Many thanks to Jackie McAvoy for sharing this great way to use some olive prunings to make a christmas (or other) decoration.

To make a little olive tree:

You need lots of twigs, more and less the thickness of a pencil (the branches), one straight thin twig about 25cm long (the trunk) and then, for the base, a chunkier section about 4cm wide.

You also need a pair of secateurs (for the branches), a saw (for the base) and a drill with a thin bit. I didn’t use any glue.

Simply drill a hole in the centre of the base first and push in the long thin twig (trunk) so that it fits snugly and stays upright. Then drill holes into the pencil sized twigs and slip these down the trunk. Don’t worry too much about the length of these (mine are 13-14cm long at the base), they can be shortened later.

It helps if you can support the branches while drilling their holes, either a friendly helper or a vice. Have plenty spare!

Build up the tree starting with the slightly thicker ones and voila! ready to decorate or leave plain as you wish.

Let’s see what you can do 😉

Jackie lives at Casa Azul (purchased via Pure Portugal!) and you can read her fabulous blog all about her life there, at http://globalwanderings.co.uk/test/