How To: String Art Christmas Tree & Card Display

String wall christmas tree

Receiving a Christmas card in the mail these days is quite a treat, so why not display them beautifully on this colourful String Art Christmas Tree.

I’ve always loved the idea of string art, but making holes in my walls for a temporary project is not ideal. That’s where 3M Clear hooks are perfect, they stick to most surfaces, then come off cleanly. When the box arrived with the full range I couldn’t wait to get started. The Decorating Clips are small and unobtrusive, and were the perfect choice for this project.

You could also use this tree as an Advent Calender by pegging on 25 numbered envelopes, or if you have very limited space, just decorate as you would a normal tree and pop your presents under it on Christmas morning.

You will need:

  • 2 packs 3M decorating clips (36 clips to be exact)
  • coloured yarn or string
  • scissors
  • ruler, pencil, dinner plate, protractor
  • small pegs
  • washi tape and pom poms, glue (optional)


3M decorating clips christmas decorations

How to:

  • Gather your supplies, have a dig around your craft drawer to find cute bits and pieces that will decorate your pegs and finished tree.
  • Mark the desired position of the 3M clips on the wall with a pencil. I have spaced my clips 10cm apart. 8 clips across the bottom (70cm) and 11 up the side (100cm). For the star at the top, a dinner plate is an ideal size. Mark nine evenly spaced positions to make each point of the star. It’s easier if you use a protractor – angle if 40 degrees from the center.
  • Following the directions on pack, stick each clip over your marks with the open part of the hook facing out.
  • Leave to set for the recommended time of about 30min

modern christmas tree string

  • Now the fun part. String your yarn in a criss cross fashion between the hooks making sure you don’t miss any.
  • Follow my cute animation to make the star.

string star animation

  • Decorate your pegs if desired

Washi tape on pegs green pink neon

pom pom on pegs yellow

  • Then it’s time to have fun and decorate your tree. Get the kids to clip on Christmas cards from family and friends.

string christmas decoration star

neon string art christmas tree

child decorating christmas tree

How to display christmas cards

Once Christmas is done and dusted, you can easily remove your work of art without a trace. The 3M hooks are unobtrusive and come off cleanly, so they are ideal for hanging decorations wherever you please without nail holes.

This is a sponsored post for 3M via Digital Parents Collective. As always, projects and opinions are my own.

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37 Comments

  • Lisa says:

    What a fabulous idea!! When I was small, I used to go to my cousin’s house every year for holidays. As the only female child in a family full of boy cousins, it was my job to help make Christmas decorations. My fondest memory is of sitting with my aunt decorating styrofoam balls which we’d scored, and pushing scraps of Christmas fabric into the sections to make crazy fabric baubles. Now that I have my own home, I have inherited some of these balls. Although my husband thinks they are tired and ugly, they bring back fond memories so they’re always placed in a visible spot on the Christmas tree. When my daughter gets bigger, I will start the tradition of making Christmas decorations (and memories!) with her too.

  • CheezyK says:

    Growing up we were always already away and spent Christmas in a tent or caravan at Evans Head NSW. Our Christmas tree for years was this poor straggly, 30cm tall, green tinsel, fold up tree with tiny plastic baubles on the ends of the branches. It’s been more than 15 years now since I’ve seen that tree but it will always mean beach side Christmases to me.

  • Stella Pickersgill says:

    As the child of hippies Christmas was always a spray painted gum tree branch and some scraggly tinsel. I remember being jealous of kids with those fancy plastic trees and satin baubles. Now I’m the one making ‘found’ Christmas trees and spray painting bits to go on it.

  • Alissa says:

    I love it! We’ve done just a plain hanging ribbon the past few years, this looks like more fun. Found you via Pinterest and am glad I did, your site is so bright and lots of fun!
    ~Alissa from Creative with Kids 🙂

    • Miss Cinti @ My Poppet says:

      So lovely to have visitors over from Pinterest. The string tree is definitely a new take on the old ribbon.

  • The 3.6th AVENUE says:

    So cute and such a great idea!
    Thank you for sharing… I am pinning!

  • Libby Matthew says:

    My best childhood memory of christmas decorating was my brother and his friends striping the christmas balls( the old ones that were plastic covered in thread) and playing cricket down the hall. Now I ma about to make a felt christmas tree for my little ones as my youngest is just crawling (ruining all the fun)

    • Miss Cinti @ My Poppet says:

      I remember those string balls. they always went fluffy after a few years. Must have driven your mum insane!

  • Kristie says:

    What a clever idea….and toddler friendly too!

    My favourite memory is not from my childhood but of my son, and the first time he understood about decorating a christmas tree, and that beautiful cheeky grin when Daddy picked him up to put the star on top of the tree all by himself. mmmm made my heart melt!

  • Debs says:

    Oh wow, that is just awesome! Great idea! 🙂

  • Natasa........ says:

    Excellent! I’ve never seen these clips before……..great idea!!!!!

  • Karine says:

    I remember every Christmas when we decorated with my sister the tree and all the house, it was very important for us and we did this listening to a Christmas songs’ cd.

  • Sarah says:

    I love this! And we’re just about to move house so a perfect way to display our cards without the risk of damaging brand new walls!
    I grew up in the UK, and my favourite memory is with my sister, snappping icicles off the eaves hanging outside our bedroom window, bringing them inside and decorating them with tinsel to look like mini christmas trees. Of course we were upset the next morning when they had melted into a big puddle!

