Dreaming of a white Christmas? A flocked tree may be for you.
Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas + Trends for 2023
Each year, I eagerly anticipate coming up with a new theme for our Christmas tree. Sometimes it’s subtle changes from the year before, other times it’s a completely different look and feel. Finding inspiration is the first step in this process, and it’s a task I always look forward to.
While researching new ideas this year, I came across many styles and trends that I thought would be fun to share for anyone else looking for spark their creativity. Here my favorite Christmas tree decorating ideas and trends for 2023:
Warm Neutrals
The neutral home aesthetic has carried over into holiday decor, and there’s no sign of it slowing down. Shades of gold, brown and ivory are mixed with organic textures to achieve this popular look.
Get the look with wood bead garlands, velvet ribbon, paper ornaments, and natural woven textures in a muted, earthy palette.
If you want a tree that’s simple yet sophisticated with a warm and cozy feel—these neutral trees have got it covered.
Vintage Inspired Christmas
The holidays are a time for nostalgia and old family traditions. Growing up, our tree was full of handmade clay, paper and wood ornaments—each one with a story.
While our tree typically follows a specific theme, I always leave room for some “fun” ornaments that my daughter chooses and helps place on the tree.
There’s something charming and nostalgic about mismatched ornaments collected throughout the years. Reminiscing on the good old days will never go out of style, so go ahead and embrace those sentimental homemade ornaments.
There aren’t many rules with this decorating style, so let the kids get involved and just have fun! You can’t overdo it, so pull all of the ornaments out of storage and load up that tree.
Here are the steps you can take to paint trees with watercolor:
This is my painting palette: Da Vinci Prussian Blue, Sap Green, Cadmium Yellow; Daniel Smith Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Holbien Horizon Blue and Permanent red.
My first step was to preserve white areas in the trees with masking fluid. The painting also has a lot of tiny light yellow areas, I did paint those ones, let them dry and then masked them also.
Masking areas painted with light yellow. I am using a silicon brush to apply the masking fluid. It is very convenient as once dry, you can just peel off the masking fluid off the brush.
I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.
Colour Shapers Tools
I am painting the foliage wet in wet letting the colors mix on the paper, leaving the trunk areas unpainted.
I am painting the trees trunks by layering colors I start with a yellow layer ( a mix of cadmium yellow and yellow ocher)
I paint all the trunks with that yellow mix, and then let the yellow layer dry. When you are layering watercolors, you want to avoid lifting up the pigments from the previous layer. So it is better to use a very light hand and a soft brush. You also want to wait for each layer to be very dry before painting the next one.
Then I paint a red layer once the yellow has thoroughly dried. Mixing yellow red and blue watercolors will produce different shades of brown.
Then a few layers of blue. With blue watercolor, you don’t need much paint to shift the orange color of the trees to a brown color as blue is a very intense pigment. So it is better to start with very light washes as it is always easier to add more color than to take color off the paper.
I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.
Yarka St. Petersburg Professional Watercolor Pans
I keep on adding layers until I am satisfied with the colors
Time for splashing with a mix of Prussian and Horizon Blue and White China
I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.
