement. Unless you're only just doing a little. But I have clearly worked ribbon around the whole tree. I can't have green in just one section. It has to be prominent around the whole diameter. It just does. Not prominent. It has to be present around the whole diameter, even if just a little bit. There is so much ribbon on this tree, it feels like Mace Garland. Come to the end of the road. It's the end of the road. It's okay to sing your ribbon. Ribbon loves songs. Oh my gosh. Connecting some of that green into a joint of the red. This is pretty. Just those two colors, the green and the red, classic Christmas. Of course, it's pretty. Bring in a little more plaid. I'm sure that doesn't surprise you, but I'm only gonna make a single here because I made a double with the green and I'm gonna add this in there and it's gonna become a triple. It's like girl math, but it's actual math. That was good math. So I'm going right into that double, creating essentially a triple, creating a triple. Yeah. Really being committed to the plaid. This is gonna be cute. Watch what I do here. So I have the little tail. I'm gonna have this tail going this direction. The opposite, opposite slant cut. That's cute. It's like a little ribbon sash. If I wore a ribbon, this would be the one I would wear. The plaid one that looks like Christmas. Okay, that's going right in there. This is cute. What a fun way. You just have a little extra ribbon or trying to get your pattern somewhere when you maybe don't have much ribbon at all to just add in like a little burst. One single loop, two short tails, varying lengths. That's important to remember. Okay, I'm gonna, at the moment, call myself done with plaid. But I could change my mind. And you can too while you're decorating your tree. If you're like, I need more of that, then just get more of it. You're good. Okay, so this is, I don't know what this is. It's just like a velvet. It's not. This is like a flocked piece of plastic. The back's gonna be, it's like, this is an excellent outdoor ribbon. If you're looking for some outdoor ribboning, it's not gonna hold its shape well, but I'm committed and I'm gonna make you a bow with it. All right, here we go. Our little flocked red. All these ornaments you're seeing in the store right now that you think are velvet, they're not. They're flocked just like this. This is almost a little bit of a test to see how this ribbon does in a flocked tree. And of course, Mr. Messaged me on Insta and she's designing a tree right now, a manly, a masculine tree, a manly tree. And she had all these flocked ornaments. And I said, oh, those aren't velvet, they're flocked. Why does that matter? Because I think the flocking is gonna get to this and it's not gonna be very cute for this particular instance, it doesn't really matter. I said, just do a little test run, maybe a little patch test, if you will, and make sure you don't get somewhere and it's not gonna work out for you. But those ornaments are, yeah, they're not velvet. It's just a flocked ornament. Okay, I'm gonna do something different. I did make a single, but this is a new ribboning style. So my three simple loops are, we're committed to them. We love the three simple loops. The three simple loops are for all things, all ribbon. But right now, this tree is a little complicated and it's filled with ribbon. So I'm going to do varying sizes right now and I'm going to create, I've got my pinch and my pleat, and I'm going to create a few touch points to create some connectors off of this ribbon. I think it's gonna look really good. I think we're gonna say at the end, we needed that flocked ribbon. So this red is gonna feel so rich and so lux in here. I can't go all the way in because the other ribbon's too thick. So I'm gonna come a little further out. I'm gonna wire it real tight there. And then this ribbon is just going to be able to dance on an outer branch. I think that color added something. I don't know, I can't actually see what you see, but I think it did. So this is a new ribboning style that I taught this season and it really was created, well, funny enough, I did it when I was decorating this tree because this tree had very thick ribbon on it. There's a whole video for this and it had very thick ribbon on it. And I'm like, there's nowhere to put the ribbon. So I said, hold on a second, I can solve this problem. And I just did this and it's a good video, you should watch it. I'm gonna make it a cliffhanger. But right now, I'm not going deep into the heart of the tree. I'm staying near the outer edges and I'm just actually, I'm gonna cut this. I know it's not what I planned to do, but I am going to cut it because I don't have enough space to keep going. And I'm gonna get a cute little line and I'm gonna have that sitting there. But this red, it introduced a richness. Yes, the flocking is sticking to it. So no, I wouldn't choose to use this if I were working right now. But for the sake of what I'm doing, it's just fine. I had an eyelash in my eye, so I dropped my ribbon and now it is covered in flocking, but that's fine. I'm gonna do this in a few places to bring this