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DIY ChristmasDIY for Your Home

Rustic Construction Shim Christmas Tree Duo, $1.96 DIY

By October 15, 20192 Comments

Can you believe this Christmas Tree was made out of construction shims! Costing only $1.96!! I used two packs of shims for this Christmas Tree Duo. Each package was only 98 cents! Run to your local hardware store and grab a couple packs so you can make this beautiful set of trees too!

Watch the full video tutorial at the bottom of this page.

Here’s what you will need.

  • 2 Packages of Construction Shims, (12 pack)
  • Stain
  • Saw
  • E6000 Bonding Glue
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • natural brown card stock and FolkArt Anniversary Silver for star (optional)

You will start by gluing two shims together, wide ends together and thin ends together. These will act as the trunk of your tree. You will use a combination of the E6000 and hot glue. E6000 will give you a long term bond and the hot glue will hold it together until the E6000 dries so you can continue to work with it.

Next you will glue 4 shims onto each side of you tree trunk. These will act as the branches of your tree. glue all the thin ends at the top to get the tree shape.

You will make two of these trees, one will have a longer trunk then the other.

Now you will glue two sets of shims together for the base. Gluing the wide and the thin ends together so you have a level surface.

You will leave one set for the bottom of the base as is. The other set will be cut down to fit in between and on either side of the tree trunks. You will cut 4″ off to put in between the trees .

With the remainder of the base you will measure how much you need for either side of the trees.

You can now glue your base together using the trees as spacers. You will use the same gluing method as you did for the trees. Do not glue the trees onto the base yet.

Stain your trees. I used Craft Smart Premium Barnwood Stain from Michael’s craft store. I used the brown for one tree and the gray for the other tree. I painted the stain on then wiped it off with a rag. For the base I used the brown and did not wipe it off so it would have a darker look.

Now you can glue your trees into the base.

Add stars or any other embellishments you’d like to the trees. I used these Faux Galvanized Stars I made. You can see the Faux Galvanized Star tutorial here.

What do you think of this Tree Duo? Please leave a comment letting me know. You can watch the full Rustic Construction Shim Christmas Tree Duo video tutorial here.

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