I’m excited to be participating with 30 other bloggers to bring you 30 Days of Homemade Kid Christmas Ornaments. During the month of November, a new ornament tutorial will be shared each day by one of the 30 bloggers that are kid and family friendly.
Rustic Tree Popsicle Stick Ornament Tutorial
My kids are in their teens, so my ornament craft is geared for kids that are a little older. But don’t let that stop you from creating this Rustic Tree Popsicle Stick Ornament with the younger crowd. Just make sure there is an adult present to help with the harder portions of the tutorial.
It’s so hard to find crafts that are geared towards the tween/teen crowd and I was so excited that my girls wanted to help create these ornaments. We had so much fun that we created three different Rustic Popsicle Stick Tree Ornaments and plan on making more! Two were made with large popsicle sticks and one with regular popsicle sticks. Although, for the sake of this tutorial I will focus on creating the base of the tree using large popsicle sticks. I’ll let you decide on how to decorate your popsicle stick tree, but give suggestions at the bottom of the post for decorations.
Supplies:
- 6 – Large popsicle sticks
- 1 – Wooden Star – 1 1/4″
- Hot glue gun/glue sticks
- Exacto knife or mini saw
- Ruler
- White glitter
- Ribbon or string
- Paint – green, brown, yellow or red
- Paint brushes
- Mod Podge
- Pencil
- Sandpaper – fine grit
- Various decorations to decorate the tree (optional as you can use paint to decorate the tree)
Instructions:
Cut popsicle sticks (an adult should do this portion):
For the stem – cut the tip off the stick so that it measures approximately 5 5/16″.
For the base – cut one stick into a 2″ length and 3″ length
For the branches – you will need to cut four sticks. Each stick will be cut into a different length of 2 1/2″, 3 1/2″, 4 1/2″, and 5 1/4″.
To cut the sticks, I used an Exacto knife and ruler to score the sticks several times. I then pressed on the score lines to break the sticks on the lines. Use a pencil to label the sticks so you know where it goes. Cut all the sticks before moving on to the next step.
Here is where my girls jumped. They painted all the pieces for the ornament – green for the branches, brown for the stem and base, and yellow for the star. Paint the front and back of each piece and let it dry.
Distress the popsicles with a fine grit sandpaper to remove some of the paint.
Glue the base pieces together. Use a large glob of glue to attach the trunk to the base. Hold the trunk onto the base until the glue is able to hold the trunk in place.
Glue the ornament loop on and place the star on top. We were so excited to finish these oraments that we forgot to put the loop on…don’t forget to add the loop BEFORE you glue the star on! Next glue down all of the branches. Let dry.
Paint Mod Podge around the base of the trunk and star. Sprinkle white glitter glue onto the Mod Podge. Shake off the excess. You can leave the ornament as-is or decorate with your chosen decorations.
Decorate the Rusitc Tree Popsicle Stick Ornament (Optional):
If making this with younger kids, substitute hot glue with regular craft glue.
Suggestions for tree decorations:
- self adhesive cork
- paper punch
- embroidery floss
- mini pom poms
- mini buttons
- stickers
- paint
- sequins
- paper
- tissue
- glitter
To decorate this tree, my girls used a strand of embroidery floss and glued it in a zig-zag pattern onto the front of the tree. Next, they used a paper punch on a self-adhesive roll of cork and pressed it onto the tree. Super simple!
We needed a tree with snow and used white paint on the tops of each branch. Let the paint dry. Add Mod Podge over the white paint and sprinkle glitter onto it. Shake off excess and let dry. Glue mini buttons onto the branches.
This tree was made with regular sized popsicle sticks. A Happy Holidays sticker was used to decorate the tree.
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! How would you decorate your Rustic Tree Popsicle Stick Ornament?
Visit the 2015 Ornament Exchange for even more ornament tutorials and crafts. Over 80+ bloggers have joined together to exchange ornaments and share their tutorials and ornament shopping trips.
Oh I love this! After reading all these ornament exchange ideas I’m a bit fearful to get anywhere near the craft store; my cart is going to be overflowing! Pinned.
I adore Christmas ornaments, especially crafts. I just had to pin this idea, it is so cute.
These are adorable! I love that they are kid ornaments that don’t look like kid ornaments.
What a cute idea! I am loving the rustic look this holiday season. Thanks for sharing on the Sunday Blog Hop 🙂
This is just perfect for kids activity! Adorable ornaments and creative. Thank you for the tutorial!
I love this. We definitely be making some for our tree this year!
Congratulations, you are being featured in this week’s
Mini Round Up!
Have an awesome day!
Joanita
Thank you for including me 🙂
I absolutely love these! So very creative and adds to your Christmas tree! Thanks so much for sharing!
Erlene, these are so adorable! What a fun family craft this would be. Appreciate you linking up your project with us at Snickerdoodle Sunday! Have a great week. Pinning 🙂
Hi, Erlene ~ These ornaments are so cute! And I could see my kids making them (they’re teenagers). :0) I love the gold garland on the middle one and the snow at the bottom of the trunks. Such lovely details!
This ornament is all sorts of adorable! Love it so much. Definitely adding it to my list of homemade ornaments to make with my kiddos.
What a great project. We could make these with the kids and have them give them to their grandparents as gifts!
I love handmade things but I am not very good at them. I really like how nicely you laid this out. I actually think I could do this! This would make great gifts for the families of my kids’ friends.
🙂
Traci
What a fun project to make for the kids. This is the kind of keepsake you keep long after their grown too. 🙂
I really like how your ornament has come out. We will be making this real soon!
Oh my goodness, Erlene! These are adorable. They look like mini pallets! Love them!
That looks so cute and so simple! Would be a great craft for school!
I love DIY ornaments. I think the middle one is my favorite- I love the rustic look of all of them.
Oh I love this. The colors you used were perfect! The button ornaments are too cute!
What a cute idea! It’s so simple and so pretty!
Those turned out really cute. My kids made these ornaments a few years ago, we still hang them on our tree!
This is a great DIY project. I would use it to decorate my Home Office Desk .. I actually do have all these things to make it
This is an adorable idea for the kids to make for Christmas!
Wow! I absolutely love this! Now my head is spinning if how I can do something similar with my girls!!!!
This is such a cute and creative idea. I will have to do this with my niece and nephew.
Well isn’t this just the cutest holiday craft! I know my daughter would enjoy this so much.
They’re gorgeous. The rustic look is key. I can see my kids wanting to do neon green otherwise. We’ll be doing these – thanks!
This will be fun to make with my kids. So cute!
These are so adorable and easy to make. I keep looking for a craft to do with my nephew and niece this season. Too cute. – Katy
Love this! My oldest made a similar craft when she was younger and we still have it. Such a sweet keepsake and easy for little fingers to do 🙂
Oh, I love it! I just love rustic ornaments and I do want to make some of these for my tree. It’s the prettiest ornament I’ve ever seen made from popsicle sticks! Wow!
This is so cute! I’d make enough branches to write all the names of my grandchildren on them. I think I actually do have some popsicle sticks in my stash too! So many good DIY ornament ideas right now!
What a cute idea this is. I want to make some with my boys 🙂 Love these.