  • Miss Cinti @ My Poppet says:

    Haha, it’s tricky sometimes, but my brain never stops ticking 🙂

  • Jaci says:

    Love this!

    One year I bought my Mom a gift and I got a little box to put it in. I wrapped the top and bottom of the box separately so she could just pull the lid off instead of totally unwrapping. She thought it was very cute and put the gift back under the tree after we’d opened everything. Well when we un-decorated the little wrapped box with the tag still on it got packed up with the christmas items. The next year we got to the end of the presents and this little box was under the tree with the same tag still on it, to Mom, love myself. So Dad handed it to Mom and she opened an empty box. I looked like the biggest jerk giving her an empty gift. Once we remembered it was quite funny. Years, and several moves later that lite box still makes it under the tree every year!

  • Al Moore says:

    Ah, when you have four lovely older brothers and sister christmas decorating was always left to them and i would get the lovely job of waking up in the morning to see the delights of christmas colours. Now its my chance to do the same for my new baby girl!

  • posie blogs Jennie McClelland says:

    This is so cool. Love that 3M hooks don’t mark the walls, handy in rental accommodation. I collect pegs & have quite the collection of washi tape, so perfect activity for my children. Thanks as always Cinti!! Love Posie

  • Jenni-Mae says:

    This is so fun. My funniest childhood Christmas decorating memory: every year we had a family tree decorating night- every year we would not be able to find all of the parts for the Christmas tree and many of the plastic branches were missing… after much searching they would be found but unable to be hooked into the tree due to being damaged or broken so we would end up throwing them in hoping they would stay!! They nearly always had to be rethrown as every year the debate for where the tree had to be placed occured and the tree was dragged across the lounge room floor from place to place until everyone agreed to one spot. That tree was a disaster but noone wanted a new one because it was so fun to throw all the extra bits in and decorating with all of our handmade decorations.

  • Claire says:

    We have a bunch of hilarious handmade ornaments on our tree that the kids have made over the years. It’s great.

  • Miss Cinti @ My Poppet says:

    Thanks everyone, giveaway entries now closed, I will announce the winners shortly. Please continue to leave your amusing stories if you wish, as I’ve enjoyed hearing them very much 🙂
    x cinti

  • Natalli says:

    LOVE this, especially since I can’t have a real tree with my 8-month-old chewing cords, breaking ornaments, etc.
    When me and my sisters were younger, one of our favorite things about decorating was pulling out the stockings, because we always hid a few pieces of candy in them the PREVIOUS Christmas. Gross. I guess when you’re a kid, you’ll take what you can get.

  • Le says:

    Lovely idea!

  • Jane T says:

    I don’t know how funny this is, but I can remember decorating the tree after having my husband strap it to the wall, ceiling, and who knows where else because the trees stump part was crooked and kept wanting to fall over.

  • Teresa says:

    I remember the first time I was allowed to help decorate the tree. The packs of silver tinsel were opened. I grabbed a handful and started throwing pieces onto the tree. My mom wanted to stop me as the tree looked sloppy, but my dad told my mom to let me have fun.

  • Sister Diane says:

    Cinti, this is a work of pure genius. I love how it looks, I love the functionality, and I love how effectively you’ve used those hooks. Slam dunk! Home run! Insert your favorite victory metaphor here! 🙂

  • Erin says:

    Adorable, creative, and easy too. What a great idea and I LOVE your little pom pom clips.

    Can we officially dub 2013 the year of the pom pom?

  • zzipper says:

    Tinsel – oh tinsel.. how you would tease our cat. We learned to hang the silver strings out of reach.. up high.. and then were reminded that cats can climb trees. Our cat George managed to climb up the tree and bring it tumbling down. George was so very proud of himself that year!

  • Allison Lee says:

    Hi! thank you for this fabulous idea! I wanted to let you know that I featured this project on my blog today as a holiday craft countdown idea. I love it!!!
    -Allison

  • anna says:

    This is perfect, we are living in a van this year and I was pondering what to do when this link came up. Thank you. My girls want one each now tho..

  • pam says:

    I am loving this to pieces! Just spotted it on Crafty Crow and had to pop over to tell you I love your idea. Could be a basis for a little advent tree as well. Thank you for sharing!

  • Miss Cinti @ My Poppet says:

    I’m not sure about South African stockists. Maybe email the company and they may put you onto someone? https://www.3m.com/

  • Elaine L says:

    Cute! I can see me making it on a sheet of foam board so I can hang it rather than having to make it every year.

  • Cara mason says:

    Love the sring art tree! Will totally be doing this to brighten up our house. My favourite Christmas memory without a doubt is Christmas tree hunting. Every year my dad would take me and my brothers out in the truck to ‘steal’ a Christmas tree. We would drive around the country area in which we lived looking for the perfect one. Once we found it on the side of the road, or occasionally in someone’s paddock he would make it this big secret operation to cut down the tree and take it home. He added to the suspense by pretending that someone was coming and we might get caught, the adrenalin was always running high! We would arrive home to mum who had everything set up to spend the rest of the night decorating. We even all posed for photos in front each year. Yes we were Xmas tree fans.

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