How to Make a No Sew Handprint Christmas Tree Skirt

My online buddy Heather from Massachusetts sent in some photos of a Christmas tree skirt she made many years ago. I thought it was so cute I asked her to share how she made it.

Hey Mavis,

Christmas is magical. That’s all there’s to it. The family traditions make Christmas magical. Decorating the tree with hot chocolate in hand and music in the background, watching Christmas movies and sneaking out to shop for Dad are my favorites. In fact, before my kids escape middle school I’ll be adding your sugar cookie tradition to my list – I love it when the kid’s take over the house talking and giggling!

I tend to be pretty crafty but the one thing I’ve made that I treasure almost as much as my photo albums, is our Christmas Tree Skirt. And as a bonus it’s unbelievably easy and there is NO SEWING!

Supplies You’ll Need

• Green and red felt
• Permanent marker
• Fabric scissors
• Fabric glue
• Fabric paint {use a different color every year – I rotated between silver and shades of green because my skirt is red}
• Thread or string
• Safety pin
• Bells
• Decorative ribbon and large needle

Directions {they go pretty easy}

Step 1: Go to fabric store and buy felt, my measurements 68″ x 68″ plus or minus a few inches. *Note: bolts of fabric are different lengths so look for a long bolt which will lend itself to a wider tree skirt. You may need to adjust the size of the circles to fit within the width of the fabric.

Step 2: Lay it out on the floor and pin a safety pin with thread attached to it in the middle. This will create a perfect circle for the center (where the stand will go and the outside edge. Use a 6″ piece of thread to create the center hole. Use a 34″ piece of thread for the outside edge. With one end of the string tied to the safety pin attached to the center, tie a marker to the other end. Move baby who keeps crawling into the middle of your felt every three seconds, but hurry, you’ll have three seconds before he’s back in the middle 😉 When you rotate the marker around the pin you get an easy, nearly perfect, circle.

My son at 15 months helping me make the tree skirt

Step 3: With SHARP fabric scissors, cut your circles out.

Step 4: Decorate. Easy peasy. I added some letters, holly, bells and ribbon attached with fabric glue, fabric paint and mom and dad’s handprints. (PS: put up a big enough fuss that the HH puts his handprints on it too – trust me, it’s worth it!)

This is the skirt on our first Christmas as a family

Step 5: Hand prints. I found putting fabric paint on a piece of aluminum foil, then placing the kids hand in the paint and and pressing it on the fabric. They won’t be perfect -see below, 8 month olds don’t want to spread their hands out flat 🙂

Painting the paint on their hands get it all over their hand evenly. The handprint on the felt won’t be very detailed but you’ll get the outline and then you can fill it in (use the tip of your finger and pat it on).

The 10th year of handprints – I’m now an expert

Fair Warning: I have two kids, by the 10th year the tree skirt was pretty well packed with handprints. And honestly, I had to put up a pretty big fuss to get my ten year old to do my handprints. {I don’t typically fuss a lot – but tradition is tradition and desperate times require lots of fussing I guess 🙂 }

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all glean some ideas from each other.

~Mavis

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

• Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so,  show me some picture of how you are going about it.
• Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
• Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
• Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
• Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

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