A few days ago I shared my Christmas mantel with these curled sheet music trees on Instagram. I was kinda on the fence as to whether they were cute or crap, so I asked my peeps. I think that photo got more response than any other photo I’ve ever shared. After that, there were tons of requests for a tutorial… so let’s get to it, shall we?
Curled Sheet Music Christmas Trees
For this project you will need:
Topper
glitter paper
toothpicks
circle punch
hot glue gun (affiliate link)
Tree
strips of sheet music (or any paper)
scissors
straight pins
foam tree form
First, let’s make the topper: Punch out two circles of glitter paper from the scrapbook aisle (or stars or Jack o’ Lanterns – just be you, m’kay?). Cut a toothpick in half, and sandwich it between the two circles with some hot glue. Now sit it aside to wait for it’s crowning moment.
Now comes the tedious part…. curling the paper. Start by taking your strips (mine are 2 1/2 inches wide) and cut slits in them making some fringey sorta stuff. Leave about 1/2 inch of them uncut to keep it all together. After you have them trimmed (you did do them in a stack, right?) then use a pair of scissors and run the individual frayed edges one by one over the blades to curl them. Once you get in the groove, it goes pretty quick. It took me about 8 strips to do each tree.
If you’re into creating a whole forest or something, then go sit in front of the tv and watch a Christmas movie, like The Holiday. {I never really need an excuse to watch that movie.}
To attach them to the foam tree form (which I found at Dollar Tree), I used straight pins. (OK, ok, I used corsage pins so you can see them, but you should use the tiny headed straight pins – it’ll look much better.) On the bottom row, you can patch it a little by stealing a snip of another row, but just pin it all together and no one will ever know.
Build row after row, right on top of each other, working from the bottom up. Once you get to the top, fold it all over and use the tree topper to keep it all together. Make sure to push it all the way down so your tree looks smashing.
I gave mine a little height with some candlesticks by just sitting them right on top. So, so easy, and they were all done in under an hour. Ad a few more festive touches, and your Christmas mantel decorating will be done in no time!
If you enjoyed this Christmas craft post, you might also enjoy…
Ruffled book page garland – it’s a great way to help fill in the gaps with another kind of Christmas craft.
Christmas charades – a fun way to enjoy a little family time, or to play at a Christmas party!
Christmas Pottery Barn knock offs – because holiday decor shouldn’t cost a fortune.
Light bulb snowman Christmas ornament – who knew that an old light bulb could be so cute?
50 Christmas crafts – with all those ideas, you’re sure to find one you love!
cute cute cute!!!!!!
These look great! Might have to give it a go.
Love the display! Beautiful.
What neat trees! I love the music sheets, they look like a lot of work, but under an hour? So beautiful.
Debbie 🙂
I’ve been seeing these all season long, so glad to find a tutorial so I can try one myself. I had a pretty good idea but why try to invent the wheel…right? Anyway, thanks for sharing, these are sooooo cute!
Thank you ever so kindly for the tutorial! These are fabulous!
I love these adorable trees, and your home looks amazing! Thank you for sharing it with us. I just have one question about these cute trees, how are you going to store them after Christmas? Do you think they will perk up after being packed away for the season?
Super cute! I have tons of sheet music, so I may have to try this!
These are adorable, Gina! I’m pinning this idea for next year. Thanks so much for sharing the tutorial.
Gina ! These are amazing ! Can’t wait to make these..
Thanks! Great idea for our piano teacher.
I Like The Display how can you do this.
awesome
Hi Jacobe,
I copied this from the post tutorial, you can see it on my site, but here you go 🙂
“Now comes the tedious part…. curling the paper. Start by taking your strips (mine are 2 1/2 inches wide) and cut slits in them making some fringey sorta stuff. Leave about 1/2 inch of them uncut to keep it all together. After you have them trimmed (you did do them in a stack, right?) then use a pair of scissors and run the individual frayed edges one by one over the blades to curl them. Once you get in the groove, it goes pretty quick. It took me about 8 strips to do each tree.” Hope that helps 🙂
Wow. Stunning + Easy + Unique = Inspirational