Rustic Wood Christmas Tree

What can you do with odd sized, cut off wood pieces.

Turn them into an outside or inside Rustic Wood Christmas Tree.

With moving here, I gave quite a bit of my Christmas decorations away, but that gave me a chance to change things up this year. Since moving here to Madison, I have been on the 'Upcycling' and giving old wood a make over, into something new ( For me that is) 

I had slats of wood stacked up in my bedroom, some cut offs from some of my previous wood projects. Plus some longer wood pieces from my local thrift store ( Which only cost a $1 ! Each )

*Tip, next time you want wood, try looking in the thrift store by the bed frames, you'll be surprised at what you can find *

Start by laying 1 longer piece of wood on the bottom, this is what you'll screw the cross pieces of wood to.

Then taking your other bits of wood, lay down on top to get the design you want.

You do want it to look like the outline of a Christmas Tree.

I marked where I wanted to make my cuts then numbered the wood, to know which order they would go in.

Then using a jigsaw, I cut the wood to size.

Seeing as this was going to be used outside, I didn't sand the edges down. If you plan on using it inside, then give you edges a little sanding.

I drew a simple Star shape on paper, then cut around that, laid it on a cut off piece of wood, traced around it then cut it out, using a jigsaw. 

Then with all your pieces of wood cut and ready to go, lay then back down, in the right order on the longer piece of wood and using  2 wood screws, on each piece, screw them into place.

Adding the star on last.

And what to do with the small cut off pieces of wood - Easy

My girls played all day with the left over bits of wood!! I did sand all the edges down to be safe.

Time to paint. 

I didn't want one color so I mixed a few different greens to make a different color for each slat of wood.

I painted each slat, using a brush, then using a rag, wiped off the excess paint.

Then using an old dried up sponge, I added some depth around the edges, using black paint

This is how it looks.

For the base, I cut open an empty Gallon Sized Milk Carton and using 2 bags of Quick Set Cement, then stuck the bottom of my tree into it and left it to harden.

Once hardened, I wrapped some Drop cloth around it.

Next step was to chalk the words, 

We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Then using Acrylic Paint in White and Red I painted over my chalk letters. Then I added some Elmers glue to the edges of each wood and sprinkled Glitter on top and left to dry.

I then put the base of the tree into a galvanized bucket and wrapped Christmas fabric around it.

My Rustic Wood Christmas Tree

Ho-ho-ho 

Merry Christmas

Here it is before I added some white Christmas Lights.

All lit up and ready for Christmas

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Rustic Wood Christmas Door Sign

Nadolig Llawen - Merry Christmas

For those who don't speak Welsh, Nadolig Llawen means, Merry Christmas.

I wanted something different for my front door this year, not the usual wreath, don't get me wrong, I love wreath's, but it was time for a change and a quick one at that. 

I started with, heat treated wood, I purchased from Ace Hardware. The wood actually came in a large bundle of firewood. (Made by the Amish)

Then using Elmers Glue or store brand White Glue,  spread it over the wood and leave until it's tacky.

Then once it's tacky, load your brush up with white paint, and in long strokes, brush on the paint. Don't go back over what you just did. You will see within minutes, the cracking effect takes place.

Continue until the wood has had the 1st coat. Leave to dry and continue the same process, glue then, paint, till you have the desired effect.

I forgot to take the final picture. But in the picture below you can see the color.

 I  traced the words using chalk onto the wood, then paint over letters, in Red.

Then did a quick and simple snowflake design.

Then predrilled holes to hang it from.

I love the misshaped wood.

Then using White Glue & Glitter, trace over the snowflake and Christmas Trees.

I did light blobs on the tree, to make it look like snow had fallen on the branches.

Sprinkle the Glitter all over the glue and leave to completely dry, then tap off any loose glitter.

Add some wired 'S' from craft wire and thread through the holes and then using chain link 

Attach the 2 signs together. Add a Burlap bow and your good to hang your new quick Rustic sign up.

Rustic Christmas Christmas Sign

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Medley Of Christmas Trees.

Today is Monday November 18th 2013 and there are only

36 days until Christmas!

ARGH!!!

I'm behind on figuring what to get as Gifts this year, but as you can see from the 

Medley of Christmas Trees, the Decorations are somewhat covered.

(Only because I have to teach a craft class on making Christmas Trees)

I won't be posting for every tree I made, I have done a post for the 'Whimiscal Trees', & 'Book Pages Christmas Tree', which are in this picture. As for the others I will just give you a general run down on 'how I made them'.

Green Cone Tree

First I made a template for a large cone and  smaller cones. I also used small  polystyrene cones from the dollar store.

This Cone Tree, I made by rolling up poster board to make a cone, hot gluing it in place, then wrapped it with Green Wrapping paper, gluing it in place with Mod Podge. Finished it off with a decoration I got from Walmart for $2 and some dollar store Christmas ribbon around the bottom.

Wood Popsicle Cone Tree

This 

Popsicle Craft stick, took a little longer to  make, as I had to layer on the sticks.

I made another poster board cone, from the template. Then starting from the bottom I glued the sticks on. The first bottom layer I just stuck side by side, I didn't stagger them on top of each other. 

For the second layer, I did stagger them to overlap. Keep doing this till you have the effect you want. I used 1 large bag of popsicle craft sticks & 1 small mini bag of popsicle craft sticks.

Then using a rag and small paint brush, I applied a wood stain all over and let it dry. Once dried I glued and stuck in a decoration  I got from the dollar store.

Fun Clown Hat Christmas Tree

For this tree, I used a polystyrene cone, ribbon, piece of Christmas fabric, glue gun, a button, a block scrap of wood, Mod Podge and a decoration for the topper.

All I did for this tree, I glued the cone then stuck the fabric over it. On the underside I glued ribbon on, making loops as I went. Then I cut and made smaller green loops and stuck those down and on top of the green ribbon. With the block of wood, I glued a piece of ribbon around the edge, then glued the whole cone to that. Then poked a hole in the top of the cone, popped some glue down the hole, then stuck the topper in. Add a ribbon and a  button.

Button Tree.

For this tree,I used a small block of wood, an unfinished wood  tree, I purchased from Walmart for $1.50, Bags of Buttons from Walmart about $2.50? Glue Gun, spray glue, Glitter, Ribbon.

First I glued the tree to the block of wood. Then I gave the tree a coat of spray glue and just to be safe I used my glue gun as well to glue each button on, overlaying buttons to fill in gaps. For the topper, I used red buttons and ribbon.

Spray the whole tree with  spray glue, then spinkle glitter all over. Tap off the excess and leave to dry.

Burlap Cone Tree

To make this I made a cone from poster board. A large wooden spool, scrap wood, twine, red burlap, a $2 red topper from Walmart, a thick peice of card ( I used an old book cover) glue gun & glue.

Wrap and glue your burlap to your cone. Glue your thick card/book cover to the underside of cone, hold till set. Glue the wooden spool to the scarp wood, then glue the cone to the spool, hold till set. Next use a line of glue to hold the start of the twine onto the wooden spool, wrap around, use glue to secure.

Add twine & bow around the bottom and top. then Glue the end of the topper & then stick down into your cone.

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