little red, richer red ribbon into the tree. That's how rules just kind of don't apply too hard. I didn't wanna waste that end, but I still wanna have a little loop. So I just flipped it around. I like the little loop on this one. I think it's necessary. We're very, this tree's got a lot of loops in it. This tree reminds me of my friend's mom. He used to collect these little mice and her home was so cozy for Christmas. Her name is Mrs. Hahn. Susan is her name. Mrs. Hahn is what she'll always be to me. And her house smelled like cinnamon. And to this day, they still send my kids little cute little stickers for holidays. And she was just that woman and she's incredible. And she was always just, her house was very much a home for me and all my friends. I know you think I'm all, you're like, you always get a little emotional. I do. Ultimately, we're creating memories. And I don't know why this whole tree reminds me of her, actually. I was talking to my son and I said, "'Remember when we did the Toy Story Christmas "'and you woke up and Toy Story characters "'had taken over the downstairs?' And he said, "'No.'" I was like, you don't remember that? "'Remember when?' And the answer was no to literally everything. He had no memory. And what spurred this is he was helping us and we found the Toy Story tree and the bottom he had written Andy on in the perfect font. And look, these are memories. And I realized he has no memory. I have pictures, so I remember it, but they're my memories. And what we're doing as parents, as people planning holidays, as grandparents, as aunts, uncles, whoever you're planning your holiday for, you're creating memories for you. But I do want you to know that even though my son doesn't remember, I remember Christmas at Mrs. Hahn's. I remember those memories that were created not even for me. It was just a feeling. But what we do matters, even if our teenage boys don't acknowledge it now. Castle, I have your number and I know you're gonna remember Christmas in our house. You just could not not remember that, son. Where do you think this one should go? This will be just a fun little quiz for you at home while I pull myself together. Don't worry, there will be no mascara. My lashes are not real. Nothing's gonna go, like I'm gonna look the same after crying. Just give me like 13 seconds for the redness to go away. So if you said we definitely need it down here, you were correct. That's where I'm going next. Red on red, monochromatic, birthimi. I wonder what those little mice that Mrs. Hahn collected were called. Wouldn't it be funny if they weren't mice? But I think they were. If you could put those in this tree and it would instantly turn into the collectible Christmas tree of the trends. We're getting our year out of her. This ribbon probably would not be coming back for a second season, but that's okay. It's definitely coming down here for our final little, little moment. Oh, that's pretty. Look at that little moment. That feels good. I love it. This ribbon added such a sweet little detail. I feel like it took all of my four-inch ribbons and not just because it's small, but because it has more texture and it really did change things for the better, which is good, because just wait till you see how we're gonna decorate her. 90 yards of ribbon and a whole lot of berries. Christmasers, this is why we go to Christmas or university, because it doesn't matter whether we're using the budget ribbon, the better ribbon, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we're doing it together and we're doing it with the right application, which you learn here in Christmas or university. My shirt was never going to recover from the tree flocking. Movie magic, we're moving right along. Budget, better, best. Let's get to it. Using my three simple loops, let's start with a velvet base. Feels good in my hands, but all ribbon feels good in my hands. All right, let's go. Velvet base. I'm gonna do a similar style, I think. This will have way less ribbon on it, so I tried to do something a little bit, this one we knew had under, budget was under $20 for the ribbon. This one, paid full price, would be in the 150-ish dollars worth of ribbon. Clearly I went very extra, but there's no ornaments on that tree. Now, I'm trying to do something compatible, like just a little bit more than that one. This tree doesn't have anything good on top, so I have to make my own branch up here. The greens this year, I told you not to sleep on blue, and you're not, you listened to me. But the greens right now, everyone's loving green, for a good reason. All right, I'm just gonna put a little bit of this in here. I have 10 yards for this tree. This is a six-and-a-half-foot tree. We started with a seven-and-a-half-foot tree, this tree's probably eight-and-a-half-ish, and now I have a six-and-a-half. Let's do this one together. Lots of form, kind of, I don't wanna say self-making, but I have to work, I've worked a little harder with this one, because it's a thicker ribbon, so when you're using a thinner ribbon, my hands didn't have to work as hard. Did I learn how to make bows on this? I did not, okay? This