Coastal Branch Tree for Christmas

I have seen some beautiful Christmas themed twig trees, driftwood trees and trees made from sticks over the past couple of years. I’ve gone with a rustic coastal look in my house and wanted to create a coastal branch tree to hang on the wall. I decided that this Christmas I would do it. I have to say though, while I was outside collecting branches for my project, I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.

Coastal Branch Tree for Christmas

I love how this branch tree turned out, but I can’t remember the last time I had so many mishaps with a single project. It looks pretty easy, doesn’t it? That’s what I thought too. And really, it was pretty easy in concept, but when working by yourself with something that’s sizable and tricky to maneuver, it can be challenging at best.

Related – be sure to try my sea glass Christmas trees and these beach sign ornaments as well!

Before I take you through all the frustrations I encountered during the making of this tree, I want to say that you should not be discouraged from making something similar. Instead, takes my tips to heart and learn from my mistakes so that you won’t have to do this over again as I did.

I actually bought a couple boxes of white lights that I was going to add to this tree, but honestly after what I went through I was ecstatic just to get it on the wall without it falling off. So it’s staying there until Christmas is over. No lights (maybe next year).

I’m not sure why my branch tree was “chosen” as the project from Hell, but so many things went wrong:

1. When connecting the twine to each branch, I started knotting them and then thought it would be faster just to wrap and glue the twine. I was wrong and realized it wasn’t going to hold. Unfortunately, I had already hot glued the twine to all the branches and had to remove it all and start over. Luckily that was the only problem I had with the actual assembly of the tree itself.
2. I needed small ornaments. I found a package at Hobby Lobby that were the perfect size. When I got them home and pulled the hangers off to add paint inside, I found that they had the tiniest opening EVER invented. Therefore I couldn’t just squeeze the paint from the bottle into the ornaments. I needed a different solution. I had to use watered down paint fed into an icing tip using a plastic spoon. I went through an entire package of baby wipes in the process because it just didn’t want to work. I finally got a flow going, but it took me over an hour to get them done. And what a mess! Plus I didn’t use plastic friendly paint inside the ornaments so I will probably have to redo them or replace them next year. Not smart from the woman who gives advice on how to paint on plastic!
3. When done with the ornaments, I carried them upstairs from the craft room. And of course, I was trying to carry too much (two paint palettes full or freshly painted ornaments, my glue gun, a package of starfish, some lace and a couple other things) so disaster was sure to strike. When I got to the top of the stairs and entered the kitchen, one of the ornaments shifted and I jerked to try and catch it. Half of them fell, splattering paint all over my hardwood floor and kitchen cabinets. The paint came flying out of the hanger opening at the top of the ornaments. Acrylic paint dries FAST so I was on my hands and knees working feverishly to clean it up! Thank goodness these ornaments are plastic and at least I didn’t have to clean up broken glass.
4. When all the paint splattered in the kitchen, paint got on the best big starfish I had (for the top of the tree). I did have more luckily, but had to use the second best one.
5. After gluing all the ornaments in place I needed to hang the tree so I could tie the fishing line in the back. I stood on a chair in the dining room and proceeded to try and hang it from my curtain rod. Of course, it didn’t work and the tree went crashing to the ground. I literally CRIED when I was on my hands and knees a second time cleaning paint that went from one end of my dining room to the other when three of the ornaments came apart from their hangers. Acrylic paint was all over my floor, baseboards, chair legs, etc.
6. In total I dropped this poor branch tree three times, losing bits and pieces of bark along the way, creating several messes to clean up.
7. I also accidentally broke half of my small starfish. I knocked the entire little basket of them on the floor when I was gluing ornaments on. The cord from my glue gun grabbed the basket, and yeah.

So what can you learn from my Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

1. Follow my instructions for knotting the twine on each branch
2. Go to the dollar store and get an eye dropper to use to add the paint to the ornaments so you don’t have to water it down
3. Use a multi-surface paint that will adhere to the plastic
4. Don’t try to carry too many things risking dropping stuff everywhere
5. Turn your tree over on the table to tie the strings instead of trying to hang it
6. Hot glue all the ornament hangers to the ornaments so they can’t come off
7. Add some hot glue to the opening of the hanger so if you DO drop them, paint can’t fly out
8. Make sure your work surface is clear so you don’t knock things off the table and break them

So are you ready to give it a go? I’m sure things will go much smoother for you now that I’ve worked out all the kinks! ;)

As always, a full printable supply list and instructions are at the end of this post.
For this project you will need the following supplies:

Pictured here are the supplies that I used. While I adore Americana acrylics, there are several multi-surface paints out there that would probably have worked better on the plastic. The makers of Americana (DecoArt) make one, as does Plaid (Folk Art) and Martha Stewart. It also could have been that I watered the paint down to thin it in order to get it into the ornaments. That may have caused an issue with adhesion. Martha Stewart has a nice sample pack collection of satin multi-surface paints here.

