You know we are always looking for new ideas and cool things for our home. We follow someone on Instagram (@leahhoff) who posted her Christmas Tree that is a CACTUS. It was so cool, we loved it so much and knew we needed one ASAP. Upon further research we found out that her exact tree isn't sold anymore. Search the internet and you will find that these babies cost hundreds of dollars and are all sold out. So of course as we do with everything, we decided to figure out how to make it. Today, I'm going to show you how to make one for yourself!
You will need:
- Corrugated Drain Pipe (4"x10')
- 2x4 cut into 5', 14", 12", 2-10", and 5.5"
- Wood screws and drill
- 12" Terra Cotta Pot
- Duct Tape
- Newspaper or scrap fabric
- Scissors
- A bag of rocks, we used White Marble Chips
- 4 50ft. pieces of garland
You could adjust the wood measurements to the height and width you'd want, but this is the general shape you are going for.
Start by screwing together the 4.5" piece to the bottom of the 5' piece of wood.
Place the 4.5" side of the wood down in the pot.
I ended up cutting two small pieces of wood to go on either side of the standing piece of wood and prop it up in the pot. Just measure from one edge to the wood and adjust accordingly. I think my piece ended up being around 3.5".
Fill the pot with rocks up to the braces.
And then add a couple more braces going in the other direction.
Next, cut the pipe to about 5 feet. You can just use a good pair of scissors for this. A box cutter or xacto would work as well, just be careful!
Slide the pipe onto the wood and trim down if needed.
Measure where you want your cactus arms to be on the pipe and then trace the circle end of the extra pipe onto the 5' pipe. I took the pipe off to do this.
Cut the circle out.
It should look something like this.
The next step requires you cutting a small rectangle on the opposite side of each hole. This is so you can screw into the wood and attach the arms right in the center of the hole.
Attach the 10" arm.
And attach the upright arm piece. These are the 14" and 12" pieces. I used the 14"inch piece for the arm that is higher up.
You can also assemble both arm pieces before you attach them to the base. Make sure that the upright piece is on top of the piece that is attached to the base. This way it can support the weight better.
Attach the other arm. (Don't worry about the arm I've already covered. I'm about to get into the instructions on that.
I used a screw diagonally from the top to secure the arms even further.
Okay now this part is a little tricky and requires a lot of finagling. Cut the remaining pipe straight up the side on both sides. Only cut about 18" for the long arm.
Slide the pipe on the arm.
Twist the pipe so the cuts are placed like the picture above.
On the inside, cut along the ridges closest to the corner. This is how you will be able to bend the pipe at a right angle.
Bend up on side into the hole that is cut on the base and tape it to the wood. Wrap the piece of tape completely around so it sticks to itself also.
Repeat on the other side.
Cover all openings completely with tape.
Fill the rest of the pot with rocks.
I had to get a little creative to make the arms rounded on the top. I used scrap fabric (you can use newspaper) to shove down in the holes and then put 2 pieces of duct tape over the hole to make it rounded.
Wrap the entire cactus shape with garland. My method was to wrap a piece in each crevice. You could probably use less than that if you wanted, but I wanted it to be full.
I used some E-3000 glue to adhere the garland to the pipe. I just put a dot in each crevice. The middle section gets kind of weird, but you just have to wrap it a lot to cover everything.
Then it's time to decorate! We wrapped it with lights first, just as you do a regular Christmas tree. We used a bunch of ornaments that we already had and some things we got while we were in Mexico this summer.
We are so excited about our new tree! We hope you get the chance to make one for yourself too. If you like this post, please share the pic below on your Pinterest!
xo, Savannah
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