Shaving Cream Marbled Christmas Trees
These marbled Christmas trees are really pretty, and they’re SO EASY to make! Simply press cardstock trees into shaving cream and swirled paint to create this festive Christmas tree craft.
These paint swirled paper trees make awesome Christmas decorations on their own, but they also look great turned into a DIY ornament or attached to a homemade Christmas card. They’re so cheerful!
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a small commission which helps us run this website.
How to Make Marbled Christmas Trees
Materials:
- FREE Printable Christmas Tree Templates
- White cardstock
- Shaving cream(foam, not gel)
- Acrylic paint(various shades of green)
- Metallic baker’s twine(optional)
- Rhinestone stickers(optional)
- Blue cardstock(optional)
- Printer paper(optional)
Equipment:
-
Stir stick(or popsicle stick, butter knife, etc)
-
One hole punch(optional)
-
Glue tape(optional)
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
-
Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Cut out the tree shapes
-
Print one of our free Christmas tree templates onto white cardstock.
-
Cut out the Christmas tree shape. You can also draw your own shapes on cardstock.
Step 3: Prepare the tray
-
Add shaving cream to a tray.
-
Spread the shaving cream with a spatula to even it out.
-
Squeeze lines and dots of paint on top of the shaving cream in a random pattern.
-
Continue adding paint to the tray in one colour or different colours until it’s evenly covered, as shown in the photo below.We used different shades of green, including a metallic green, but you can add any colours you like!
-
Use a stir stick to swirl the paint around. Move up and down across the tray, and also side to side.Then move the stir stick in a curved motion until most of the shaving cream is covered in paint, with only small areas of white showing.
Step 4: Make the marbled Christmas trees
-
Place a cardstock Christmas tree into the paint with the black outline side facing up (if you used our template). Press down on the tree (with your fingers, or a clean stir stick) to make sure the whole shape gets covered.Let the tree sit in the shaving cream and paint for a few seconds.
-
Carefully peel the cardstock Christmas tree off the shaving cream and place it on a clean tray, shaving cream side up.Grab an edge of the tree with a fingertip and use a squeegee (or plastic ruler) to remove any extra shaving cream and paint. Use firm pressure for best results.
-
Repeat with as many trees that fit on your tray.Let the Christmas trees dry for about 30 minutes on a paper towel before handling.
Step 5: Make a DIY ornament (optional)
-
Attach rhinestone stickers to a marbled tree. We added about 9 colourful rhinestones on the tree, randomly placed like Christmas ornaments.
-
Punch a hole near the top of the tree.
-
Cut a piece of string (we used metallic baker’s twine) about 8 inches long. Push the string through the hole and tie a knot, creating an ornament hanger.
-
Your marbled Christmas tree ornaments are complete!Now hang your pretty DIY Christmas ornaments on the tree.
Step 6: Make a homemade Christmas card (optional)
-
Add glue tape to the back of a marbled Christmas tree.
-
Center the marbled Christmas tree and press it down on the front of a blank card.We cut navy blue cardstock to 7 x 10 inches and then folded it in half lengthwise, making a 5 x 7 blank card.
-
Press rhinestone stickers onto the tree, and add a sparkly foam star at the top of the tree.
-
If your card is a dark colour, like ours, add a white paper insert inside.Cut the paper to be 1/2 inch shorter in both directions (6-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches) and fold it in half. This will create a 1/4 inch border on each side.Glue tape the insert inside the card and then write your holiday message.
-
Your marbled Christmas tree card is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- Keep paper towels or a wet rag handy while you make your marbled Christmas trees – it can definitely get messy!
- Wear nitrile gloves if you don’t want paint on your hands. If not, no worries — acrylic paint washes off hands easily while it’s still wet.
- You can also marble a whole piece of paper and cut out the Christmas tree shapes after the cardstock has dried.
Free printable templates for marbled Christmas trees:
Click the link below to find many great options for making marbled Christmas trees! The templates are free to download and print.
Our Christmas tree template page has 8 different Christmas tree shapes to choose from. Each tree has 3 different sizes available. We used the medium size of each Christmas tree outline:
>>> Christmas Tree Templates <<<
What paint is best for making marbled Christmas trees?
We like using acrylic paint from the dollar store, mostly because it’s inexpensive and it works well for this project. But you might need to go to Michaels or another craft store to find different shades of green.
You can also use tempera paint, which is washable, making it great for younger kids. Or you can also drop liquid watercolour paint or food colouring into the shaving cream to make marbled shaving cream art.
Can I make shaving cream marbled Christmas trees without a squeegee?
We like using a squeegee for our shaving cream marbling. The handle makes the squeegee easy to grip, and you have a lot of control over the amount of pressure used.
But if you don’t have a squeegee, don’t worry! You can also use a plastic ruler or an expired gift card to scrape the paint off the cardstock Christmas tree.
How many marbled trays can you make with a can of shaving cream?
We were able to use an 11 ounce (311 gram) can of shaving cream to fill 3 trays (12 x 18 inches) before it was empty. This size of tray fits about 8 medium sized Christmas trees from our printable templates.
How many times can you use the paint to make marbled Christmas trees?
The Christmas trees do look the best when they’re pressed into freshly swirled paint, but you can definitely use the same spot a second time — the marbling effect just isn’t quite as clear, since the paint has already been smudged a bit.
Shaving cream art is so much fun to make, and these marbled Christmas trees are so festive! Hang the marbled trees on the fridge, or make DIY ornaments and homemade Christmas cards like we did.
Either way, it’s such a fun and tactile art project where kids can learn about shapes and colour.
Here’s even more Christmas craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