• Branches
• White spray paint
• Twine
• Multi-surface craft paint in coastal colors
• Clear plastic ornaments
• Fishing line
• 1 large starfish
• Several small starfish
• Lace ribbon
• Hot glue gun

Select your branches and peel off the bark. Bake the branches in a 250 F oven for two hours. This will help dry them out as well as kill off any little critters that might still be inside.

Use spray paint to paint the branches white. This may take several coats, be sure to allow them to dry for at least an hour between coats.

Lay out your branches how you want them and cut two long pieces of twine, about twice the length of your tree (my tree measures 4-feet, so two 8-inch lengths of twine were used). Connect the branches together using twine by knotting the twine around each branch. Once I had connected the top two branches I did the rest hanging on the wall. Do not just wrap the twine and glue it. They need to be knotted in order to handle the weight of the bottom branches. Secure each knot with hot glue. Tie the two loose ends together at the top of the tree to create a hanger.

Hang it on the wall and make sure it looks like you want it to. This is the only time you will have a chance to change it before decorating. When satisfied, trim off the excess twine from the bottom.

Use a multi-surface paint to color the ornaments. An icing tip works as a great funnel for small openings, but you can try an eyedropper too. Place your finger over the opening and shake the ornament until the paint covers the inside. Put all of the ornament tops back on and secure with hot glue.

Hot glue the large starfish to the top of the tree.

Cut a 10-inch long piece of fishing line and thread it through the ornament hanger. Hot glue the hanger to the branch. Repeat this for all the ornaments. Carefully turn the tree over and tie the fishing line from the ornaments to the back of the tree. Trim excess and secure the knot with hot glue.

Wrap fishing line around the starfish and branches several times to secure it as well.

Turn the tree back over, front side up, and glue lace ribbon on as garland. Glue small starfish to the branches as well.

There! Finished! Despite all the mishaps with this project, I’m still in love with it and am happy I made it.

Have fun!

More new Christmas ideas

• Cardboard Tube Gnomes
• Plastic Spoon Snowmen
• Glitter Christmas Luminaries
• Blue & White Coffee Filter Christmas Tree
• Christmas Village Shadowbox

Print Project

5 from 4 votes

Coastal Branch Tree for Christmas

There are some beautiful Christmas themed branch and twig trees, driftwood trees and trees made from sticks. I've created a coastal branch tree I love!

Author: Amanda Formaro

Supplies

• Branches
• White spray paint
• Twine
• Multi-surface craft paint in coastal colors
• Clear plastic ornaments
• Fishing line
• 1 large starfish
• Several small starfish
• Lace ribbon
• Hot glue gun

Instructions

• Select your branches and peel off the bark. Bake the branches in a 250 F oven for two hours. This will help dry them out as well as kill off any little critters that might still be inside.
• Use spray paint to paint the branches white. This may take several coats, be sure to allow them to dry for at least an hour between coats.
• Lay out your branches how you want them and cut too long pieces of twine, about twice the length of your tree (my tree measures 4-feet, so two 8-inch lengths of twine were used). Connect the branches together using twine by knotting the twine around each branch. Do not just wrap the twine and glue it. They need to be knotted in order to handle the weight of the bottom branches. Secure each knot with hot glue. Tie the two loose ends together at the top of the tree to create a hanger.
• Hang it on the wall and make sure it looks like you want it to. This is the only time you will have a chance to change it before decorating. When satisfied, trim off the excess twine from the bottom.
• Use a multi-surface paint to color the ornaments. An icing tip works as a great funnel for small openings, but you can try an eyedropper too. Place your finger over the opening and shake the ornament until the paint covers the inside. Put all of the ornament tops back on and secure with hot glue.
• Hot glue the large starfish to the top of the tree.Wrap the starfish several times around the branches with fishing line to secure it.
• Cut a 10-inch long piece of fishing line and thread it through the ornament hanger. Hot glue the hanger to the branch. Repeat this for all the ornaments. Carefully turn the tree over and tie the fishing line from the ornaments to the back of the tree. Trim excess and secure the knot with hot glue.
• Turn the tree back over, front side up, and glue lace ribbon on as garland. Glue small starfish to the branches as well.

This post was originally published on this blog on Nov 23, 2014.