Sometimes you spend a lot of time looking for suitable materials for your next craft project. But it also happens that you see something immediately and something beautiful can emerge from it. Nature is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and also the largest supplier of free craft materials. Crafting with branches and twigs is not only a lot of fun, it's also a nice way to bring natural flair into your home. With a piece of wood you can beautifully decorate a wall, table or an unsightly corner in the apartment. You can design them imaginatively with paint, fabric, yarn or paper. How to enrich yourself with 6 great craft ideas.
Which branches and twigs can you use for crafts?
Branches and twigs from the forest bring a delicate and moving highlight to every room. Used tastefully, these break up the somewhat sober appearance of clear and simple furnishings. Especially when straight lines, right angles and neutral colors dominate, a vase with twigs or a few branches loosely placed somewhere would be an effective and at the same time simple decoration.
The selection of the respective branch is basically a matter of taste and depends primarily on the place where the decoration is being carried out. Willow branches or cherry and apple blossom branches are often used for spring decoration. Decoratively used leaves of the Buri palm look particularly impressive. But not only certain or exotic plants are suitable as decorative branches. Driftwood and fallen branches can be found in the forest, park or on vacation. However, it is legally forbidden to plunder and damage the forest. You can only take the so-called 'Laseholz' with you. These aresmaller branches and driftwoodthat are already on the ground. Before you start crafting, you should scrub the branches with hot water. When the selected branches are dry, you can proceed to decorating. To kill any insects, you can put them back in the oven, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case.
Depending on the desired effect, additional elements of natural origin can also be inserted, such as feathers, wooden beads, shells, shells, yarn, leather or jute cord, etc. Accordingly, you can also use different techniques when decorating - dyeing, decorating with pieces of paper or wrapping with yarn.
Make spring table decorations with branches and twigs
For this atmospheric spring table decoration, choose a beautiful vase and several narrow branches. Note that this branch arrangement should remain stable on the table later. So first try out whether the vase really doesn't tip over, after which you can decorate the selected branches creatively. For this purpose we recommend using acrylic paints. Fresh pastel shades such as pistachio green, pink, light blue and sunny yellow are particularly suitable for spring. Of course you can also use other tones.
Apply the paint with a suitable flat brush. Use masking tape to cover a small area at the bottom where you can hold the branch with your hand and let it dry later. Work with one color first and apply it wherever you want. Then take the other one. The acrylic paints usually cover very well, but if you want a transparent effect, you can dilute them with water. They air dry relatively quickly and then become waterproof.
DIY heart made of branches as wall decoration for the bedroom
This heart decoration is particularly suitable for the bedroom. Here the wooden sticks are designed in pink with the very current ombre effect. You can of course choose a different color gradient. First, choose a nice spot in the room where you will later hang the attractive, homemade wall decoration. Accordingly, you judge how big the heart should actually be.
Once you have determined the size of the heart you want, you will need several branches and a larger branch on which you will later hang the finished heart. Now create a template on cardboard, place the branches on it and mark where each of them needs to be shortened. Cut them using a hand saw or, if possible, cutting pliers.
Arrange the branches nicely next to each other so that they cover the heart area. Take your chosen colors and put a bit of them on a plate or painter's palette. We recommend using at least 3-4 shades of the same color to create a real ombre effect. To make your work a lot easier, you can first mark where you should apply which color. Work your way up from the bottom and paint about 2/3 of the branches. Leave the top area in the natural wood color.
Allow the branches to dry thoroughly, i.e. at least 6-12 hours. If you want, you can color them on the other side too. But it is not absolutely necessary. Now you have to tie the branches to the large branch in such a way that they retain their original position, otherwise you won't end up with a heart. Use fishing line for this. First prepare as many pieces of fishing line as the number of branches. Tie it to the large branch and start tying the small branches in turn.
When tying the individual branches, you should make sure that each of them stays in the correct position. Otherwise the beautiful heart shape will be lost and the desired effect will not be achieved. Finally, you can hang the homemade wall decoration in the selected place on the wall.