is an aspirational product, and we all know it. I learned how to make bows, well, I probably learned how to make bows on this, this type of ribbon. This is an aspirational ribbon. I wasn't 18 years old buying this, okay? Let's just, I'm never gonna lie to you, and I'm not gonna start now. This could have probably been rolled a little bit better, but I have pieces on here this short. Let me, I'm gonna use one of them. Hold on, let me show you this. I know I just got distracted. That's okay, it's my video! This is a very old roll of ribbon. This ribbon has been well-loved. I don't get rid of anything. So right now, I will make a single loop, clean up this little edge. It's a well-loved edge. And this very old roll of ribbon, now it looks like a beautiful velvet vintage sofa that you've loved and lived in, and had cleaned and taken very well good care of. Very, very good care of. Nothing is ever wasted. We keep all pieces. Let me just put that one right up here. Get the part where I hang out in the back of the tree taken care of. A ribbon is probably a six-year-old roll going strong. Pop this one, you pop it, it stays. There's differences. But again, if I was ever gonna buy one roll of heirloom ribbon, I'm definitely, somebody messaged me last night. She was looking at the plaid. Actually, the one we're gonna use today. And I'm like, oh, but if we're only doing one, shouldn't we just get red velvet? Because everybody loves red for Christmas, I think. And it just felt like if you're gonna have one, that felt like the one to have. So I don't know what she's going to do, but I was really promoting that one. I was like, this is the one you need. Give that a cut. Everything is cut the same. Every ribbon is cut the same. There has been not one single moment. I think I've seen all ribbon. I've seen the most expensive, I've touched it, I've worked with it, I've used it. And not for a single moment have I ever just not, like instantly, I've just cut the ribbon. If it suited the design, it's getting cut. And then it's gonna get rolled. Again, some rolls, actually, we should find a better one. So you can see what most of them look like. That one is just extra well-loved. So since I only have 10 yards of this ribbon, since I have 10 yards that I'm going to use on this tree, I'm going to make sure I distribute it throughout. Popping, using my inner branches to hold that ribbon in. And because this ribbon is so thick, once I give it its squeeze to get it in the branch, I'm not being too crazy with it, and I'm not wiring it, and I'm not feeling the need to hold it super taut with the branch. I'm just grabbing that branch. When I'm going down with my loops, I'm just grabbing a branch and going like this. One little twist, I'm not going crazy with it. And that way, it's going to hold it. This ribbon has so much form, you don't have to work as hard to get it to do what you want it to do once it's already in the tree. All right, we have probably three yards left. Let's keep going. Going to put a little more right here, make it a little stylish. I just wanna remind you, Christmas morning, I'm in my jams with my kids and Kyle and our dogs, Dasher and Noel. This is what's going to be in your Christmas card. So when you do all your decorations up here and you don't wanna get uncomfortable and be on the ground, just do this. I invite you to sit, sit cross-legged on the ground, get comfortable however you're gonna be comfortable, but you must decorate the bottom of your Christmas tree. This is the part that's going to be in all the pictures. It is, in a lot of ways, the most important part, and oftentimes it is the most forgotten. So yes, I'm gonna put ribbon at the very bottom, and it's going to be the ribbon that is most appreciated in all of the photos. A new mama Christmaser sent me a picture of her 12-foot tree, and she had decorated the whole thing very well, very heavily just from here up. I said, what's happening here? And she said, I have a toddler. I'm like, okay, all right. Well, let's get some shatterproof ornaments. When you wire them in, she goes, well, last year I used the little baggies, like the ties from baggies. That's not the right thing. If a toddler came and wanted to pull up my ribbon, that would be just fine. It wouldn't even be very fun. So once I get an ornament on, same thing is true. Once you put the ornaments on the way I put the ornaments on, it'd be hard-pressed. And if they can get the ornaments off at that point, I mean, they can put them back on. It's true. The best way to figure out how I put something on is to take it off. So it would just be a little game. Take it off, put it on. I told her to get her own little tree. She can have her own little tree in the corner every day, undress it, and she could redecorate it again. And I don't know, my boys never touch my stuff, but gorge, gorge. I'm done now. No, thank you. I'm not done. Window plaid. This ribbon caused quite a stir in just a short little TikTok video, and then it was gone. And I thought, oh, I wanted to use it in my front room. Now I cannot. I can't use something that you don't have access to because