The other day when I was looking for original and different Christmas trees I found a DIY tree on the Nest of Bliss blog that I loved. What most caught my attention was not only its simplicity, but also that it was a recycled christmas tree or with recyclable and environmentally friendly elements.
For the realization of this tree, a cardboard tube and wooden clothespins have been taken as base materials. It seems incredible that with these cheap materials that anyone has at home, you can get such an original and different tree.
This idea served as the basis for creating my own Christmas tree but adapting it to my tastes and to the decoration of my home. For this I used the cardboard tube from a roll of kitchen paper and I also bought some wooden clothespins because the ones I use to hang clothes were in good condition (from now on I will keep them when they break). I also used gray and white acrylic paint, washi tape, and silver glitter.
The first thing I did was place washi tape around the cardboard tube (you can see more ideas to decorate with washi tape here). This way it made the “trunk” of the Christmas tree look better and it was more attractive if you could see a little between the clothespins.
Next I removed the spring from the tweezers and set them aside (I’m already looking for some DIY utility for them), then I gave them a layer of dark gray acrylic paint. My intention when painting the wood of the clothespins with acrylic paint to give it an aged and worn look.
Once the first layer of gray paint was dry (approximately one hour), I applied a second layer of white paint but it was badly applied, revealing parts of gray. I tried to take photos of the wooden clothespins with the first and second coat of paint but the light played tricks on me and it was not well appreciated, so you can see how they turned out in the next step.
To attach the clips to the cardboard tube I used a hot glue gun. As you can see in the image above, I placed them around the tube in rows and at an angle.
Once I reached the top of the tube, I finished off the top with a star that I cut out of silver cardboard. Finally I gave a few touches of silver glitter to the clips and here you can see the final result.
This recycled Christmas tree DIY is very simple, it can be done perfectly in an afternoon with the little ones in the house. It also has the great advantage that it is an idea that admits different interpretations.
For example, you can use chicken wire for the trunk part and place the clips around it, or you can decorate it with satin ribbon or tinsel, and even with the clip springs themselves and finish off the top with a bow. Also, if you don’t feel like painting but you don’t want to leave the wood of the clothespins visible (or you use plastic clothespins), you can decorate it with washi tape in different colors.
You can also make a composition of several trees, from larger to smaller, or the same but in different colors… In short, taking a cardboard tube and clothespins as the base material, you only need to start your creativity to make an original Christmas tree with recycled materials. What did you think of my proposal? Do you dare to do yours?
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