Chalkboard Fabric Christmas Tree

I am loving celebrating the Christmas season with a 2 year old. 

Everything is a little more magical, a little more glittery, a little more simple, a little more tender.

With the purchase of our house, and the work we've done on it, we knew that financially this Christmas would need to be kept simple.

Part of that meant that we decided to forgo a Christmas tree this year. 

(We buy a real one every year.)

This was a hard decision because we love the experience of choosing a tree, decorating it, the pine smell in our home, and looking at it at night. 

But we didn't want the season to become stressed with worries about our budget so we came up with an alternate idea. 

A chalkboard fabric Christmas tree banner. 

(Pardon the lovely phone pics)

We have loved this tree mostly because we're not constantly telling Rhett not touch it, and it gets redecorated daily. Sometimes hourly. :)

Here's what you'll need to make your own.

1. 1 yard chalkboard fabric.

($4.99 a yard. I used a 40% off coupon)

I purchased mine at Joann's. It is just like the name says. It's fabric that has a chalkboard surface.

Cool right?! So many possibilities.....

2. 2 packages green rick rack.

$1.69 a pack

3. A 3ft wooden dowel

$0.59

4. Any thing you want to decorate the dowel. I had red yarn on hand so I wrapped that around the dowel. 

5. A glue gun.

6. Yellow felt for a star. (Optional. Walmart has some for $0.23 a sheet.)

Step 1: Prep your dowel if you chose. Lay it about an inch and a half down from the top of the fabric.

Step 2: Use a glue gun and run the glue across the width of the fabric.

Step 3: Fold the 1 and 1/2 in of fabric you left over the dowel onto the glue and run fingers along new seam to secure.

Step 4: Prep the chalkboard fabric as you would any new chalkboard surface by running chalk over the entire surface. Wipe with a damp cloth when done.

Step 5: Lay out the rick rack to get a rough idea of the shape of your tree.

Step 6: Start by glueing the "points" of the tree branches. Once the corners are secure, glue the remaining sections of the tree. I did around 3 glue spots per segment.

And that's it! 

If you want to add a star or anything else feel free.

We've been using colored side walk chalk to decorate our tree. 

The project cost was just over $5 and took about 20 minutes to make. 

And it's been a big hit. :) 

Merry Christmas!!