Decoration in metallic colors
If you want more nature in your home, you are making the right decision with this chic branch decoration with copper effects. This decorating idea isn't complicated at all if you've already got the right materials. For this you need copper leaf, gold leaf or silver leaf, depending on which metallic color would suit the style of living better. This also includes a special glue, known as gilding milk or mixtion.
You should clean the branches very well in advance. In order for the adhesive to adhere well and the effect to be successful, the surface must be free of dust and grease. Now apply a thin layer and only after 20 minutes or when the adhesive is no longer liquid but slightly sticky can you attach the sheet copper. In the meantime, cut it into small pieces as this makes it easier to work with. Carefully place the wafer-thin copper sheet on the surface to be gilded and press it a little firmly so that it sticks well. With this technique you only design individual areas of the branches, while the rest remains natural. Finally, arrange the branches beautifully in a glass vase.
Make your own romantic spring decorations with branches
In spring, the Japanese celebrate the Hinami cherry blossom festival. They like to decorate their homes with blooming cherry blossom branches. They certainly look beautiful as table decorations at any time of the year. We've taken inspiration from this romantic celebration in Japan and enriched it with simple instructions. For this craft project, in addition to the carefully collected branches and twigs, you will also need crepe paper in soft pink or white and hot glue.
First cut several small squares. Fold each one in half several times until you get a triangle. Now use scissors to cut small waves on one side of the triangle. Open it up - a flower should appear. In this way, form all the cut squares and then use the hot glue to fix the finished flowers in a few places on the branches in as natural a look as possible. You can use a real cherry blossom branch as a model to achieve a natural effect.
Even simply arranged branches and twigs bring a delicate and moving element to any room. An arrangement provides variety, especially in minimalist and modern rooms where straight shapes and structures dominate. You can play with the contrast of light and dark, geometric and natural and achieve a big effect with few resources. A vase with branches will not disrupt the balance in a modern setting. In most cases, the clarity appears even stronger in contrast.
Make a children's tent in a different way with branches
This DIY project with branches and twigs is something very special for the little ones - a tent. It looks a bit unusual, but also unique. This requires several branches that should be over 120 cm long - depending on how tall the child is. You use them to form the framework for your tent. We recommend using at least 10. You also need yarn in different colors. Here, the more the better, but you still need to match the colors. Children like things colorful, but you don't have to go overboard with it.
Before you arrange the branches beautifully in the characteristic tent shape, decorate them with yarn. Cut long pieces of yarn or wool in any color you like. Then you can wrap the branches with wool. Colorful stripes should result. Your child can also join in with the wrapping. When all branches are decorated, set up the tent. At the top, secure all parts with jute twine and tie tightly together. As additional support, you can use craft wire and wrap it around the middle of the frame. This will make it more stable and you can cover it with fabric or a thin blanket if desired. Now the colorful tent is finished and ready for games.
A wreath made of birch branches
Decorations made from birch branches are no longer new and are beautiful. Instead, you can also use the thinner branches for homemade decorations. A great idea, for example, would be a heart-shaped door wreath. We'll show you how easy it is to tie a heart out of branches. You need:
- branches
- artificial or real flowers
- Hot glue and gun
- Yarn
- Gift ribbon, rhinestones, beads or other decorations
Take the branches and form them into an almost completely closed circle. Try to see if the branches can be bent in the middle for the heart tip. If not, you can help with a piece of twine by tying the branches together. Then bend the two ends into the inside of the circle and tie them there too to create a Her shape.
If you make a heart out of birch branches, you can of course decorate it however you like. For example, use hot glue to attach flowers or other decorations that match the occasion or furnishings. The heart doesn't necessarily have to be regularly shaped either. The fewer branches you take together, the easier they are to shape and bend. An irregular heart like the one in the picture above can also be made this way.
