Transform a laundry basket into a piece of DIY Christmas decor – with this tutorial for an unfinished wood Paint Stick Christmas Tree Collar.
Let’s make a DIY Christmas tree collar…. from a dollar store laundry basket and wooden paint stir sticks!
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It’s no big secret that I love decorating with Christmas trees. In fact, I often put up three Christmas trees in the corner of our living room, forming a little vignette instead of just one big focal point. It allows me to play around with different DIY Christmas ornaments and tree skirts and tree collars.
In years past, the smallest of the three trees has gone in either a woven basket or an antique Red Wing pottery crock. But this year, I decided to change things up a bit and DIY a new tree collar.
Now, I could have gone out and bought a tree collar or a tree skirt, but what’s the fun in that?
Like my DIY burlap tree skirt that has been going strong for YEARS now, I decided to go the DIY route with this tree collar as well.
I’ve seen a few tutorials where bloggers turn laundry baskets into some pretty impressive DIY projects, and DIY tree collars were on that list. It makes sense. After all, if you turn a laundry basket upside-down, it’s the perfect shape.
Supplies Needed for this Project:
- For this project, I grabbed an old dollar store laundry basket and a favorite craft supply: paint stir sticks.
- Paint sticks are such a wonderful craft supply – they’re bigger than popsicle sticks or jumbo craft sticks. But they’re still thin enough that I can cut them with my miter shears for any project. In fact – I made these slatted picture frames with paint sticks.
- A note on selecting a laundry basket: you don’t need to cut the paint stir sticks for this project. In fact, be sure to select a laundry basket that isn’t too tall. Ideally, you want to select a basket that is shorter than a paint stick. If not, you’ll have to cut the laundry basket down to the right height.
- You’ll also need hot glue, heavy-duty craft scissors, and embellishments like buffalo check ribbon and (my favorite) jute rope from the dollar store.
Video Tutorial: How to Make a DIY Paint Stick Christmas Tree Collar:
Paint Stick Christmas Tree Collar
Transform a laundry basket into a piece of DIY Christmas decor - with this tutorial for an unfinished wood Paint Stick Christmas Tree Collar.
Materials
- wooden paint sticks -
- laundry basket - mine was an old dollar store basket from years ago*
- Jute rope
- 1-inch to 1.5-inch wide ribbon
- OPTIONAL: filler like straw
Tools
- heavy-duty craft scissors
- hot glue gun and glue sticks
Instructions
- Watch the video tutorial before you begin, and let that be your visual guide for this project.
- Flip the laundry basket upside-down.
- Cut a large circle out of the bottom of the laundry basket.
- Begin setting paint sticks in place, resting them in the lip of the basket handle rim.
- Hot glue the paint sticks in place. It may be easiest to only hot glue the bottom end of the paint stick, leaving the top end loose. Since the laundry basket has a slight cone shape, you can then overlap the tops of the paint sticks slightly as you go along, later securing them with ribbon in step 7.
- Cover the plastic rim at the bottom of the tree collar with jute rope. Hot glue the rope end in place. Hot glue at 6-inch intervals as you coil the rope around the laundry basket a few times, until all the plastic is covered.
- Tie a ribbon around the top of the tree collar, arranging the paint sticks as necessary so they overlap and are evenly spaced. Tie the ribbon in a simple bow.
- Place your tree in the tree collar. Add straw or other filler to hide the top of the laundry basket.
Notes
* A note on laundry basket selection: I used an old dollar store laundry basket, so it's a bit smaller than regular laundry baskets. You can use any width of basket, as long as it isn't much taller than a single paint stick. You have a bit of wiggle room to cover any piece of basket poking out with jute rope, but not too much! Otherwise, you will need to cut your laundry basket down to the right height.
My finished Rustic Wood Slat Christmas Tree Collar:
P.S. – do you see that blue and white tile on the floor? Those are tile stickers that I applied in front of our fire place to hide the old ugly tile. It was SO easy and inexpensive to install.
Don’t Forget to PIN this Paint Stick Christmas Tree Collar for Later:
More Budget-Friendly DIY Christmas Decor Ideas:
- Painted Christmas Tree Wall Hanging
- Inexpensive Christmas Decor: Zero-Dollar Ideas and Budget-Friendly Tips
- Gorgeous Dollar Store Christmas Wreaths
- Merry Little DIY – Creative Paper Christmas Decorations