Easy Tassel Christmas Tree Art DIY Craft

I absolutely love quaint and rustic Christmas decorations. And there is something so comforting about a home filled with traditional Christmas colors when December nears. Pair rustic style and red, green, and gold and you’ve got a winning combination for some gorgeous Christmas décor.

Today we’re taking very inexpensive items to make a really fabulous sign you can hang or prop up against the wall on a mantle or buffet. The tassels themselves take a little bit of time to create but this is a great little project to keep your hands busy while you start watching Hallmark Christmas movies!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Wood Sign
• Yarn (We used Impeccable from Michael’s in Gold, Cherry, and Kelly Green )
• Natural Wood Sticks
• Craft Acrylic Paint

TOOLS NEEDED:

• Hot Glue Gun
• Sharp Scissors

How to Make Tassels

You need an item similar in height to the size of the tassel you want. Typically a gift card works really well for small tassels (ours are 2.25″) but I’m using a piece of flooring sample from the hardware store. You can also use a book or any item that you can make work. We’re going to call whatever you’re using your “tassel maker”.

At the top of your tassel maker hold in place a piece of yarn that is approximately 4-6″. Wrap around the tassel maker and the yarn across the top 12-13 times (or longer for a more full tassel).

Take the piece of yarn across the top of your tassel maker and tie in a tight, overhand knot twice.

Using very sharp scissors, cut the yarn along the bottom of the tassel maker.

Take a small piece of yarn (3-4″) and tie simple overhand knots around the tassel about 0.25-0.5″ down from the top twice.

For each large tree, you will need 19 tassels. For each small tree, you will need 9 tassels.

Quick Tip – When making tassels use the yarn as it wraps around your skein of yarn rather than pulling it from the center. The yarn in the center tends to be more coiled up and gives you some crazy-looking tassels. Both tassels above were made with the same skein of yarn. The tassel on the right was pulled from the center and looks really wonky.

Using the Tassels to Make Festive Tassel Art

For the tree stumps, I used twigs I cut from my garden. You can also purchase twigs at craft stores, or you can use dowels if you don’t mind a more uniform look.

If your wood stems are very similar in shade to your wood sign paint them with craft acrylic paint so they stand out.

Decide where you would like your tree to be and mark it with a pencil. Once you glue down tassels, they’re hard to get back up again so this graphite guide is a good idea to avoid mistakes.

First, glue the twig into place along the bottom of the sign. For small trees, next glue 5 tassels together placing them very close so that they make a full, arched shape. Your middle layer will consist of 3 tassels and the top one single tassel.

For larger trees from the bottom up, your tree will have 6 tassels, 5 tassels, 4 tassels, 2 tassels, and 1 tassel. And feel free to experiment with other sizes!

Once the glue has been set trim your yarn as needed for a neat appearance.

Allison

A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.