Have you been to your local Starbucks lately? I have! (about 2-3 times a day, lol) and when I was there the other day I was oogling one of their new Christmas decorations, do you know the one I'm talking about? It's a tree made of light blue paper, wire, and tiny mirrors. I picked it up, examined it, and thought, I CAN DO THIS! I went to M's looking for supplies that would work, and luckily found suitable substitutes for things I could not find (a metal base for the tree, for example).

I purchased some VERY expensive paper for this project (Heidi Grace glitter embossed paper at $3.25 a sheet), clear opalescent snowflakes, got my glue gun out, and started cutting, gluing, and consequently burning myself. OUCH!

I cut strips of 12x1.5 from my 12x12 paper, then cut those strips down to 1x1.5. I folded a little flap over, applied hot glue, and pressed it to the cone. I started at the bottom, and worked my way to the top, not worrying too much about it being symmetrical, but making sure to hide the styrofoam base.
The base is a tiny terra cotta pot that I painted with white acrylic paint, covered in glitter, and embossed with UTEE. It has this really cool frosted glass look. I then glued it to the bottom of the cone.

To finish of the tree I glued the plastic snowflakes on with the hot glue in random places.

All in all this was an expensive project ($6.50 for the cone, approx. $6 for the paper, $7 for the snowflakes), but I know where I can cut expenses if I will replicate this for gifts. I encourage you all to try this, it's an AWESOME look. THANK YOU STARBUCKS MERCHANDISING PEOPLE!!!!

Supplies: Paper: Heidi Grace; Snowflakes (Dress it Up); Styrofoam, terracotta pot, glue gun (Michaels).