Christmas Crafts with Colored Duct Tape
You guys know that Jo loves to decorate for Christmas much more than the average person does, and she likes to hang decorations everywhere. A tour of her house will show you stockings and wreaths on every door, jingle bells on the tables, and festive touches wherever possible. This year I thought I would make her a really unique decoration to add to her collection, and I thought duct tape would be the perfect medium, and I used it for two different Christmas crafts.
Make a Christmas wreath out of duct tape
First I made my duct tape version of a classic symbol of the Christmas season — a green wreath with a big red bow. I started with a simple Styrofoam wreath form (I used a flat one, but rounded works too) and some green duct tape.
Then I cut a bazillion little squares of green duct tape, laying them all sticky-side-up on the table.
Next, I folded two corners of the tape down on itself, forming a point.
I stuck the first point on the wreath, centering it.
Then I added more points, overlapping each row of a little bit and staggering them to the left and right.
Before long, the wreath was totally covered and looked awesome!
Now the wreath needed a bow, so I grabbed a roll of red duct tape. To make the bow, I first made some non-sticky "ribbon". I cut long pieces of tape and folding them in half — sticky side to sticky side — to create a ribbon that wasn't sticky at all. I made two pieces, one about twice as wide as the wreath and one as wide as the wreath.
The shorter ribbon was for the tail of the bow, so I cut a decorative notch in each end.
Then I looped the longer piece into a bow shape and secured with a little piece of tape.
Then I pinched the bow in the middle to make it poof out like a nice bow should.
I pinched the tail together in the center as well.
Then, I held the two pinched pieces together and secured them with a piece of red duct tape wrapped around the middle.
I attached it to the wreath with a couple of Zots adhesive dots and it was good to go!
I just love how this wreath came out! Its clean lines make it perfect for modern Christmas decor.
Make chevron Christmas trees out of duct tape
To make my duct tape Christmas trees, I started with a couple of Styrofoam cones and red and white duct tape.
The first thing I did was cover the bottom of the cones with white tape so that they wouldn't scratch whatever surface I set them on later.
Then I used the same technique as I did with the wreath, creating little squares of red and white tape and folding the corners in to make a point. I had little tape pieces everywhere!
I started with a red point that I lined up so that it just came to the bottom of the cone.
Then I put another one next to it, then another, until I had a row of red going all around the base of the tree.
I repeated the same steps but with white tape, making sure to center each white piece over a red one, to create a chevron pattern.
I continued, row after row, alternating the colors between red and white, until the tree was covered. Duct tape is so easy to work with on this project because it sticks so well but is also totally removable if you need to adjust it.
I absolutely love how they came out! They would've looked cute in all green, too, but I really dig the candy cane look.
10 comments so far:
Must say, I love duct tape, and I love the wreath and trees. I am wanting to redo a bedroom at the house in pink and zebra print. I have pink duct tape and zebra print duct tape, might see what I can do with the 2.
Sheryl, you could definitely make some custom art by covering a canvas with a neat design. Or, just do the picture frame and put black and white family photos inside. You could cover a lamp base, tray, candlesticks and even a shelf! What fun!
this is sooo cute! i love them... the wreath was a little confusing at first but then i started to get it and it turned out great! do u have any other ideas with duct tape? i love using it! thanks u guys!
Im doing a craft show next week and I was wondering if you had any other quick easy ideas... i looked at the flip flops and buckets and theyre so cute!
Abi, we've got far too many projects to list! Take a look around our site and I'm sure you can find more inspiration :)
Hi! I am going to try your wreath and cone ideas with my Girl Scouts. Could you tell me approximately how much tape you used for each project, so i can figure out how much needed for 16. Thank you!
Kara, I wish I knew how much tape I used, but I don't. I can tell you that I used less than one roll of each color for this project... maybe half of each roll? That's the best guess I can give ya. Have fun with the Girl Scouts, and we'd love to see what you all create!
thank you i loved it!!!!
Muito linda e fácil de fazer! Obrigada por compartilhar! Beijos!
Amaziiiing!!! In fact, it was such an amazing idea that I actually created something similar for my office!! Well played ladies!