that's just flat out mean. And then I was able to get some more, and I was thrilled, not only for you, but for me, because I really wanted to use this. This is so unique. It's so different. It has a super traditional plaid pattern, the lame on the back. It's gonna do all of the good things, all of them. I'm going to stay with a single loop on this one. I haven't seen her in a tree yet. I never took her off the roll, but I had visions. This one was gonna live in my house. Wait till you see what I did in my house. Oh, it's so pretty. Benefit of being at university today. Okay, I'm gonna bring this straight down because I really, really want this just to have its own little moment. I don't want it to have to share. It is full of holes, so I am going to have to put stuff behind it, but I think that's just lovely. Single loops. This is a five-yard roll, so it's not a ton, but it's fine. I actually think I could do this whole tree with only five yards. All right, that's where she's coming. I know there is no audio to that, but that has to just be so satisfying to watch. I love using, I used to call it a open pattern net when decorating because the prettiest thing on your Christmas tree at night is the light. During the day, it is your ornaments, your ribbon, your picks, it's all the other stuff, but at night, the lights are the show, right? No one can really see that stuff unless you uplight your trees, because I like to see the ornaments, but that's when a ribbon like this comes in handy because when I turn the lights on this tree, all of the light's going to shine through the ribbon, and because it has metallic in the back, it's going to bounce. It's just so many good things are going to happen. Something to think about. On this tree, I don't have any of that. On this tree, it's all see-through. I don't know if I can turn the lights on these trees. I honestly don't know if we connected them together, but on this tree, everything is see-through, so the light's going to bounce. A lot of light's going to bounce. It's going to look rich and gorgeous at night, and I saw it on the monitor. Ooh, it's good here. Budget is beautiful. It is beautiful. Hi-lo, right? When you can wear Walmart on the bottom and a little Cartier on the top, we just do the whole thing. It doesn't matter. If it looks good, it doesn't matter what brand it is, how much it costs, what the label says, what size it is. If it looks good, we just go for it. It's just that it's for good. It's for fashion. It's good for Christmasing. It's good for all the things. This one, I'm going to connect and let these two little ribbons dance together, and I'm guessing that's absolutely gorgeous. It's gorgeous from where I'm standing. Ration slightly, since I have half the amount. When I cut this ribbon, I'm cutting it straight. Yeah, no, I want to cut it straight. I don't want to cut it, and I want to cut it red. I'm going to cut this one on red, and I'm cutting it straight because the squares are straight, and I think that's the right thing to do. I do not have OCD. It's not diagnosed, but I do like to double-check my curling iron 93 times before I leave the house. I have an extra set of eyes on this today. I cut this one on my straight, and it left little hairs there, so I'm going to take those off. We don't need those. I'm going to come in right over here. This ribbon feels like it's having its own little parade, actually. Does that make sense? Like I can hear it marching into my tree. If you add traditional, like, treasure ornaments, this is a good one. All right. Getting some beautiful, beautiful loops. All the body, all the body-ody. I'm sticking to five yards on this. I'm going to make it count, and by sticking to five yards, it means I was lower on the budget. I was at a lower price point on the tree, and obviously this tree has to go deep in a corner, and I can kiss the outer branches with ornaments in the back, but I will not be able to get this showgirl back there, so I am going to connect right into here, and we're going to come down and just be stunning. Wow. You know, it seems odd. I'm just going to put this one up. You'll be like, I can't even see that one. I know, but I'll be able to see it. You have to kiss the perimeter of the tree. You just do. It is a rule. It's my rule. I don't have a ton of them, but you should follow these specific rules about the top of the Christmas tree. Always must get the back. Okay. Now, to ribbon or not to ribbon? I have red velvet. Does it need it? What do we think? I have 15 yards total of ribbon. We did some math, and what's 137 if I add one more roll? I'm going to do it. So I have a four-inch, 10-yard roll of velvet. I have a five-yard statement specialty ribbon. Also doubling is an open pattern net, and I am going to go in with the 2 1⁄2 velvet because we just decided it was a good idea, and that felt doable, right? Felt doable. It's a star. It's the star. The ribbon's the star. I will... I'm going to stay with singles. I'm not going to do doubles. Maybe I'd even have some leftover. Throw on my mantle. Technically, I have a little more than 10 yards on the green because I