Okay, so this is the project I promised you yesterday on my Advent Calendar post. It’s my all time favorite Christmas craft to date. Let me introduce you to my DIY tree flock tutorial. Alternate post titles included, “What the flock”, “Flock the halls”, “I flocking love this”. Guarantee that you’ll be smitten and will be doing this to your junk artificial tree pronto!
So, let me give you a little background on this project. I am a self admitted Christmas tree junkie. We currently have two decorated trees, three mini lemon cypress, a tiny tree in our bathroom, enough branches to make someone think I cut down a tree by my house and I’ve officially been banned by my husband from buying a beauty of a 7.5ft cashmere fir for the sake of our pocket books and to prevent me from being on Hoarders, the Christmas tree edition. You better believe that I’ll be all over those post Christmas sales though!
I figured (not really) the ban was for new trees only. He never said anything about a thrifted tree. So I took the liberty of waddling my very pregnant butt over to a neighbors house and picked up a small 4ft artificial tree that had seen much better days for $20. Ready for a before and after?
So this little artificial tree was a little confused about what type of tree it was supposed to be. It has some branches that looked like fir and others that looked like pine. I really didn’t like the way it looked, even with a few ornaments on it. Therefore, I figured what the heck, do something crazy. That’s when I remembered a fake snow craft I saw for kiddos on Pinterest. It called for regular foam shaving cream and plain ole white glue in equal parts. I didn’t have either so I improvised.
I marched (more like slowly trudged) my rear upstairs and started digging around in my husband’s shaving stash. Found a can of gel shaving cream that seemed like he wasn’t using anymore. Then I shuffled back down the stairs and dug around my craft stash and found some glue and glitter. Figured adding a little corn starch for staying power wouldn’t hurt either.
To make your own DIY tree flock for a small 4ft tree, you’ll need:
1 bottle of Elmer’s GLUE-ALL (not the regular stuff, Glue-All is stronger)
1/2 cup shaving gel (preferably blue or clear colored in a smell you can tolerate for a few days)
1 Tablespoon corn starch
As much glitter as your heart desires
I would triple (or even quadruple) this recipe if you plan on making your diy tree flock for a standard sized tree.
1. Measure all your ingredients EXCEPT the glitter and put them into a mixing bowl. Your shaving gel will look like blue brains and if you’re like me, you’ll think it’s funny.
2. Take your mixer with your wire whipping attachment and beat the mixture until it forms medium peaks. It took about 5 minutes with my mixer on high to get where I needed it to be. Stiffer peaks means fluffier “snow”.
3. “Paint” on your snow with a paintbrush or be a rebel like me and get your flock on with your bare hands. Tip: paint only the tops and tips of the branches for a realistic snowed on look.
4. Get your glitter on immediately after you’re done putting on your diy tree flock mixture. I chose a course white glitter and a very fine silver glitter for my tree.
5. Let your diy tree flock dry at least 12-18 hours at room temperature. Note: the temperature of the room and the amount you put on your tree will affect the drying time.
Just a few more notes on my tree flocking recipe.
- I chose to wait 48 hours before decorating my tree (just in case), but in all honesty it was pretty dry at 12 hours.
- It’s safe to use indoors and easy to clean up.
- It’s not made of concrete or an insane chemical mixture, so be prepared for some flaking when you come in contact with it after it dries(especially if you have a toddler that likes to pick at it).
- You can reapply over it next year if too much comes off during the set up/break down process.
- This recipe is meant for indoor trees or for those that won’t come in contact with water/snow.
How do I know about reapplying? The first recipe had the wrong glue to shaving cream ratio and didn’t have enough sticking power, so I reapplied right over it. Looked great even after the second coat.
The mixture barely flakes when you touch or decorate it, which saves you from having to constantly clean up. I have a toddler, so she has picked at it quite a bit when I’m not looking and A) you don’t notice the parts she’s gotten to B) it comes of in larger bits vs. annoying dandruff sized flakes that stick to everything 
All in all, I love the stuff! Absolutely love the way it makes the tree look, love the fact that it’s safe to use around my child (please dont let kids/pets eat it though…. seriously), and I love the price tag. Cheaper than the canned stuff, safer to use, and a whole heck of a lot less mess to deal with. Win!
Now the little tree is the perfect addition to our holiday dining room decor.
What do you think? Give your sad little artificial tree a little makeover with some diy tree flock before you junk it. Maybe you’ll fall in love like I have!
