DIY Birch Tree Art

Making your own beautiful DIY Birch Tree Art is easy with this step by step tutorial. No special artistic skills or painting experience required! This post was originally created by me for Darice and contains affiliate links for your convenience. See my full disclosure policy here.

You know those grown up lady paint party places that are popping up all over the place lately? Like, come with your gal pals, get some appetizers and drinks, and make a painting? You know what I’m talking about, right?

Well, I’m thinking this little DIY wall art project would be absolutely perfect – I mean perfect! – for an at-home version of the girl’s night out painting party.

I mean, this painting looks pretty darn good (if I do say so myself), and the best part is that it is so, so easy to make! Honestly, this project is really just an Elementary School art class project given a grown-up makeover. And, guys, we all know that easy to make + looks great = the best.

Are you ready to make your own? Sweet! Let’s do this!

DIY Birch Tree Art Supplies:

• Canvas (I used an 18″ x 24″)
• Masking Tape of various widths
• Acrylic Craft Paint (I used a very light blue and black)
• Foam Brush
• Old Plastic Card (a credit card or store card works great)
• Copper Leaf
• Metal Leaf Adhesive (or you could use liquid leaf instead of the copper leaf and adhesive)
• Small Round Brush

Step One: Tape off Canvas

To make your own DIY Birch Tree Art, start by marking off the trees on your canvas using different widths of masking tape. I made my largest tree by overlapping pieces of 2″ tape. If two of your trees overlap, first tape down the tree you want to be in front. Be sure to press down on the edges of the tape to prevent any paint from leaking below.

Step Two: Paint Background

Paint the background using a sponge brush and acrylic paint. I just used a solid background, but I think it would be fun to try an ombre effect too.

Step Three: Paint Birch Trees

Now to the fun part! The super, duper top secret key to easy, awesome-looking birch trees: an old credit card!

Start by practicing your technique on a scrap piece of paper before working directly on the canvas. Squirt out a bit of black paint on your palette (or paper plate). Dip the edge of your card into the paint. Place the edge of the card onto the paper perpendicular to your working surface, and then pushing down on the card, scrape it along the paper.

Practice a few times to figure out how much paint and pressure you need to get the look you want. When you feel ready, move over to your canvas. Use the same technique to paint along the edges of the white spaces we left for the trees.

Where the two trees overlap, paint the back tree first, leaving the tape for the front tree in place. That’s why you see tape in the picture above. At this point you only need tape when two of your trees cross.

Pretty soon you will have a whole forest of birch trees.

You could call your DIY Birch Tree Art donezo now, BUT if you want to add a bit of metallic personalization, then I think we should probably be friends because that is just what I did.

Step Four: Gilded Heart and Initials

Since I’m a romantic, I decided to add a heart with my hubby’s and my initials inscribed inside. I began by sketching out the design on the largest tree trunk in pencil.

Then I painted over my sketch with my small round brush and the metal leaf adhesive. This stuff needs to sit for about 30 minutes to get nice and tacky. (Follow the instructions on your adhesive.)

When the adhesive is all ready, gently press a piece of copper (or gold – I love gold too!) leaf onto the adhesive, and then brush off the excess with a soft bristle brush.

And that’s it! Your painting is all ready to be displayed/shown off. You are going to have so many people impressed with your mad painting skillz.

UPDATE: I recently did a little demonstration of this technique in my new weekly live Friday Craft Club over on my facebook page. You can watch the replay of it right here:

If you make your own DIY Birch Tree Art (and especially if you host a birch tree painting girls night), then please, please share it with me! Share your photos to my facebook page or tag me on instagram or twitter (@persialou).

Happy Painting!

If you like this post, check out these:

How to Paint Watercolor Agate Slices

Make Your Own Photo Transfer Art

DIY Embroidered Canvas Wall Art

DIY Wall Art & Decor Projects