How to Make Beautiful Christmas Twig Decorations (Sparkling Twigs Too)

Have you seen all the Christmas twig decorations? These twig decor projects might inspire you to pick up some twigs on your next walk!

Decorating with ice white Christmas twigs, silver, red, or even natural color twigs is easy and very inexpensive. And it’s beautiful! 

Create a sparkling crystal Christmas, a white Christmas, or a natural Christmas look with twigs. Pick your custom look with your choice of paint color and sparkles!

1.  For a simple white Christmas look, paint the twigs white. Add clear glitter or not. I love the Winter White Twig Wreath shown here. Click here for directions at  The Painted Hive.

2,  To make it look icy put Aileen’s Tacky Glue (available at craft stores) where you want “ice crystals” to stick to give the look of icy buildup on the branches. Use German glass glitter as the ice crystals, positioning the crystals in the still wet tacky glue.

3.  Use Epsom salts instead of the glass glitter to give a frosty look instead of iced branches.

4.  Change these looks with different colors of paint. Metallics look wonderful during the holidays, but solid colors look good too. Try glossy red twigs to add color to a wreath or an arrangement of greenery. Or add golden or silver twigs to a bowl of gold and silver ornaments.

5.  Add glitter if you like. Try silver spray paint with silver glitter or even hologram-look glitter. Or mix different kinds of glitter to get the look you want. You can use decoupage glue to get the glitter to stick. Click here for an easy recipe to make decoupage glue that is cheaper than store-bought.

With so many ways to use twigs in your holiday decor, just about any size will work for something.

Long twigs or small branches look amazing next to a fireplace, near your front door, or to hang ornaments on anywhere in the house. Add white lights for an icy look at night also. See the end of this post for how to secure branches in a pot.

Small twigs can be made into stars to leave natural or paint/glitter, etc. and hang on the tree or at a window. Click here for directions at Cotton Fox which is where I found the photo also. The twigs are tied together for those, but other ornaments can be constructed using hot glue. You can make a heart shape that is filled in with twigs and if you get really good you can make a ball of twigs as an ornament. Again, paint and/or add glitter as you like.

I love the little Christmas tree centerpiece pictured here. I’d hot glue twigs to a cone form and then spray paint it and/or glitter it as you wish. Click here for directions at Home Is Where the Boat Is. I think these would be gorgeous in white with clear or hologram glitter. You can also make this kind of little twig tree in flat form for ornaments. Just hot glue the twigs onto cardboard.

The Right Kind of Glue for Outdoor Display

To get glitter to stick to twigs that will displayed outdoors, spray the twigs with an adhesive like Super 77. Sprinkle the glitter on right after spraying a branch or twig, working with a section of about  12 inches at a time. Put a cookie sheet with sides on it to catch the excess glitter to reuse. If the twig will be indoors all the time you can use decoupage glue instead of the Super 77.

Spray Painting Tips

Spray painting should be done outside also. I put twigs onto our rock driveway in an area away from the street. Otherwise you can put down newspaper to protect the surface when you spray. For small areas of spraying you can use aluminum foil. When the paint on the foil is dry you might find a use for it in your holiday decor. Maybe to wrap plant pots? Or else just save it to use another time you are painting.

Make a Potted Christmas Tree from Branches

Recently I received this question: “Can I put twigs in a flower pot and put Christmas lights on them?”

Absolutely! Stick the branch or branches in a pot of sand. For  a more permanent potted tree you can “plant” branches in a pot by using plaster of Paris or even some insulating foam that comes in a tube. Just hold the painted and glittered branch in place until the plaster or foam is solid. Or use strong masking tape across the top in a grid pattern to hold it until dry.  Remove the tape when dry. When dry, you can cover the plaster of Paris or insulation foam with moss, pine cones, ornaments, tinsel, craft  marbles, stones, whatever. Even used wrapping paper that you put through the shredder works. I made one several years ago painted plain white. I added white lights and ornaments. It’s great for a lot of different holidays–just change the ornaments.

Like these ideas?  Click here for 10 more DIY Christmas twig decorations to try!

And click here to see how to make small twig trees to use as ornaments, decorations, and more.