It happens every year, you get out the mini lights that were in working order when you put them away last Christmas and now only half of the string works.  I have never had success installing the fuse that is included in the set to make it magically work again.  When this idea popped in my head I thought at  least this mini light set wouldn’t go completely to waste!

This craft is so simple I imagine it could be a fun family craft.  You can make a wire tree like I did or simply draw a tree using my wire tree as a pattern on pretty Christmas themed scrapbook paper.  I used a 10 x 10 gallery wrapped canvas covered  with some pretty Christmas scrapbook paper and covered the wrapped edge in complimentary washi tape.

Click and print:

 

If you want to make a wire tree, cut 8 pieces of wire 9″ long.  Gather them tightly and pull individual pieces, wrapping the wire tightly around the stem where you pull each piece at a 90 degree angle to start the wrap for each limb.  This tree would look just as cute if the tree was drawn on the paper in felt pen or glitter glue.

Gather 28 mini lights and apply glue to the plug in of each mini light and cover with green glitter.  Set aside to completely dry.

After the glue is dry, use a dab of hot glue to secure each mini light to the canvas.

I added a silver star to finish the tree top and some pretty table confetti snowflakes to finish the Christmas theme.  This piece will be a nice addition to my First Saturday ArtWalk in December where the theme will be: “It’s a One Of A Kind Christmas.”