Upcycled Ribbon Spool Christmas Trees

Christmas trees come in all shapes, sizes and colors, but these upcycled ribbon spool Christmas trees might be the cutest ones of all.

I love wood ribbon spools of all sizes, but the large wood spools that a lot of ribbon is wrapped around might be my favorite. I bought a bunch of these spools of ribbon on clearance a few years ago at Target after Christmas. As the ribbon would run out, I didn’t have the heart to throw out the wood spool. I knew I could do something with them. Finally, this year, I put some of them to good use. You can also buy empty spools online which is so nice. I have linked them below. 

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Supplies For Upcycled Ribbon Spool Christmas Trees

Styrofoam Cone

Yarn

Hot Glue

Wood Ribbon Spools

Restor-A-Finish (Dark Walnut)

This project could not be any easier. 

How To Make Ribbon Spool Christmas Trees

• First, use an old paint brush or rag to cover each wood ribbon spool with Restor-A-Finish. Once done, set them aside to dry. 
• As the spools dry, it is time to create the trees. To start, add a bead of hot glue to the base of a Styrofoam cone. Then, wrap the yarn around that bead of hot glue so it stays in place. You don’t have to hot glue the entire cone, this first wrap of yarn needs to stay in place to create a good foundation for the rest of the yarn. Do not cover the bottom/underside of the cone with yarn. It will make it hard to glue to the spool and it won’t stand straight. 
• Now that the first layer of yarn is on the cone/tree (I am going to call it a tree from here on out because that is really what I call the cone shapes), it is time to wrap the rest of it. On some of the trees, I wrapped the yarn in a single, continuous layer as I went up the tree. On other trees, I wrapped the yarn in no particular order to give it a more organic, “not-so-perfect” look. I would wrap the yarn heavier in some areas and not so heavy in others. Both versions turned out. I felt like working from the base to the top was the easiest. As I got to the top of the tree, I would add another bead of hot glue so it would stay in place. Then, I cut the yarn and added a dab of hot glue on the very top to hold the end of yarn down and in place. (You can get a better idea of how this worked in the video below.)

• Once the yarn is on the tree and the ribbon spool is dry, it is time to put them together. Add hot glue to one end of the spool and center the bottom of the Styrofoam tree to the spool. 

• That’s it! You now have the cutest Christmas trees to add to any space in your home. 

If I could make a suggestion here??? I would recommend that you make these in odd numbers. Odd numbered collections just look better to the eye.  🙂

Here is a video to show you how easy it is to put these together:

I like to add some kind of Christmas decor to our bathroom, but I usually run out of decor after I have decorated the rest of the house. The bathroom seems to always be the last room in the house that gets any holiday spirit, but it always works out in the end. There isn’t a lot of places I can add decor in our bathroom, but we added some rustic shelves when we did a makeover for under $50 and these trees will look great on there.  

I just think of all the possibilities for these trees. Yarn comes in so many colors and textures. I would like to make a little forest of these trees so I need to pick up some different white or cream-colored yarn to keep the theme going. 

I would love to know what color your trees would be! Tell me in the comments below. 

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If you liked this project, you will also love these tutorials:

DIY Wood Burned Christmas Tree Garland

Christmas Gnome Garland Made From Thrift Store Finds

DIY Glittered Ornaments For Christmas

Upcycled Christmas Tree From Curbside Table