Fun Christmas Crafts: A Cityscape Tree Skirt

Making a Christmas tree skirt is a simple and fun craft that you can do with your family during the holiday season.

There is no reason whatsoever to go to the store to purchase a tree skirt because you can make your own knock-out fabulous Christmas tree skirt right at home with some materials from your local crafts store. A cityscape theme looks great because it is glitzy, just like a Christmas tree is. You can make one for yourself, and you can also make some as gifts for your city-dwelling friends and family, or the ones who long for the thrill of city life! The Christmas season and the city are a match made in heaven, after all - the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, the Radio City Christmas show, the best shopping spots in the world! If you have children, let them get involved with this fun Christmas craft - they'll have a blast! Here's what you'll need:

- One circular 4ft. in diameter piece of solid-colored felt fabric (in the color of your choice; keep in mind that this will be the background color for your cityscape)

- Gold and silver glitter

- Star and moon stencils

- Glue

- Tassels (in the color of your choice; you need enough tassels to line the perimeter of your 4ft. piece of felt)

- Silver and gold star-shaped buttons

- A needle and thread

- Scissors

- Silver and gold fabric paint

- Several pieces of felt in an array of colors (these will be used to create the building in your cityscape)

Directions:

1. Fold the 4ft. circular piece of felt in half, and cut a circular hole in the center that is large enough to wrap around the base of your Christmas tree.

2. Unfold the 4ft. circular piece of felt, and cut an opening into the now ring-shaped piece of felt so that it will be able to wrap around your Christmas tree.

3. Cut your remaining felt pieces into the shapes of buildings. Some should be short, some should be tall; you could shape one like the empire state building, or you could shape one into the statue of liberty.

4. Glue your felt buildings around the perimeter of your large felt circle to create your skyline cityscape theme.

5. Outline felt buildings with the silver and gold fabric paint, alternating silver and gold from one building to the next.

6. Use your gold and silver fabric paint and stencils to draw stars and a moon onto your cityscape, above the buildings.

7. Once the fabric pain has dried, fill it in the stars and move on with glue, and then sprinkle silver and gold glitter over the glue.

8. Once the glitter and glue has dried, take your tree skirt outside and shake all of that excess glitter off.

9. Use a needle and thread to sew your silver and gold star-shaped buttons onto your tree skirt, above the buildings. By using both star-shaped buttons and the puff paint and glitter stars, you are giving your tree skirt a more textured look.

10. To complete your masterpiece, use a needle and thread to sew the tassels around the perimeter of your tree skirt.

© Demand Media 2011