Our Jesse Tree

We’ve been using the Jesse Tree to shape our Advent celebration for almost twenty years. Early on we had only a booklet of daily readings, but over the years we added—creating our own devotional series (that carries through the 12 Days of Christmas!) and crafting ornaments to accompany each day’s reading. Now all six of our children, 20s to tot, eagerly join in the celebration. We use the readings on this website and finish each evening with hanging the day’s Jesse Tree ornament.

Find out more about how we celebrate with so many ages here, or scroll down to get crafting! These ornaments are easy to make, but take a bit of time. At the end, however, you’ll have beautiful keepsakes that can be used year after year.

We made ours extra tiny and store them in little boxes made from leftover Christmas cards.

Jesse Tree Day 5: Sarah

A fabric tent and clay Sarah remind us the story of Sarah’s laughter. 

What You’ll need

• Oven-bake or air-dry clay or salt dough (note: salt dough must be stored in a dry place or it will disintegrate!)

• Acrylic paints, glitter, glue

• Jewelry-making or needle-nosed pliers

• Flat-bottomed head pin for hanging

• Fabric scraps

• Small twigs or pine needles

• Toothpicks

Instructions

1.

Shape a small “Sarah” from clay. Don’t worry about detail. Make her about 1/2” high.

2.

Make a thin rectangle of clay about 1” x 1/2”.

3.

Cut or snap twigs or toothpicks about 1/2” in length. Press them into the corners of the clay—these are your tent posts.

4.

Press a head-pin through the bottom of the clay and dry it.

5.

Cut a small rectangle of fabric about 1” x 1 1/2” and place over the tent poles, gluing at the sides (the headpin should go through the fabric—depending on the thickness of your fabric, you may need to make a tiny hole for the headpin). Glue Sarah at the tent doorway.

6.

Paint and decorate as desired. I glued pine needles along the base and rik-rak at the tent door and added glitter.

7.

Carefully bend headpin into hook with pliers.

Resources and Links

Find inspiration for other Jesse Tree Ornament designs at our Jesse Tree Pinterest Board.

For simpler ornaments, use one of our Joy of Advent printables (linked below).

We use Sculpey clay and the materials listed below (affiliate links—support our site without adding to your cost).