DIY bottlebrush Christmas tree hack

We’re covering our mantles in a rainbow in the form of these DIY Bottle Brush Trees without the bottle brush! We’re talking paper–it’s the ultimate hack!

We are no stranger to the bottle brush trees, in fact last year we dyed up our very own batch, check it out here. Now you might be asking “why are you making MORE bottle brush trees?” To which we would respond “can you ever have enough bottle brush trees?” No, the answer is no you can never have enough. Here’s what we love about this hack. If you don’t have bottlebrush trees sitting around, or an endless supply of dyes, you can use PAPER! It’s all about the range of colors, the ease, and the accessibility. The supplies can be found at any craft or party store, but we also list them online, so this makes them the perfect on a whim holiday decoration project. Scroll down to see just how easy these guys are! 

Materials: 

• Tree template 
• Crepe paper (ours is mostly from Papermart, it’s our favorite and their color selection is endless! You can find them here! Some colors are from Carte Fini)
• Hot glue gun 
• Wooden skewers 
• 1 inch wood rounds 
• Drill 
• 1/8″ drill bit 

Directions: 

1. Print out the template, it comes in three parts so you will need to cut out each piece and then tape it together. 
2. Trace your template onto as many colors of crepe paper as you would like. 
3. Cut out the traced pieces. 
4. Fringe the edge of each one of your crepe paper pieces, make sure you leave at least ¼” edge on them at the top. 
5. Once fringed stretch the piece to its fullest. 
6. Take a wooden skewer and leave anywhere from ½” to 1” at the bottom. 
7. Put a dab of glue on and start winding the piece around the skewer, you’ll want to make sure that some parts are layered twice to create some thickness in the tree. 
8. Wind fringe up toward the top placing glue periodically on the skewer as you place the fringe. 
9. As you get to the top you should be nearing the thin edge of the fringe. 
10. Once you have reached the height you would like your tree to be carefully use a pair of scissors to cut the wood skewer. 
11. To finish, dab a bit of hot glue and wrap the top off with the smallest fringe edge. 

There are so many ways to use them: on the mantle, as a gift topper, or in a little vignette. We turned ours into a cake topper a couple of years ago!

We can’t wait to see your house decked out with colorful trees! Be sure to tag us with #Holidayswithlars