This is an easy and frugal gift, you can use and scraps of fabric you have around, cuttings from old clothes, or look for bargains on fabric (I buy mine at Wal-Mart for $1.00 yard) I think muted or antiqued colors with a little red and green work best.
You need fabric cut into 1 inch strips (I use pinking sheers but you can just tear)
1 clay pot,
1 thin 1/16 or so dowel rod (Cut 8-10 inches plus the depth of your pot.
Little pebbles or stone,
Plaster of Paris,
Place the dowel rod in your pot, in the middle and add rocks, pour a little prepared plaster over the rocks and allow enough time to dry, (20 minutes or so ), Now tie the strips to the dowel using just one knot, start with strips in length equal to the diameter of your pot or slightly bigger, Decrease the size of the strips as you ties on up the dowel, this will give the tree shape. If at the end you haven't got a good shape simply trim some of the strips. Add a yellow wooden painted star (With a 1/16 th hole drilled in it ) to the top, you can also cut 2 stars out of tin or fun foam, face together and glue.

by Lori