My mom has been looking high and low for a Christmas card holder. It’s been really hard to find them this year for some reason. So, I decided to be a good little elf and make her one.
Here’s what I came up with:
Cute, huh? What was that? You want me to show you how I did it?
Okay! Not too difficult, you can probably look at it and figure it out.
But I’ll show you anyway. 🙂
Here’s what you’ll need:
For the body, I used these pieces of molding I found at Michaels. Each piece is three feet. (I used two for the body and one for the trunk.)You could use anything similar that lies flat including lattice, yard sticks, etc. The embossed pieces were $3.99 each (I used a 50% off coupon on each:) and the flat piece was $2.29.
- Star topper- I found this at Michaels for 99 cents.
- Over-the-door wreath hanger
- Spray paint
- Mini clothes pins- a pack of 50 was 1.69 at Walmart.
- Wood glue
- Wire (I used green floral wire-it’s what I had on hand/not pictured)
- Gold metallic paint-optional
- Miter saw ( I call it a chop-saw) or miter box and hand saw
- Patience
First, you will need to cut your pieces for the branches of your tree. You will cut seven pieces in the following lengths:
4″, 6″, 8″, 10″, 12″, 14″, and 16″
Lay out your pieces. I centered my “branches” on the trunk with 3″ between each. Then I drew a pencil mark on either side of each branch.
Add a bit of wood glue in between each pencil mark and attach your branches. Allow to dry for about 20 minutes or so.
Now you can add your mini clothes pins…I found it easier to use a small paint brush to apply the wood glue to each clothes pin.
Using wood glue, add your star topper or whatever you have chosen to top your tree. You could use an angel, a bow, a cute sign…whatever you find that you like. Allow to dry about 20 minutes.
Spray paint!
Patience…waiting in between each step is like waiting for white out to dry isn’t it? Sometimes I have a hard time being patient!
I gave mine two coats of paint.
After I was done patiently waiting for my paint to dry, I dry brushed gold paint across the finish to add a bit of shimmer.
To hang, I attached my tree to an over-the-door wreath hanger which I had straightened out. I attached it with wire and wrapped tightly securing in the back. I was not able to get the hanger completely straight and it left this annoying curve behind. But, alas, that is what stops the hanging from sliding right out! Perfectly imperfect. 🙂
I was pushing to finish this to give to my mom. If I had more time to work on it, I would have found a better way to secure the hanger to the back probably with a small screw somehow. But this worked so I went with it.
Here you can see the star painted and the shimmer that the gold paint added:
And here it is again…very cute! I like the simplicity of it. You could take it further and add a few gold buttons to the star or a meaningful word maybe or even a sprig of greenery.
I like the idea that it can hang over a door. I was hanging it all over the place wondering why I didn’t make myself one! Here I hung it over a metal grate that is hung beside our window. (Anyone want to come over and clean my windows??)
The total out of pocket cost for this project was $8.96 since I already had the paints, wire, wreath hanger and wood glue on hand. Not too shabby.
And my Mom loved it!
Update 2015: Here’s another I made for a friend:
I think I need to break down and make one for me too!
XO,
Don’t Miss a Thing!
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Jeannie Panza says
OMG you are so talented!!!! I want to be you!!!!! Love, Love, Love all the things you do. You could make big bucks! I really need some girl time with you! Miss ya’ bunches!
Christy K. James says
Why, thank you! As one of my favorite pins reads: “You make me smile all over my face!”
Jeannie Rudman says
will you make me one? I would like to purchase one from you…please…..
call me and I will come pick it up and pay you – I can’t find one I love
Jeannie
Christy K. James says
Sure I can! Do you want it to look just like the original? Text me 🙂
Maxine says
Ok. So now I will have to consider making one of these for each of my daughters. Shame on you for giving me another thing to add to my get er done list. : )
Christy K. James says
Lol! It will be a fun project:)
Carol Leslie says
Your talent amazes me! I love everything that you do! Have a blessed day.
Christy K. James says
Thanks so much for the lovely comment, Carol! You made my day 🙂