DIY Wedding Tutorial: Money Tree

Hi everyone! My name is Ali, and I’m going to walk you through one of my favorite gifts to give: a money tree!

Money is often the best gift, but sometimes you want to spruce up your delivery. A money tree is a great way to do that.

So let’s get started!

Supplies Needed:

• Clay flower pot 
• 6 inch Styrofoam ball
• Styrofoam vase insert 
• Plastic cake dowel
• Mini river rocks
• Mini chalkboard sign
• Glitter
• Lace or ribbon, whichever you prefer
• Modge Podge
• Paper clips
• Tissue paper
• Hot glue gun
• Money (I used 200 $1 bills)
• Cutting machine (I used a Cricut Maker)
• Permanent vinyl
• Transfer tape

I got most of my supplies from Michaels. I have included some links.

Step-by-Step

Take the clay pot and the styrofoam vase insert. Hot glue the insert to the bottom of the pot. We’re going to use this to stabilize the stem in the pot.

Next, we’re going to glam up the flower pot. To do this, simply mix some glitter and modge podge. Use a paintbrush to apply the mix to the flower pot. By incorporating the glitter into the modge podge gives it a smoother surface, so the glitter isn’t’ flaking off everywhere.

Now, we’re going to add our stem (cake dowel) by pushing it into the center of the styrofoam in the pot. Push the styrofoam ball into the top of the dowel. I also like to add a bit of hot glue where the dowel meets the styrofoam, just for extra support. Make sure you are pushing the dowel far enough into the styrofoam; otherwise, your top will be wobbly.

Now we need to spruce up this stem. Take your ribbon and measure the length of the stem. Cut to size and then glue the fabric around the stem. Note we are going to be filling up the pot, so no need to go all the way down to the styrofoam!

Before you start adding your money, go ahead and dump your mini river rocks into the pot. The weight of the stones will help to stabilize the stem better and keep everything secure.

Now it’s time to add your money!

Take your money and fold it back and forth, accordion-style. Gather it together at one end, and stick it in the paper clip. You want to be sure to leave about half the paper still clip free so that you can push it into the styrofoam.

I prefer to fold all the money first, as it can get pretty time consuming depending on how much you have to do!

Take the paper clip and stick it into the styrofoam ball. Now repeat that about 200 times. The most important thing to note here is to scatter these at complete random when putting them on. You’ll want them going in different directions to create a fuller look.

After you’ve added all of your money, you might still notice some bald spots, and that’s okay! You can take pieces of tissue paper, trim them down small, and fold them the same way you did with your money. Insert these in any bald spots to add a bit of color and fill in your tree.

My tree is already pretty full, but here’s an example of another tree I did that needed some extra filling.

Lastly, we’re going to add a little tag to your tree. I’m going to add vinyl to my card using my Cricut. So I’ve gone into Design Space, added text, and have chosen the font Chilla, which you can download from Creative Fabrica. Since this is a wedding-related gift, I’m going to add “let love grow” to my tree.

I’ve measured my mini chalkboard sign at about 3.5 x 2.5, so I’m going to make my text slightly smaller than that at about 3 x 2 and then weld it together.

Now I’ll select Make It and cut my text. Be sure to follow the proper cut settings depending on the material you’re using. I’m using Oracal 651 and am cutting on the vinyl setting.

I’ll weed my text, and then transfer it into my mini chalkboard sign.

My sign came with a clothespin, so I’ll simply stick that right onto my pot.

And there you go! Who said money doesn’t grow on trees?!

If you liked this tutorial, you can follow Ali on Instagram.