pulled that little tiny piece from the shelf. Okay. Let's make her sing. She's going to sing. When we connect our layers and connect the ribbons into the joints of the other layers, we've created all these really hospitable, beautiful places for the ribbons to go, and when we do that, the trees sing to us. This tree, remember, we had this. It was the lame, this floss ribbon, which we determined wasn't that great, but when I walked back and looked at this tree, this stood out to me. This was like, oh, that was a special moment. When we intertwine our ribbons, they sing. They like it. It is a good thing. As long as you give them space and the body to move around, you're creating, we're creating art here. That's why if it takes you a little longer to ribbon your tree, don't worry about it. It's art. Sometimes when I'm doing something, it takes me longer than it may take another time, and I don't really worry about it because I know when I'm done, something so good will have happened, and sometimes it's just so fast and it happens, and it's also super good, so I don't know. Don't be discouraged if it takes you a little longer. It's always different. Your hands always want to do different things. I went too close on that one. If you notice, I need more space, so I did it again, and now it's what I want. I'm literally guessing because I'm on the side, but I'm pretty sure it's what I want. Oh, yeah, that's so pretty. Okay, this, if you can see this, this ribbon, this four-inch velvet ends here, I'm going to intentionally make this one about two inches longer, and on the tree, they're gonna come out. They're gonna be together. They're gonna be a little together moment. It's tucking behind. This is, I'm gonna make it shorter. I'm making the green one an inch shorter. It's a little wasteful, but I need it, and I'm gonna have this one just a little longer. Oh, yeah, that's pretty. I'll twist the tree so you can see. These little moments when you're Christmasing, when you're ribboning your tree, these are little designer moments. It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, oftentimes, when you do something like this, these intentional little moments of personality, this is what gives the tree the personality in the five Ps. Pinch, pleat, pucker, pop, personality, and that's it right there. That's a little of my personality coming through on the Christmas tree. You'll know I made it because of that moment right there. Kind of looks like my belt, actually. Let's stick with singles, and I'm gonna stick near the top to finish off adding this little burst of goodness, and I'm gonna bring this red off to the back over here. Even if the red doesn't make it on the whole design of the tree, it will. We have plenty, but even if it didn't, it's fine. It adds so much. At our house, I was going to use this plaid with the emerald red matte ornaments and black mirror balls because I like that. I know you may not like that, but I love it, and Kyle likes everything I like, so he would've loved it, too. I'm gonna come down here where I ended the plaid. I'm gonna bring in the red just for a little, just for a little bit of a Christmas party. I'm gonna have my own little Christmas party right here in this one, you know, for the pictures. I'm gonna leave my tail a little bit long intentionally, and I'm gonna just curl that under. Step back, look at your tree, see where it needs to go, and if you think it, for just even a moment, just do it. Don't put too much thought into it. I'm not putting very little thought into anything. As soon as I start thinking about anything, we go south real fast. If people like to do mindless activities, for me, this is a mindless activity, which is why I do it all year long. You're my great escape, Christmasers. I'm bringing these loops super close together for zero reason whatsoever, other than I just felt like it just then, because what I really wanted to accomplish was getting my red in this portion of the tree, not necessarily over-ribbiting. Yeah, I mean, I think we really needed that. I've got a little left, and I'm gonna try to kiss both sides. Visually, I'm like, visually, it's important. You can barely see it from the camera. That's okay. It is important. You'll trust me. I'm gonna give myself three over here, and then I've got an itty bitty left to do something over there, like truly nothing, but that's fine. I'm not being wasteful. I'm gonna use it all. Actually, this is the perfect size to bounce in here. So in this ribbon, I will have connected two others that all serve a great purpose. That's what's happening on this tree. The ribboning portion is done. Budget, better, best. This was quite the class, Christmasers. We took a lot of twists. We took a lot of turns, and I think you will see that it doesn't really matter what you're working with. It's just the love. It's all of the love that makes it beautiful. People can feel it. You'll never even know the impact you're making, so don't think you're doing it for nothing. You're doing it for things far greater than you can ever imagine. I love Christmasing with you. Thank you for Christmasing with me today.