DIY Rustic Mini Christmas Tree Ornaments

The Process

Tools

• Glue gun
• Pliers
• Scissors

Supplies

• Glue sticks
• Floral wire (or ornament hangers)
• White rocks
• Clear flat glass marbles
• Red berry bush picks
• Iced branch picks
• Pine cone floral picks
• Craft sticks
• Rope or Twine
• Metal trash can or plastic tub
• Brown paper or white felt

Prepare the Floral Picks

Some of the greenery and ornaments that came with the floral picks weren’t quite the style that I was trying to achieve, so the first step was to remove those items. Floral bushes are typically several picks that are taped together with floral tape. It’s easy to cut the floral tape with scissors, peel it off and then reassemble the pieces that you want to keep. Or, you can just pull off the parts that you don’t want.

Make the DIY Ornaments

Load the hot glue gun with a glue stick and allow it to heat up while you make the ornament hooks. To create the ornament hooks, use the cutting pliers to cut the floral wire into approximately two to two-and-a-half-inch sections. Shape one end of the wire into a hook using your finger or pliers.

Select the rocks that you would like to use for your ornaments. The bags of white stones contain an interesting variety of shapes. I picked through them and chose shapes that had a flat back to make it easier to glue the wire onto the rock.

Using the hot glue gun, squeeze a small drop of hot glue onto the back of one of the stones. Holding the hook end of the wire, gently lay the straight end into the hot glue. The glue gets very hot, so the goal here is to not burn oneself. I found that the hook end needed a bit of support while the glue was drying. Hold the hook end up until the glue is set.

Make the Twine Garland

Unroll enough twine or rope from the roll to wind around the tree from top to bottom. I like to have enough garland to drape between the branches. If you like that look also, then you’ll want to add about twelve more inches to make sure that you have enough to achieve that look.

If you’re using smaller clumps of twine, then you can bring the edges together and either tie them or tape them together with satin tape.

Make the Star

The craft sticks that I used to make the star for the top of the tree have squared-off edges. Using your scissors, cut the rounded edges off to a square end. You could also shape the ends to come to a point, which would be very pretty.

Lay out three wood sticks to create a start shape. Cut about twelve inches of floral wire from the roll. Fold the floral wire in half to find the center. Unfold the floral wire and lay it across the star. Lift the star and wrap the floral wire several times between the six points of the star to keep the points in place.

Once the points are secured, twist the wire snugly against the back of the star several times. Don’t cut off the excess wire, because that’s what you will use to tie the star onto the tree.

Decorate the Tree

Now that you have created your mini ornaments, it’s time to decorate that tree! I like using this cute bucket that I found at Hobby Lobby years ago. I didn’t see anything like it at Hobby Lobby or Dollar Tree, but this plastic tub would also work.

I stuff brown paper around the bottom of the tree to fill in a bit and keep the tree from wobbling. You could also use some white felt to make it look like snow.

Once the tree is in place, I like to start decorating by inserting the berry, pine, and icicle picks. I find it’s easier to fill in the big gaps first and helps with placing the rest of the ornaments later.

Next, I wrap the garland around the tree, adding a few dips to help it look natural.

Then, I place the rock and marble ornaments, filling in any spots that need a little bit of sparkle. Finally, I top off the tree by tying the star on the top with the floral wire on the back of the star.

DIY Mini Christmas Ornaments Takeaways

Now turn on the lights, step back and admire your beautiful rustic Christmas tree!

And in case you were wondering, these ornaments held up quite well in storage. I wrapped everything in tissue paper and then inside zippered plastic bags. I tucked the plastic bags inside the cardboard box with the Christmas tree. This made decorating so much easier this year!

Now I have an itch to add some mini orange slices to the tree. I’ll let you know how that goes. Make sure to sign up so that you receive an email when that post is published. In the meantime, check out this post where I transformed cabinet doors into fabric-covered bulletin boards.

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Making my own ornaments and decorations out of inexpensive materials brought me great joy. There’s something very satisfying about creating beauty out of a hodgepodge of things and sharing it with loved ones. I hope that you find joy in crafting and your own Christmas this year. I would love to hear about your Christmas crafting adventures in the comments!