Hey, everyone! I’m Sarah from Little Red Brick House and I am thrilled to be contributing here at Domestically Speaking today! Thank you so much for having me on the team, Maryann! I can’t wait to get to know everyone a little better. 🙂
Since Christmas is just a few weeks away, I thought I’d share my Knock-off Crate & Barrel Ornament Trees with you today. These were pretty simple and inexpensive to make. I just love how cute they are and how easy it is to change out the theme of the ornaments. They come in either wood or metal finish but they must have discontinued the wood ones because I only see the metal ones on their website now.
Materials:
- 1/2″ x 2″ x 4′ poplar boards
- Thin metal rods (I used a spare metal tomato cage)
- Wood Glue
- Drill and drill bit
- Metal cutting tool (I used an old PVC pipe cutter and by the time I was done cutting it was ruined. Oopsie!)
First I cut the angles for all of my wood boards. This part was really tricky because my miter saw didn’t have the settings for the angles I needed. My husband rigged up some type of jig and ended up getting them to how I wanted them. I want to say that they are cut at about 70 degrees at the top and 15 degrees on the bottom where they join the bottom piece .
I stained all of my wood boards with Rustoleum’s Dark Walnut.
After the stain dried I marked where I wanted my metal rods to be and drilled shallow holes into the wood boards with a drill bit. I measured the length for my metal rods and then cut them to size with my PVC cutter.
I applied glue to all of my joints and quickly popped the metal rods into place, trying not to let the glue drip everywhere. A wet napkin took care of any drips or spills. I clamped the top boards together, as well as the bottom board and stand and then taped the two bottom joints with painter’s tape to hold them in place while the glue dried.
After 24 hours, I took off the clamps and peeled off the tape. Now it was time to decorate!
Aren’t they cute?! I used mini ornaments to decorate them because the size was more proportional. I popped the tops of the ornaments off and placed the hanger part over the rod while attaching the rest of the ornament from underneath.
Some of the rods were angled steep enough that the ornaments kept sliding down, so I remedied that by placing a tiny drop of hot glue on the back side. Problem solved!
You can see more of my fun DIY and craft projects over at my blog or by following me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest! Thank you so much for having me, Maryann! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
Would you be able to share how your husband did the angles? I am fairly new to wood working and my boyfriend and I tried making these today and weren’t successful with the angles. Thank you.
What are the measurements for both trees?
i love this!! going to make a bigger one and put it on the front of my house!!
Where did you get the cute mini ornaments?
Hi Brooke! I got most of them at either the Dollar Tree or Target.
What a great project. Would you please provide the measurement for the small tree?. Thanks so much!
What about using a threaded dowel so the ornaments won’t slide.
That’s a great idea, Lyn! Thanks!
What about using a threaded dowel then the ornaments would have a place to stay without sliding.
Absolutely amazing knock off and on my list of things to make for next year. Thank you for linking up to On Display Thursday!
Thank you so much, Carmody! It was such a fun project!
This is so cute! Every year I make my daughter an ornament and this would be a great way to display those keepsakes! Thanks for linking this up at Totally Terrific Tuesday! Pinned and tweeted!
Jess
That is such a great idea, Jess! Thanks so much for the pin and tweet! 🙂
This is awesome Sarah! Thanks for linking up to Pin Worthy Wednesday!
Thank you, Keitha! 🙂
This is fabulous! I love it. Pinned and tweeted. Thanks for being a part of our party! I hope you stop by on Monday at 7 pm. We love to party with you. Merry Christmas! Lou Lou Girls
Wow! Thank you very much, guys! I am so grateful! Have a Merry Christmas! 🙂
Thank goodness for handy hubbys! I love how these turned out. What a fun DIY project.
LOL, Amanda! He always seems to know how to make it work. 🙂 Thank you so much!
These are the best Christmas DIY I have seen this year and they just look beautiful!
I’m so happy you like them, Gilly! Thank you so much for your kind words!
I love the way these look! Great job — pinned!
Thank you, Jill! I truly appreciate it!
This is definitely going on my Christmas craft list for next year! I love how simple but super cute this idea is! I am all about adorable projects that can be completed in one day. LOVE this!
Thank you so much, Brittany! You are so kind! 🙂
They look so good – I love them!
Did you put the rods in before or after glueing the wooden frame together, I can’t quite make it out from the words and pictures. I know some things are much easier to do rather than explain in words! In your photo of the clamped frames there are no rods but I can’t imagine how you would get them in afterwards, or do they just slide in place? I have no time now this year but I am seriously thinking that next Nov I might give this a bash!
Thanks so much, Julie! I actually did it both ways. At first I tried putting the frame together and then sticking the rods in. Some of them were easier to bend in place then others. But since some of them didn’t want to budge at all I had to take the frame apart and then stick the rods in one side and carefully line them up with the other side and glue everything back together. I hope that makes sense. You could try it both ways but I think it may be a little easier to stick the rods in before gluing everything together.
So cute I love it!
Thanks, Valerie!
I haven’t seen these at Crate and Barrel but I love the look of yours! This will be added to my list of Christmas projects. Thank you for sharing!
That is awesome, Kelly! Thank you so much!
These are just too cute, Sarah!! I haven’t seen the C&B ones, but I love yours!!
Thanks, Amanda! They are so fun!
Wow! These are great. I would love to get some made this year but I bet I will have to wait til next year. The red ornaments look so good with the brown, stained wood!
Thank you, Michelle! I think mine took about a day or two to make, so you may be able to bust a few out. 😉
I really love these ornament trees! So cute!!!
Thank you so much, Amy! They were so fun to make!