Kitzmiller - Christmas Tree Book: The Step-By-Step Guide to Buying and Decorating Your Tree with Lighting, Ornaments, Ribbons, and More!

Copyright 2018, 2019 by Cassie Kitzmiller

First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 306 West 37th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Mona Lin

Cover photographs by RAZ Imports

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-5210-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-5211-5

Printed in China

Contents

Lets Get Decorating

W elcome to The Christmas Tree Book! I am so excited that you have decided to join me on a journey to designing your best-looking Christmas tree ever! If you are reading this, it is safe to assume that you love all things Christmas, and you are in good company. Christmas is a magical season where friends, family, and loved ones gather to share old stories and make new memories around the very special heart of the holiday homethe Christmas tree. My hope is for this book to become a reference tool that you can come back to time and time again as you decorate your own Christmas tree through the years.

Throughout the book, I compare designing your tree to creating a beautiful piece of art. Just as a beautiful piece of art can anchor a room and add life and beauty to a space, a Christmas tree adds a special kind of magic to any room it graces. This book will walk you through the materials and techniques needed to bring your masterpiece to fruition. Just as there are a million different styles of art and many different creation techniques, there are also many different styles of Christmas trees and endless decorating techniques.

There is truly no wrong way to decorate a beautiful tree, and I trust that you will be able to find tips and techniques in this book that will inspire you to design your best-looking tree yet. So, whether you like a tree loaded with gilt and glitter from top to bottom or you like a simpler tree featuring special family ornaments, I encourage you to grab your copy of the Custom Christmas Tree-Decorating Checklist located in the back of this book and online at: www.findingbeautyintheeveryday.com/checklist, grab a big mug of hot cocoa, and get to planning your best-looking Christmas tree ever!

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

Charles Dickens from A Christmas Carol

T he Christmas season is truly the most magical time of the year, and I am here to guide you through the tips and techniques required to decorate the star of your Holiday home, the Christmas tree. So many of our Holiday festivities, favorite memories, and special times are centered around the Christmas tree, and as such, it should be given the royal treatment it deserves!

If you are looking for a One-Stop Shop on decorating a beautiful, designer-quality Christmas tree, then you have come to the right place! In the following chapters, I will guide you step by step through selecting your design, choosing a tree, maximizing your lights, and planning the exact steps and materials you need to create a custom, one-of-a-kind Christmas tree.

With the skills you gain from this book, you will be able to decorate your tree faster and with greater ease, and your end results will have your friends and family saying, Wow!

Before I get into all of the tips and techniques that you will implement to create your best Christmas tree ever, let me introduce myself.

My name is Cassie and I will be your personal Tree-Decorating Elf throughout this book. At only five feet tall, and with over ten years of professional Christmas tree-decorating experience, I am just grateful that I dont have pointy ears or people may really start to wonder!

I started in the Christmas business while I was still in college, majoring in Interior Design. I marched into our local design store and boldly asked for a job with no prior design experience and little education under my belt. My mentor and fellow business partner, Marty, took a risk and hired me for my first Design job, which was exceptionally glamorousunpacking boxes in the stock room and cleaning the store.

From those humble beginnings I worked my way into other positions in the store and soon began helping decorate the Christmas trees during the busy Holiday season. Something clicked for me while I was decorating the trees, and I really began to throw myself into the process of designing beautiful trees with unique elements and features.

Customers soon requested my help in designing trees in their own homes with my unique touches and ideas. This experience really fueled my creativity and clarified the many styles and personalities available in the Christmas tree market. During this time, I was also attending Buyers Markets twice a year and taking classes from some of the top designers in the field in order to continue to hone my skills and gain new ideas.

Fast-forward a couple years, and I was given the opportunity to join with other like-minded business women, opening a year-round Christmas store! My role in the new store was tree design, and I was able to decorate, sell, and then redecorate Christmas trees all day long, all year long! I was in Christmas heaven! The Christmas store opened the door to more decorating clients, and I found myself decorating Christmas trees nonstop, from the middle of October through the middle of December.

I have now been decorating Christmas trees for over ten years and for hundreds of clients. During this journey I have picked up some valuable skills and techniques that make decorating a beautiful Christmas tree fast and easy, and the results are truly one-of-a-kind.

Several times a season, I have the opportunity to teach decorating classes on tree design. After class, I am always approached by people thanking me for the information, and they always say the same thing: I never knew there was so much to learn about decorating my tree! That is the motivation for this book, to help others learn the ins and outs of decorating a beautiful tree for themselves and their families.