DIY Colorful Wooden Christmas Tree
A simple DIY wooden Christmas tree you can make out of scrap wood in just a couple hours! Customize it however you’d like with your choice of colors to add some fun to your holiday decor
I feel like we haven’t really done as many DIY projects as we have in years past. Typically I’ll do little crafts here and there like a little Christmas matching game or even our pretty popular wood bead garland, but this year has been a wild ride and I haven’t felt as crafty.
But when I decided that I was going to start small and decorate a space for the kids this year to see how I felt about it, I thought I should try my hand at a little something, shall we say, tree shaped?
It only seemed fitting.
However, this wood Christmas tree was not quite as easy as I had hoped for my husband to make. It involved a looooOOoOoot o’ math so I’m going to do my best to make this as easy as possible for you to follow.
As usual, it was harder for us because we had no plans to go off of, but hopefully it won’t be as hard for you.
DIY Wood Christmas Tree
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For reference, our wood Christmas tree is 7″ at the base and 13.5″ tall
- Pre-primed 1×2
- 3/4″ wood craft beads
- Twine
- Craft paint in colors of your choice
- Hot glue gun
- White spray paint
Be warned there’s math ahead, but I promise you I’m going to do what I can to explain it as plainly as possible.
If you’re making a tree exactly like ours, the top where the triangle comes together needs to be a 30 degree angle, which means each triangular side needs to be 15 degrees.
The issue is our saw was not built to cut anything smaller than 30. So my math genius husband cut this scrap piece of 2×4 at a 45 degree angle because he needed to cut each side piece of the wood at a 15 degree angle.
You technically need to set your blade at 75 but you can’t do that.
So when you set your blade at 30 off of the center and then the 45 degree angle jig out of your scrap wood, it makes it cut at 15.
Because 45-30 = 15.
See? MATHHHHHH.
Pop a couple of nails into your 1×2 because you don’t want it to move when you’re cutting it.
You’ll also want to make sure that you use a clamp on your scrap handmade jig because you don’t want it to move in the process either or your angle will be off and it will be a nightmare.
Trust me.
Now it’s time for the moment of truth. Cut your wood and pray it’s right cuz if not…you might cuss a little.
Once your pieces are cut, you’ll want to attach your pieces with nails and/or wood glue.
We used wood glue for the top pieces and then nailed the bottom piece into the side pieces.
Optional step: Fill and sand your nail holes or places where the wood came together. I chose not to do this to keep the “handmade” look.
Pop a coat of spray paint on that bad boy and let it try.
The less math-y, more paint-y part
Here’s where I shine. Menial painting of wooden balls with absolutely no math involved whatsoever.
Well, other than counting.
Choose the 5 paint colors you want to use. If you can’t read the labels here the ones we chose were Pastel Rose, True Red, Sweet Mint, Lily Pad, and Navy Blue.
I decided to paint a total of 30 balls. (Guys. Do you realize how much self control I’m using typing the word balls so much and NOT making jokes? It’s my Christmas gift to you).
The issue with painting these is that you’ve got to find a way to paint them on all sides.
The easiest way to do that is string your balls on twine and hang it somewhere that you can move them and space them out. My place of choice happened to be our clothes drying rack.
You’ll most likely need at least 2 coats for each color, but some did need a third.
I was actually pretty surprised at how quickly these dried. I painted 6 of each color and by the time I got to number 6, number 1 that I painted was nearly completely dry.
Once you have all of your beads painted and they’re dry, remove them from the twine that you had them on while you were painting and thread them all in the order you want them on a new piece of clean twine.
I had a specific order I was following because I wanted to match a garland that you’ll be seeing soon ????
Starting at the top of your tree, hold your twine and hot glue it. This doesn’t have to be pretty.
Continue the trend and alternate your hot glue, adjusting your beads as you go.
Spoiler alert: I painted 30 beads and only used 16. Oh well.
Once you get to the end, you can add your last little bit of hot glue and you’re DONE!
Then you can display it proudly and make it a talking piece and tell people how incredible you are at math!
Also, keep a look out because in a couple of days, you’ll get to see exactly where I chose to put this sweet little Christmas tree decoration!
What I love about this is the ability to be creative and put your own spin on it – you can make it out of pallet wood, you can make it into a cute little advent calendar of some sort or something else to joy up your holiday season!
If you do make it, I’d love to see your own spin on this Christmas tree idea so make sure you tag me on Instagram at @livingletterhome!
