Try This: Rock Christmas Tree

Enlarge Image Image Gallery In the spirit of British environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy, these little stone cairns artfully allude to the holiday tree and are a natural meditation on the beautiful form of the much-loved evergreen.

No matter what holiday traditions grace your home, the Christmas tree plays an abiding, central role. Whether or not you opt for a ten-foot blue spruce in the living room, you may also invoke the spirit of the holiday tree beautifully, playfully, and compactly in any corner of your house. We used stones and funnels to make our whimsical trees, but anything that steps down in size and stacks up in height would work. A little imagination goes a long way.

Rock Christmas Trees

1. Find flat stones that descend in size from large to small.

2. Soften beeswax by working it with your fingers and flatten it into small disks. We used colored beeswax (available in craft stores) in Christmas red to amplify the holiday theme.

3. Use the beeswax between each stone as you stack them, pressing firmly as you go. Top with a small sphere of beeswax.

Funnel Christmas Trees

Kitchen funnels in descending size make adorable trees. We topped ours with a beer-bottle top and a shiny brass washer, drilled through, and attached with wire.