by: mediagirl
Christmas is my favorite holiday and I have a lot of decorations, including a bunch of breakable ornaments for our tree. Last year I started thinking of a way to protect the tree and those ornaments from our one and a half year old. A friend mentioned she had made a Santa Fence years ago when her kids were small. She sent me a picture of it and I was sold. I found the same type of fence she used and modified the design a bit to meet our needs.
15ft Rolled Picket Border Fence (I found mine at Lowes Hardware)
Red spray paint (2 cans)
1 skein of thick white yarn
Quilt batting
White cotton balls
Beige craft paint
Black paint pen
Painters Tape
3 in 1 Glue
Carefully roll the fence out. Fix any loose fence posts and try to get the wire as straight as possible across the top of the posts. Measure 5″ and 12″ down from the top of each fence post and mark those spots. Tape off the entire section. I didn’t tape off the entire 7″ section for the face and wish I had.
Stand the fence up and use the red spray paint to spray the front. You will need two coats of paint to completely cover the front of the fence. We did not paint the back and the way we stood it up around our tree, you really don’t notice the back.
Once the fence is dry, find an area where you can lay the fence down and leave it for a period of time, if needed. This project took me 2 days so I put cardboard down in our garage and laid the spray-painted fence on top of it.
Remove the painters tape from the fence posts. Measure 5″ and 12″ down from the top of the posts again to double check your earlier measurements and then use the beige craft paint to paint between those measurements. Paint the front and sides of each fence post.
While waiting for the craft paint to dry, cut out 2″ x 5″ sections of the quilt batting to create the Santa hat. Take the yarn and cut out 5″ lengths of yarn. You will need approximately 15 5″ lengths of yarn for each beard.
The amount of decorated fence posts is up to you. I measured the space my fence would be in and decorated every fence post that would be seen in the front and on the sides of our tree. The length of the beards is also up to you. I found after storing for a year, some of the beards unraveled at the bottom, so I spent some time trimming them up this year when I put it up for display.
Once the paint has dried, attach the quilt batting to the top of each painted section with 3 in 1 glue. Wrap the batting around the post so it secures in the back – this gives it a seamless look.
Attach the yarn to the fence posts. Squeeze the glue onto the fence post and place each strand of yarn on the post separately. After a few tries, I found this gives the best overall look.
Add a dot of glue to the top of the fence post and attach a cotton ball. Then, use the paint pen to draw two eyes on each post, about 1/4″ below the quilt batting.
This project was fun and I was so excited to pull it out again this year. It was the most talked about decoration in our house last year at our annual holiday party!
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
the Santa guards are awesome!
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts
So glad you posted this! I need to make one and was going to search the boards great job!
coconut / 8079 posts
This is such a great idea and so cute!
apple seed / 4 posts
This is GENIUS!
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Very cute idea! So how much did it cost you to make this and how long did it take you from start to finish (with and without paint drying time)?
apricot / 457 posts
This looks so awesome!! It’s so festive and practical – my toddler has already pulled off the one ornament we put off three times.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@bluestriped bee: it took us 2 days. Friday night we spray painted. Saturday I painted the faces and glued on the “hats.” By Sunday it was completely dry and ready to go. I was wary about red spray paint getting on our carpet so I did give it an extra day, just in case.
It cost about $45. The fence, paint and yarn were the most expensive parts. I had quilt batting, paint pens and cotton balls already.
GOLD / grapefruit / 4555 posts
So glad you guest posted this! I remember last year when I thought this was the height of awesomee and with two toddlers, I’m loving this idea even more!! Here’s hoping I have time to do this sometime this busy December!
pineapple / 12053 posts
very nice!
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
I remember this!!! I LOVE this. Seriously. By the time I get around to making it the boys will be old enough to know better… but I’m still going to have it. That’s just how much I adore it.
pomegranate / 3779 posts
I love this! I’ve seen similar ones before and thought about doing it this year, but we’ll be doing good to get the tree decorated this year (it’s been up for a week, but no ornaments yet), so I just couldn’t add another craft project to my list.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
I love this!!! My kids seem to do okay without any kind of fence, but this would be cute just as regular decor!
guest
How did you get the fence to stand up? Does it fall over if your toddler leans on it (reaching for the tree)?
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I’m so glad you posted about this. I see myself making it in the future.