Joy to the World DIY Dollar Tree Christmas Decor

Have you ever tried giving dollar store items a makeover to make them look more expensive? My Joy to the World DIY Dollar Tree Christmas decor idea will give you the inspiration you need to give this unique Christmas craft a try for the holiday season.

It amazes me what some crafters can create with a few Dollar Tree supplies. You can now join in on the fun to also hear your family and friends say, “Wait, you made that from Dollar Tree stuff?” Hearing that will make you feel like your creative efforts truly paid off!

If you’re interested in creating your own Christmas decorations and need to stay on a budget and want your new decor to look super nice, then using cheap Dollar store supplies to upgrade a ho-hum item is the perfect way to go so you don’t break the bank. 

You can even substitute a “Joy to the World” Christmas sign with a different Dollar Tree one using my idea for a similar simple DIY. Making over a winter sleigh sign, like I did for upgraded winter decor, would make perfect gifts to go under the Christmas tree for family, friends, co-workers, or Santa exchanges.  

JOY TO THE WORLD DIY DOLLAR TREE CHRISTMAS DECOR

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

• 9 x 22 piece of wood
• Joy to the World sign ~ Dollar Tree
• 1 roll green mesh ribbon ~ Dollar Tree
• 1 roll red mesh ribbon ~ Dollar Tree
• 1 roll wired burlap ribbon ~ Dollar Tree
• holly adornment
• thin cord or ribbon for cinching bow
• rolled kraft gift wrap with polka dots ~ Dollar Tree
• detail tipped and regular scissors
• red craft paint
• rhinestones – 1 red, 1 green
• sponge paint brush
• Mod Podge
• Gorilla glue or E6000 glue
• ruler 
• sand paper
• pencil

Many of the main supplies for this simple project can be found at the Dollar Tree, as well as some others, such as, rhinestones, hot glue gun, paint brushes, sandpaper, small bottles of Mod Podge, ect.. 

PLANNING / GATHERING SUPPLIES FOR MY DOLLAR TREE CHRISTMAS DECOR

I found the “Joy to the World” sign and pictured it attached to a wood plaque to make it more impressive. I was hoping I’d be able to incorporate the Dollar Tree polka dot kraft wrap I used for my themed gift wrapping project.

Incorporating a bow would add some glitzy pizazz so I picked up a couple of rolls of ribbon. I already had Dollar Tree’s shimmery red ribbon, so I went on a hunt for the same kind of ribbon in green that I had seen on a previous visit. Whew, I got lucky because they had ONE roll left!

I also searched for some burlap ribbon to compliment the burlap-ish background on the sign. I found some burlap-ish red polka dot wired ribbon in the regular floral section. Perfect, matching burlap-ishs!

I ended up having a piece of scrap wood on hand and, lo and behold, it was the perfect size. How often does that happen!? See below for a wood source.

The polka dot kraft paper ended up being a great choice as a background for the Joy to the World sign, and a bow was definitely going to be a must for my Christmas decor project. The Dollar Store carries plain rolled brown kraft paper in their packaging area if you can’t find my exact rolled gift wrap.

WOOD SOURCE FOR MAKING DIY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

If you find the same “Joy to the World” Dollar Tree sign as mine and need a piece of wood to use, I found a Home Depot piece of wood that can be cut to your specifications by them. 

You can get 4 signs from the piece of wood for just under $4.00 for each sign. The size will end up being 1.5 x 9.25 x (approx.) 24. You’ll get a big bang for your bucks by having wood leftover for 3 more more Dollar Tree projects!

FYI – I don’t think Lowes will cut wood for you on site so stick with Home Depot unless you have another way for cutting your own wood. 

HOW TO MAKE CHRISTMAS DECOR USING A DOLLAR TREE SIGN

STEP 1 – PREP AND PAINT THE BOARD

Sand your board if needed. Mine was pretty smooth on the front and wasn’t so bad on the edges so I went right into painting.

Use the red paint and a sponge brush to paint the wood edges. Overlap some of the paint to the front side in case the wrapping paper doesn’t meet the edge by a smidgen. Let dry then paint a second coat.

STEP 2 – MOD PODGE THE GIFT WRAP

Measure the size of your board. Use the ruler to mark your wrapping paper to the same size then cut the piece of paper where marked.

• My method for glueing the paper down is similar to applying Con-Tact shelf liner.
• Spread Mod Podge with a sponge brush about 4 inches on one end of the board then place one end of the paper down on the glue. 
• Continue that process, little by little, until your whole piece of paper is glued down.
• After the entire piece is glued down, carefully and gently, start smoothing out wrinkles. I used my fingers. 

I’m not the greatest at Mod Podging so my finished piece still has some wrinkles. A lot of the wrinkles will be covered up by the sign and ribbon anyway. You could always use the iron-on method, which is placing down a piece of parchment paper and running an iron over the top of the wrapping paper and board.

My paper expanded a bit after smoothing out my wrinkles on one side, so I needed to use my detail tip scissors to cut off excess paper. 

Just line up the scissors directly against the board and trim paper straight down the side. See picture below.

TIP – I was going to sand all the edges of the paper a little bit after trimming, but it took off too much red paint, so I advice not to sand.

STEP 3 – HOW TO MAKE A MESSY BOW

I’m not a bow-making master, so I just haphazardly cut 2 pieces of ribbon in each color and alternately layered the ribbons on top of each other. 

Pinch the center of the layered ribbons and double tie the thin stretchy cording in the center. 

Take that hot mess of ribbon and experiment with the position in the upper left corner of the board.

Trim any ribbon ends that need to be shortened in order to vary the lengths, and cut V’s on the ribbon ends.

I found the holly adornment at Walmart for under $2.00 and glued it in the center of the bow where it is cinched. An alternative is finding a piece of greenery and adding red jingle bells.

STEP 4 – ATTACH THE JOY TO THE WORLD SIGN

At the same time you are experimenting with bow placement, you will also need to determine where the Joy to the World sign needs to be placed.

Cut off the hanging ribbon that’s attached to the Joy sign. Glue the Joy sign on first, the bow second, and then the holly adornment. 

After everything is glued down, you can fuss more with the placement of the ribbon tails and manipulate the wired ribbon so it’s not flat.

TIP:  Although using hot glue to attach the Joy sign worked for me, after the fact, I determined it was not the best way. The next time I would use E-6000 or Gorilla glue to attach the sign.

Now, those 2 holes in the J and Y need to be covered. I already had rhinestones on hand and they work out perfectly for covering the holes. See rhinestones in photo below. An alternative is using a dab of Elmer’s glue and glitter to cover the holes.

HANGING VERSUS PROPPING YOUR DIY CHRISTMAS DECOR

Attach picture hanging hardware to the back side like sawtooth brackets or D-hooks with picture hanging wire. Keep in mind that the piece of wood I suggested previously has a depth of 1.5 inches.

I’m so happy with the results of my Joy to the World DIY Dollar Store Christmas decor. You can now see a creative way of taking dollar tree items and putting them all together to create much more impressive and expensive looking holiday decorations.

I hope you enjoy the Christmas season spent with your family and friends, Merry Christmas and happy crafting!

This post has been updated and was originally published on December 9, 2019

MORE DOLLAR TREE CRAFTS YOU MIGHT LIKE:

CHEAP AND EASY CHRISTMAS JOY CRAFT

DOLLAR TREE YARN CHRISTMAS WREATH

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