The Cutest Painted Wood Tree Ornaments

No matter if you’ve been naughty or nice, I have tree-t for you today: painted wood tree ornaments made from mini unfinished wood trees. These are so satisfying to paint and customize.

Without a doubt, the craftspeople who made these mini wood trees on their wood lathes so you and I could turn them into ornaments are on Santa’s nice list. No coal for them!

Like all of my best crafty ideas, this one is quick, easy, and completely customizable to your color scheme.

Let’s get started.

Supplies needed to make these painted wood tree ornaments:
mini wood trees (comes in a 30-pack)
paint (craft paint or house paint works)
optional: clear coat such as polyurethane
small paintbrush
string or wire
optional: mini rubberbands

Directions to make the happiest little painted wood tree ornaments:

Step 1: Go wild with paint. 

You’ve been doing this since preschool, so there are no directions other than to clean up your mess!

The hardest part will be deciding what color you want to paint the trees. After that, use your small paintbrush and paint away.

I forgot to take a picture of the unfinished trees, but this is what they look like along with the dimensions.

(image: Amazon)

I put two coats of paint on my trees. If you notice, I did not paint the tree base. This gave me a convenient spot to hold onto the trees while I was painting them.

I did want my trees a little shiny, so I brushed on a coat of polyurethane after the base color was dry.

As an alternative, I think the trees are sturdy enough that you could also use spray paint without knocking them over with the force of the spray.

Step 2: Decide how to hang the painted wood tree ornaments.

First things first, I was worried that the ornaments might be too heavy, but it turns out they are just fine hanging on the branches of my fake Christmas tree.

But how should you hang them? That’s the question of the day.

There are at least three ways you can hang your ornaments.

You can wrap a wire around the top “branch” and create a loop.

You could try carefully drilling in the top of the tree to add a tiny eye hook and string. It may be possible to drill horizontally through the crease right below the topmost “branch” and thread a cord or string through the hole. However, I don’t know if drilling through the tree will cause it to split as I did not try this method.

You could also hang them with string. I used a leftover packet of elastics from my child’s braces and slid that over the top branch. I then attached a loop of string to either side of the rubberband and tied the two loops together. This allowed my ornament to hang level.

Clear rubber bands would have been better but I have to admit, there is a ridiculous amount of satisfaction in being able to use braces elastics in a craft project. That was something I never thought I’d repurpose! I just thought I’d be picking those elastics up off the floor and finding them in the bottom of drawers from here to eternity.

Here’s a close-up of how this looks.

Perhaps you’ll come up with a better idea for how to hang these ornaments and if you do, please share it in the comments.

Step 3: Enjoy your new ornaments!

Pat yourself on the back because your painted wood tree ornaments are ready for their tree debut!

There is something uniquely satisfying about a simple craft like this one and I love how these ornaments look on my tree.

There are so many other things that could be done with these unfinished wood trees. I ran out of time to make these happen but the ideas were whirling, so I’ve jotted them down for next year.

Alternative uses for these mini wood trees:

Decorate a shelf.
Add them to a holiday tablescape.
Attach them to a wreath or garland.
Use them as a Christmas stocking embellishment.
Add a person’s name to create place cards.
Use them as a gift topper.
Affix a cork on the bottom to create a bottle stopper.
Use them as dollhouse decor.

What do you think of these painted wood tree ornaments? Would you use the mini trees as ornaments or some other way? I’d love to know. You can always comment on this blog post, email us here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.

Happy crafting!

Thanks for being here today. I enjoy sharing ideas and my crafty creations with you. Here are some other blog posts you might enjoy.

DIY Piano Hammer Christmas Ornaments

Chalkboard Globe Advent Calendar

Adventures At The DMV

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