Make your own white branches
If you can't find birch branches or you prefer completely white ones, you can also spray-paint regular branches white. Before doing so, you should clean them well and let them dry. This heart is also a great idea for which you can use white branches. But of course you can also choose other shapes. After you've sprayed the branches and the paint has dried, place them close together. Then form the frame (heart shape, rectangle, square, triangle, etc.) that you glue to the other branches.
Make sure that all lower branches are secured to the frame, otherwise they will fall off when you lift the decoration later. If this does happen, simply glue the loose branch down again. Then cut off the ends of the branches that protrude from the frame using suitable pliers.
Decorative branch for hanging: instructions and ideas
If you make a decorative branch yourself, you can hang it with a variety of things and create new decorations again and again. We particularly like this idea where the branch was decorated with green twigs. To do this, simply drill several holes in the branch at equal distances from each other. These holes should be a little smaller than the stems of the green. Then tie a longer piece of yarn to both ends of the branch, insert the greenery into the holes and hang the decoration in the desired location.
If you use this idea to make crafts with branches and twigs, you don't necessarily have to drill. Alternatively, you can simply tie the branches to the large branch. By the way, you can also use the branch to dry your favorite flowers at the same time. So if you often buy roses or receive them as gifts, you can simply hang them upside down on the branch after a few days. This gives you a practical decoration for the wall.
Spring decoration for hanging
A typical Christmas decoration at Christmas is the door wreath. But if you already have one or find the idea too boring and are looking for something more interesting, you can also choose this original decoration idea. It is a kind of Christmas bouquet, which is not placed in a vase and decorated as usual, but instead hangs upside down from the ceiling.
To ensure that this is successful and that the decorations and pendants do not fall off, you should craft with branches and twigs that have plenty of branches. Take as many as you like and tie them into a bouquet. Next, tie another longer piece of string. Exactly how long depends on how low you want the bouquet to hang. Attach the Christmas bouquet to the ceiling or a lamp and then decorate it with any ornaments you like. Such a Christmas bouquet looks particularly chic above the dining table or in front of the window.
Crafting with hazelnut branches in an ornate look
As an alternative to the Christmas bouquet made of fir greenery, you can also make one with hazelnut branches and, more precisely, with corkscrew hazelnut branches. They look beautiful simply because of their ornate appearance and are given the finishing touch with the right decorations. If you like puristic and particularly subtle decorations, you can simply place the branches in a vase.
Natural table runner made from branches
Do you have a table runner that you never really liked or that you have now become bored with? Then spice it up like this with little sticks! Cut the branches into pieces of approximately the same size (slightly longer than the width of the table runner), apply textile or hot glue along the table runner on both sides and gradually attach the branches.
Bouquet with colorful pompoms
Such a bouquet is quick and easy to make from twigs and colorful pom-poms. It can consist of many different colors or just three similar shades, for example. Choose any color scheme and then simply glue the small pompoms to the branches with hot glue. That's it!
Another great idea with pompoms is this one from the picture above. Instead of small pompoms, simply use large ones that are not distributed all over the branch or twig, but are only attached to the tip. Additionally, remove any branches if desired.
Luminous wall decoration
Look for a nicely shaped branch with multiple branches. Then glue an LED light chain onto one side (which will later be the back). When you later hang the decoration on the wall, an indirect, dimmed light is created that highlights the branch wonderfully and creates a great atmosphere. This idea is also great as a night light.
More pictures and suggestions
Great room divider
Idea for Christmas with driftwood and vintage Christmas tree decorations
Make a decoration out of branches and twigs for hanging jewelry
Dreamcatcher-like decoration with leather and feathers
Simple but beautiful picture frame homemade from twigs and yarn
Make little houses out of sticks for Christmas
Light blue branches in a glass vase with sand for a maritime decoration
Purist in poison green for Halloween
Make an alternative to the headboard out of twigs
Twigs in a birch branch as a vase, decorated with heart pendants
