Found idea on Pinterest. Link only goes to photo so as soon as my partner receives her ornament I’ll write out directions.

Directions for Button Tree:
(If you search Pinterest for “button tree” or “button tree ornament” you’ll come up with a ton of results.)

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/252483122832733785/
This link is for something similar to what I’ve just explained, except with pictures. :)

Materials:
Brown and green (varying sizes) buttons
Star button
Durable thread or wire that will fit through button holes
Needle (optional - for threading buttons)

Note: I used mostly 4-hole buttons for my tree, and occasionally 2-hole buttons. The “star” button on my tree, the hole is in the back, but you can find actual star buttons or beads that work nicely as well. I always threaded 2 holes on each button, but that was just a personal preference.

Making Your Tree:
Starting with a brown 2-hole button, thread your wire/thread/yarn through 2 holes. If using a 4-hole button, thread through opposite corners.

Continue stacking buttons on your thread in the same manner. Size of the buttons isn’t too important, I just made sure my brown buttons were smaller than my largest green button.

I used 4 brown buttons for the trunk.

When starting the green part, I put my biggest green button on the bottom and continued to add smaller and smaller buttons until the tree was the size I desired.

Once at the height I wanted, I tied 1 knot in the thread before adding the “star.” (Up until now, I was threading 2 holes on each button, at this point there is only 1 hole to thread through.) I DID NOT thread both sides of my thread through the hole - instead I put one side of the thread through and tied a double knot to keep the star in place.

Then I tied the remainder of my thread into a big loop and a bow (see last photo).

And you are done!

If you’d rather use a ribbon to hang your ornament, you can tie off your thread before the star, and tie a piece of ribbon into the knot - then thread your ribbon through the last bead/button like you would with thread, and tie off a loop at the top.

PM if you have questions and I’ll try to explain better. :)

Obviously my buttons aren’t all the same color green or the same thickness. This is a personal preference - I think varying shades and thickness of the beads makes them a bit more whimsical. I used blue-green, olive, brownish-green, true green, lime, aqua and minty colored greens.

For the trunk I liked a base a little bigger and the rest uniform but you can do whatever you want. And there is absolutely NO REASON your tree can’t be blue, pink, white, yellow, purple, red, etc. Everyone knows the basic shape of a Christmas tree and will know what you’ve made. :) Have fun!!