If you're anything like me, you love to deck the halls, but have to do it on a budget. I love seeing outdoor Christmas decor, and want my home to reflect a beautiful, homey Christmas. Now, I am not much for Pinterest projects. I mean, I love spending time looking through them, and then pinning the projects I know I will never actually attempt. Last year, however, I saw the idea for a Tomato Cage Christmas Tree, and thought that it was pretty clever. I have wanted trees out on our porch for a couple of years now, but refuse to spend big bucks on faux mini trees. I knew that these would look adorable out on the porch, but that I would have to recreate them on a strict budget.

Here are the needed supplies for this project...

Tomato cages (one per tree you want to make)

Garland

Mini Lights

Picks/Accents

I already had the tomato cages from using them in the garden, so those were *free.

I bought the garland at Hobby Lobby (on sale for 50% off) and The Dollar Tree. I used 55 feet of garland for each tree. The garland I got from Hobby Lobby was $5.99 for 25 feet (and was half off that price, so $3.00). The garland purchased at Dollar Tree was $1.00 for 15 feet. I wish I had just gone there first! 

I bought the accents for the trees at Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree. The Poinsettias were $5.00/each, but half off, as were the berry picks at $1.50 each). The whispy accents were from Dollar Tree, at $1.00 each.

I purchased the 100 ct. mini lights at Wal-Mart, and they were $2.50/each.

I spent about $20.00 total on this project, and made two trees.

Two tomato cages

Here are my materials spread out on the floor, ready to be crafted!

My tomato cages have seen better days (I have had them for about 4 years!). Some were pretty bent out of shape, so I did my best to re-shape them.

Step 1- Turn the cages upsidedown. Bring the points together to make a triangle. Wrap one end of the garland tightly around the tip, and begin working your way down.

Step 2- Keep wrapping the garland around the cage.

*Take extra care when you get to the rings, so that they are covered, and aren't left exposed. If you miss this, you can always readjust.

Wrap the garland all the way down to the base of the tomato cage, or leave some room at the bottom (like I did), if you plan to tuck your trees into planters.

Step 3- Wrap the lights around the garland.

Step 4- Add accents and embellishments, if you like.

You don't have to add the embellishments, if you don't want to. I wanted mine to have a bit of extra flare, so my son helped my choose these red and deep red accents at the craft store.

We added a large velvety poinsettia at the top of each tree, and then added in some berry sprays.

Light it up to make sure it works, before taking it outside!

Here are my two finished trees. It took about an hour to make both trees.

I really liked the way these turned out, but felt like they could have had more height. Then, I remembered that I purchased the whispy sparkly floral picks from Dollar Tree, so I added one to the side of the top of each tree.

Voila! That did the trick!

I now have two beautiful trees to display on my front porch this holiday season. For about $10.00 per tree, I'd say that it was a pretty great deal, and I'm proud to say that I made them myself. Hmm... what will I find on Pinterest next? Such a dangerous place to spend time!

Since these trees do have embellishments, I would recommend keeping them covered- i.e., display on a porch, or use them indoors. Without the extras, it would be fine to line your front walk or driveway with these, if you want to display a row of them.

Hope you'll give this project a try- you can't really do much to screw up a positive result with this one.