I made over my mantle decorations this year, going with a black , white and gold theme w/ accents of red.
Waste not want not so I try to repurpose pieces I already have which is what I did with these black and white felt trees. They used to be these from a few years ago:
which were fun and I still liked them but was tired of them.
I'd pinned the tinsel to the tree ( see thinking ahead to when I might want to rip them apart!) so removing it was easy. I created a pattern for my felt freehand on a piece of scrap paper and then cut out a bunch of shapes in black and white felt. I started off counting them. That ended quickly.
These trees are a little more permanent since I hot glued the felt pieces to the styrofoam cone. Working from the bottom up, glue one color around the cone then offset your pieces and glue the next color around the cone. Continue until your cone is covered.
Slightly more work than the tinsel trees but only slightly.
They fit right in on my mantle with a black and white Father Christmas I painted years ago, and my mantle focal of a chalkboard sign I also made this year.
The chalkboard sign was made from a pre-cut piece of plywood from Home Depot, painted with chalkboard paint and bordered with gold glitter paint ( Martha Stewart).
The right side of the mantle contains a large vase filled with pinecones I've picked up on walks, birch and glittered branches left over from my Thanksgiving mantle and filled in with silver and gold balls.
Vintage bottle brush and live mini cedar trees in antique cordial glasses finish out the mantle along with collectible ornaments.