DIY Music Scroll Tree Ornaments make perfect piano student gift [Printables]

Is teaching piano your JOY or just a JOB?

How can you tell? If you give your piano students little Christmas gifts, then teaching piano is definitely your JOY!

Here’s a unique gift idea that will give you all the tingles! It’s:

Very affordable (less than $1 per student)
Creative — you and your students can get crafty
Every person gets amazing results

Learn how to turn simple computer printouts into stunning antique-looking music scroll tree ornaments!

Learn how to turn these simple prints into music scroll tree ornaments.

DIY Music Scroll Tree Ornaments

Super-easy and super-fun with gorgeous results!

Materials

You’ll need the following:

Printable Christmas Carols — Find them in my Printables section, “Music Scroll Tree Ornaments.” FREE!!!
2 black tea bags.
Corn husk craft twine and/or red and white cotton craft twine.

You’ll also need:

Scissors
Water in a mug, boiling at first and set to cool
A paint brush

Step 1

Steep the tea.

Boil a kettle of water. Place two black tea bags in a tea mug and pour boiling water over them. Let steep for 12 hours. If students are doing the craft at home, they may need an adult’s help with this step.

Step 2

Go to the Piano at Play Printables section and download the Music Scroll Tree Ornament music files. Print as many of the six titles as you need.

Jingle Bells
Deck the Hall
Silent Night
I Saw Three Ships
O Come All Ye Faithful
The First Noel

2 carols fit on each 8 1/2 x 11 page. Print on regular white printer paper.

You could give each student 1, 2, or as many as all 6! You get to choose!

Inkjet or laser? Use your own laser or inkjet printer, or have the pages printed in black and white at a copy store. Depending on your inkjet printer, you may want to let the prints sit a while before you paint them to avoid smudging. We tried both laser and inkjet prints. Though the inkjet prints did get a little hazy after painted, they still looked great!

Step 3

Trim.

To create borders around the carols, use scissors to trim the excess paper.

You may do this and the remaining steps for your students, or if you’re giving the gift as a kit, they may follow the steps, themselves.

Step 4

Paint the paper.

When the tea is cool and well steeped, use it to paint the paper.

Painting the paper with steeped tea gives it a lovely, rich antique colour and crinkles the paper when dry.

Note: We tried different ways of doing this. Letting the tea sit for an hour allowed the water to cool but didn’t let the water get dark enough. We had to apply the tea several times in order to change the colour of the paper. It was very time consuming, as each application had to dry before the next. Instead, if you prepare the tea ahead of time (the night before or the morning ahead if you do the craft in the evening), you may only need to apply the tea to the paper once, depending on the colour you want. Ideally, paint with the tea after it has steeped for 12 hours.

LEFT: Inkjet print got hazy but still nice; RIGHT: laser print stayed sharp.

Step 5

Let the papers dry.

Move the wet papers carefully, lifting slowly from the edges so as not to tear the wet paper. It is ideal to let the papers dry on a baking cooling rack. The tea is non-toxic.

Even if you don’t have a cooling rack, the papers will still dry if left on a flat table surface.

When the papers are dry they are the colour of the tea.

Step 6

Cut twine.

Cut the craft twine to 40 cm (16 inches).

Use corn husk craft twine and/or red and white cotton craft twine. Cut the ribbons or ties to 40 cm (16 inches). This allows you to circle the scroll twice and tie a double knot with some left loose.

Step 7

Once dry, roll the Christmas carols into scrolls.

Roll with the music side out.
To let the title show when you’re done, begin rolling at the bottom of the sheet.
As you roll each one, tie with twine.

Optional

You might want to add little bells or sprigs of holly, but the scrolls will look festive even without these extra touches.

Three ways to give this gift

This is a gift and craft all in one. You can choose one of three ways to give it to your piano students:

You can assemble the music scrolls yourself and give them to your students ready-made.
You can give the supplies to your students in a kit with instructions on how they can make the craft, themselves.
Teaching online? No problem! It’s possible to email the file to your students with instructions and ask them to assemble the materials and make the craft. It’s such a special project that even this simple step will give you the feeling that you’re giving a gift.

It’s a JOY to give!

Get started! Visit my Printables page for your FREE Music Scroll Tree Ornaments kit!

“I was JUST searching for what homemade ornament idea to try this year! I’m so excited, this is perfect! 🤩💖 ” ~ Lydia, Wisconsin

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