DIY Your Décor
These projects are both fun and festive— the perfect addition to any space in your holiday home!
Looking for a way to brighten your home this holiday season? Consider one or all of these delightfully festive DIY projects by the brilliant and creative Summer Hammons of Hammons Nest (hammonsnest.com and @hammonsnest). Just make sure you’ve got a handy cup of Christmas cocoa nearby to enjoy while you work!
Button Wreath Shelf Sitter
What You’ll Need:
- Wood surface
- Wooden buttons
- Muslin fabric
- Burlap ribbon
- Jute twine
- Distressing ink
- Rubber stamps
- Greenery
- 2 rusty bells
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
What You’ll Do:
- Choose a wooden surface to be the background for your button wreath and gather the buttons you’ll want for your collage. Practice a few different layouts to see which one you like the best, making sure to leave space for the label at the bottom. Once you’ve got your layout,
use the hot glue to attach each button. - Use your distressing ink to add shade to the edges of the surface.
- Get your ink, stamps and muslin to create your label. You can stamp any word or words you’d like!
- Attach your label to the bottom of the wood surface with hot glue and let dry.
- Get your rusty bells and string them onto the jute twine, then hot glue
onto the top of the
button wreath. - Layer a piece of burlap over the string of bells at the top with hot glue.
- Use the muslin to make a bow and hot glue to the center of the burlap.
- Hot glue bits of greenery behind the bow.
- Place your mini pinecone at the center of the bow and secure with hot glue.
Framed Cinnamon Stick Christmas Tree
What You’ll Need:
- 8×10 gold picture frame
- 8×10 piece of cardboard
- 8×10 piece of music on cardstock
- Crafting cinnamon sticks
- Wood piece for tree trunk
- Mod Podge decoupage glue
- Cream matte acrylic craft paint
- Rub’nBuff (Antique Gold)
- Rubber glove to apply Rub’nBuff
- Rusty star
- Paintbrushes
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
What You’ll Do:
- Measure your frame and cut the cardstock so that it will fit.
- Apply a generous coat of Mod Podge with a paintbrush to the cardboard and attach the music cardstock.
- Place cardboard into
the frame. - Attach the wood piece for the tree stem with a bit of hot glue.
- Cut the cinnamon sticks carefully to create a triangle tree shape. You’ll need to figure out first how long the bottom piece will be, then cut each piece above progressively shorter in order to create a tree shape.
- Lay out your tree and then attach with hot glue.
- After all your cinnamon sticks are attached, get your rubber glove and paintbrush and apply a bit of antique gold Rub’nBuff to the edges of the cinnamon sticks, trunk and rusty star.
- Attach your rusty star to the top of the tree with
hot glue. - Dab some white paint on the cinnamon sticks, trunk and star to put some “snow” on your tree.
No-Sew Fabric Pocket Christmas Tree
What You’ll Need:
- Christmas tree paper or wooden template (11.5inX10in)
- Fabric for tree
- Burlap for pocket and bow
- Muslin fabric
for pocket - Polyfil
- Rubber stamps
- Black ink
- Marker for tracing
- Pinking shears
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Iron
- Jute twine
- Faux florals and cinnamon stick for pocket fillers
What You’ll Do:
- Iron your fabric for the tree shape.
- Trace the tree template onto the back of the fabric with a marker.
- Trace another tree.
- Cut out the trees with pinking shears.
- Hot glue the trees together with the design facing outwards, making sure to leave enough of an opening at the bottom to stuff with polyfil.
- Stuff the tree with polyfil, pushing it into the corners and top to ensure it is nice and fluffy.
- Once done stuffing, hot glue the opening at the bottom to close it up.
- Cut a piece of burlap and a slightly smaller piece of muslin for the pocket.
- Use the black ink and rubber stamps to add festive words.
- To get a layered look, glue the edges of the muslin to the burlap and hot glue three of the burlap sides to the tree, leaving the top open to fill.
- Take a small piece of pinched or tied burlap and hot glue at the top of
the tree. - Rip a piece of Red Ticking Fabric to create a bow and hot glue onto
the burlap. - Hot glue the rusty bell in the center of the bow.
- Fill the pocket with faux florals, cinnamon sticks or whatever other festive items you want!
Ripped Fabric Christmas Tree
What You’ll Need:
- Base for tree (Summer used a salvaged bun foot from a piece of furniture)
- Wooden dowel (Summer’s dowel was just over 12in)
- Various green fabric to create Christmas tree
- Muslin fabric
- Rubber stamps
- Black ink
- 2 rusty stars
- 2 rusty bells
- Rusty safety pin
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Jute twine
What You’ll Do:
- Cut your dowel to fit your base.
- Make sure there is a hole drilled in the wood base for the dowel.
- Use hot glue to secure the dowel in the hole of the base.
- Rip or cut multiple strips of each fabric about an inch wide. The length doesn’t matter— you’ll cut as you go.
- Tie your first piece of fabric around the dowel, then cut it to the length you want the widest part of your tree to be. Keep tying on fabric pieces, creating a triangle tree form as you get up to the very top. You can trim here and there after you’ve finished. Push the fabric down on the dowel to pack the fabric and make the
tree fuller. - Hot glue two rusty stars together with the tip of the wooden dowel between them.
- Using the jute twine, connect the rusty bells together and tie under the star at the top.
- Use your rubber stamps with black ink and muslin to create your own custom label, then attach to the tree with a rusty safety pin.
