How To Decorate Your Gingerbread Christmas Tree

Alright, now that we've made all our ornaments, it's time to put them on the tree. I have a nice slimline tree here to do a quick demonstration on. So grab your ornaments, get your ribbon ready, and let's decorate. So the first thing I like to start with is the tree topper. Many people in England don't do this, but I think it makes a nice statement piece. It also makes your tree a bit taller. And yes, I just got some lovely ones—these are quite sparkly, florals. and then these long berry sticks, which are really nice, However, you can't bend them too much, or they'll start to fall off. So I'm going to start at the top and create something almost feather-like around the top. Isn't that cute? I'm now going with the ribbon. For a larger tree, I usually lay out ribbons, so I'll use two ribbons stacked on top of each other, but this is quite narrow for the tree, so I'm just going to go in with one, I'm going to use this red. I usually start with a loop, perhaps a single bow or a double bow. and then loop it across the branches and tighten, and then with a tail to finish at the end. So I'll go across, I'll work away, and then I'll show you what I've done to top the tree. Okay, so I've just got you in a lot more detail—super, super detailed. So what I've gone through is of a similar nature. is what I call a pot bubble, and what we want to do is take it away from the branches, And then just bring it back in. I used a branch to tie it, just wrap it around the ribbon completely. But you want to loop it behind the branch that's pushing it from the angle of the tree. So loop the branches to the side, and that's really good for attaching the ornaments too, Because you get more branches, especially if you have a thin tree like the one I'm using here. So pop, pinch, tie a little branch around, and so what I like to use is a zigzag, but I don't like to take it all the way, so just slightly down the ribbon, and then I'll start from the opposite side, So it's not a zigzag all the way, so I'll do a zigzag. So what we want to do is shape it through, But we'll leave plenty of space for our large decorations. So here I'm going to start on this side, where I have a nice blank area here, and we'll start with the tail, and the bow, just pinching it together, and then I'm going to wrap it around the tree, and then I'll thread across, and just take a branch, and I'm just wrapping it around, but I'm keeping this loose, I don't want it against the tree. I can get my whole hand behind there, so not tied to the tree, up and down and then I'll bring it down to a lower branch, and because it's at the bottom of the tree, I probably won't add a tail to it, I'll just pinch it so it disappears into the tree. and then we can see the ends of the ribbons, and then we like to pop the ribbon, So all the way I want to pop it, So it comes out looking like an oval shape. And there we go, So that's my first draft of ribbons, Next, I'll go in with the large ornaments, but don't worry, We don't have to finish with ribbon there, what I tend to do is at the very end, and especially in the largest group, I'll come back with a narrower ribbon. and fill in any pockets and holes I have, with little bits of ribbon and also the curly piece that we made, because they pop out of the tree then, and again fill any gaps Now this probably won't have many gaps, but it doesn't have very many branches, So the papers are perfect. It's like going to the branch. So next we'll move on to the larger ornaments, So I've got my large parcel of decorations that we made, I've made only two for this tree, and once again I like to use them in, I usually use them in odd numbers. but since this tree is not very large, I've kept the volumes I'm using today quite small, but normally I'd use odd numbers, and once again it's looking at opposite sides of the tree, opposite areas you don't want a symmetrical, You don't want all your parcels coming down on just one side, It wouldn't quite balance right. So large ornaments, and we want to move them into opposite areas, So I like to use our 20 cm hangers, I'm going to do one right in the middle, but what I don't do is, I don't just grab the branch and hang it on the end, I'll make a gap in the branch, especially with this large ornament, I'll make a nice little gap, Move all the branches to the side. and then reach all the way to the back with the hanger, and then I hung the hanger over the branch, and then wrap it around, and obviously what you want to do is, Just spin the ornament so it goes nice and tight, It will sit right under the branch then, and then simply place it into the branch, So that's firmly fixed. It's not going to fall out. she says, What do you call it? It's not going to fall out. and then it fits perfectly, So it's inside the tree. It's not leaning forward, It's not at an angle now, It's at an angle. so you can see the bow, We've made all that pretty detailed, You want to see it, So yeah, so because once again, This isn't a large tree. I will likely follow up on something in this area. or conversely but since it is not a very large tree, You're probably going to have to go lower down, so it's directly beneath it, so, our second parcel, We're going to go quite far down, and again, Make a small pocket for it. right into the branches, Now wrap it over a branch. What do you want to do? So you don't see anything, Is go really far in, We're going to do our spin, facing my next big bubble, I love this. This is when we've used the ribbon bow. my favorite, Right. and I think that's going to take pride of place at the front, so again, Really fit it in between the branches, We want it really deep into the tree, So push it in. Find a little spot for it, and then push your bow forward, Make your bows stick out. even if it's on either side of the branch, the branch in the middle Make your nice puffy bows, We want them to look proud of their place, All that effort you've put into making them, OK, so now all the bubbles are on the tree. I'm going in with some lovely concetters, and again, We want to get them really in between the branches. We don't want them sticking out on their own. We want to really get them inside, Many of them, Don't want them to be too large, just on the outside of the tree so if you get them really in, They're going to look almost quite nicer. and then it's time to go with the curly picks we've made, So I've made plenty of them here, I only have five. but as I say, Going with odd numbers always looks good. Look for the gaps. and then alternate throughout the tree, and again, I just want to go in now, between the ornament, between the curly picks, between the ribbon, anywhere again, That has a small pocket, You like a really nice full tree, These are perfect for it. a lot of times You put one in, Stand back, Take a look, and it kind of likes, The gaps are off. It starts popping in, and again, Just keep working your way through. Try to alternate, Don't have more than one area, when you start in one section, make sure the opposite section, has a hint of that color, or that texture, and you can use the berries, to fill in any seams, so if you can see the edge of the ribbon, that's been tied on or you have a loop, from the ornament, You can see, These are brilliant. You can just go in. Place it above it. and cut some of those, extra little bits of detail, Okay. so now we've filled our tree, We've put up all our decorations. We've filled the gaps. tree skirt She has to look beautiful. So here we go, up close there's a nice, tree topper multi-layered our sparkling, and gingerbread bows, our featured focus, large parcels and trinkets, Okay. now I've purposely, Not filled the bottom, too much of this tree as well, because, This is going to be, at my desk and I know I'm going to, knock everything off but there's the tree skirt, and if a little skinny tree, Looks full to me. and beautiful, Get making those baubles, and fill your lovely, Christmas trees.