• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Artisan Life
  • Dot Marker Pages
  • Easter Printables
  • Journals & Planners
  • Preschool + K Printables
    • Alphabet Tracing Worksheets
    • Fine Motor Practice Pages
    • Spanish Preschool Pages
    • CVC & Sight Words
    • Dot Marker Pages
    • Preschool Math
    • Kindergarten Math Worksheets
    • Cut & Paste Puzzles
  • Coloring
  • Gardening + DIY
    • Gardening
    • DIY Cleaning Products
    • DIY Skincare Products
    • Craft Tutorials
  • Shop

Rustic Twine Candy Cane Ornaments

5309 shares
  • Share

These rustic twine candy cane ornaments are easy to make and last for years!

When I was a kid, we’d always decorate the Christmas tree with candy canes. Other things, too, of course, but we always put up a box of candy canes and tried really hard to wait until after Christmas to eat them.

In Hawaii, mints, candy canes, cough drops, gum, and basically everything else has a tendency to turn gooey and mushy after a while. (Depending on the weather and humidity, sometimes a very short while!) That’s why I decided to create and share these rustic twine candy cane ornaments!

With this technique, you can spruce up faux candy canes to create an ornament that will last for years, regardless of the humidity.

easy rustic candy cane ornaments

This post may include affiliate links, which means I may make a commission on purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. 

Materials needed for rustic twine candy cane ornaments

  • Plastic candy canes! It doesn’t matter what color they are because you’ll be covering them up!
  • Twine. I experimented with different types of twine and I found that fairly narrow twine, but not the super narrow, smooth hemp cord you use to make bracelets, works best. Unless your candy canes are oversized, thicker twine is more difficult to use. I imagine baker’s twine would be pretty cute, too!
  • Hot glue & glue gun (confused by all the different types of hot glue? Make sure to check out my  top 10 hot glue tips & tricks!)
  • Scissors
  • Ribbons and additional decorations (berries, springs, tiny pinecones, etc) – totally optional. I cut apart small pine and berry spray and used the pieces.
Candy Cane Hanging Ornaments 7 Inches 12Pc Red White Christmas Ornament
Candy Cane Hanging Ornaments 7 Inches 12Pc Red White Christmas Ornament
  • Use indoors or out to decorate trees, wreaths and other holiday decorations or as package tie ons.
  • Each candy cane is approx. 7 inches long.
  • Bright colors, red and white.Shiny to reflect holiday lights.
Check current price

If you live somewhere with candy cane-friendly weather, you might be able to make these with ‘real’ candy canes, but be careful because I suspect the hot glue would melt the plastic wrapper and leave you with semi-exposed candy that might attract bugs.

plastic candy canes

How to make simple twine candy cane ornaments

Wrapping a candy cane will probably take more twine than you’d guess! I recommend not cutting any twine off the spool until you’re almost finished wrapping a candy cane.

1. Heat your glue gun!

2. Lay about an inch of twine down the candy cane, as shown.

an-inch-of-twine

3. Add hot glue around the bottom of the candy cane, then begin wrapping it with twine. Make sure to work quickly, before the glue has a chance to set, and carefully (so you don’t burn your fingers!)

Update – You can prevent scorched fingers with these inexpensive silicone finger protectors! I wish I’d purchased some years ago!

Frienda 12 Pieces Hot Glue Gun Finger Caps Silicone Finger Protectors for...
Frienda 12 Pieces Hot Glue Gun Finger Caps Silicone Finger Protectors for...
Check current price

You may need to make a couple of wraps that go around existing wraps to help the twine stay in place at the end (you can see in the photo below that not all the wraps are completely on the candy cane – some loop over the twine).

wrap

4. Continue wrapping up the candy cane, making sure your wraps are snug and close together. Every few inches, you can add a dab of glue to help hold everything in place, if you’d like (I’ve tried both with and without extra glue and both ways work fine.)

continue-wrapping

5. When you get just a few wraps from the end, go ahead and cut your twine. Cut it so you’ll have about an extra inch or so more than you’ll need to finish wrapping. If you’re not sure how much this will be, go ahead and finish wrapping the candy cane without adding hot glue and then cut the twine. Unwrap the last few wraps, then add hot glue and rewrap. Add a dab of glue to the very end of the candy cane then curl the extra twine in place to conceal it, as shown:

wrap-the-end

6. Your twine candy cane ornaments are basically finished now!

rustic twine wrapped candy canes

They can be made even more cute by adding extra decorations, like ribbons, greenery, berries, and pinecones.

I glued each piece of greenery in place, then lightly added a bit more glue for each berry, then tied everything in place/concealed the glue with a piece of 1/4″ ribbon.

rustic twine wrapped candy cane ornaments

These cuties would look great on a tree, on wreaths, or as part of a tablescape! No matter how you use yours, I hope you enjoy. =)

You know you’ll be shopping online during the holiday season, so why not earn cash back on the purchases you’re making?

Always check Ebates (they’re Rakuten now, but it’s still the same service) to see how much cash back you could be getting before making a purchase! Sign up for a free Rakuten account to get started today!

What ornaments did you always put on the tree as a kid? Anyone else try to sneak candy canes off the tree ahead of time?

Don’t lose track of this rustic ornament tutorial! Pin it to your Christmas board now!

rustic twine wrapped candy cane ornaments

More Christmas posts & free printables

Easy orange slice ornaments

Simple orange slice ornaments

Free printable Christmas tree coloring pages

Free printable Christmas tree coloring pages for adults

Free printable ornament coloring pages

Free printable ornament templates

Secret Santa survey

free-printable-secret-santa-questionnaires

$10 gift ideas

$10 gift ideas for coworkers

Stocking stuffers for toddlers (that aren’t junk)

toddler stocking stuffers that aren't junk

5309 shares
  • Share

Buy me a coffee

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « West Virginia Day 4 – In Which we Learned Something the Hands On Way
Next Post: West Virginia Day 5 – In Which we Enjoyed Autumn »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. BeadedTail

    December 26, 2016 at 13:45

    Those are super cute! I didn’t see this until after Christmas but I’m saving for next year!

    Reply
  2. Julie

    December 22, 2016 at 17:30

    I have some real candy canes up on my tree, but yeah, I think they’re probably one gooey mess..! Oh well! These are super cute and look super easy to make! Saving it down for next year!

    Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

natashalh - the artisan life

Hi, I’m Natasha! I’m so glad you’re here.

I’m a former classroom teacher with a Masters of the Arts in Teaching turned homeschooler & gardener. I share educational & planner printables and tips for making gardening with kids successful and affordable.

I also publish printed coloring & activity books. You can also find me on YouTube.

Let's be friends!

Search The Artisan Life

The Artisan Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The Artisan Life also uses affiliate links for other sites. For a full look at my policy, please visit its page here.

Buy me a coffee

Footer

Privacy Policy | Disclosure & Disclaimer | Terms and Conditions | Contact
COPYRIGHT © 2012 – 2023 The Artisan Life · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: natashalh(at)stalkingthewildsnark(dot)com. I do not accept guest posts and will not respond to unsolicited requests for guest posts or links. Stock images by Depositphotos

Copyright © 2023 The Artisan Life on the Foodie Pro Theme