Pining For Trees

I saw some wooden Christmas trees on pinterest and thought:  I can do these and I think I'll kick it up a notch, yessiree. 

I started with some scrap plywood.  I think it was from another project in which the backside of something large, hot and red needed rebuilding.
After a little measuring and a little cutting it was time to  sand and prime the plywood.  Then paint however you like.  You can use stencils of stars and other patterns; you can free-hand or you can simply white-wash them for a dramatic, wintery look.

Then it's time to drill! 

Yeah, that's the drill, baby.  She's a yellow, battery-packed hunk o' man-machine but I use her, too.  Mooorrre poweeerr...argh, argh, argh.  Oh, and that's my coffee mug on the work bench.  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!  There's nothing quite like steel and power and the smell of sawdust to make a girl's day. I have a bit which drills the perfect size hole for small, LED, battery pack, lights.  I use the 20-pack of lights and drill as many holes. 

Once the bulbs are positioned into the openings I dab a bit of glue onto the back of each light where it meets the hole (using Elmer's wood glue but I think craft glue might work).  At the end I affix the battery pack near the trunk of the tree using Gorilla glue.  That's key because other glues will dry out and turn brittle and won't hold from season to season.  Gorilla glue it is!

After the paint and glue are dry here's the final product. Shiny and bright.  Bejeweled and blinged out!  Snow Queen Elsa would melt. 


I don't have to speculate much for I know my kids will be barking up my tree hoping to nab a few of these for their holiday decor.   FIR-realllll, Mom!  And I'll be de-light-ed.

O Christmas Tree

We regularly do projects together sure to sign and date each one.  Definitely sentimental!  The idea is that one day we will rummage through our things and remember the fun we had together.  That was the idea behind these Christmas tree pieces.  We'd seen a few versions on pinterest with wee little handprints.  The idea is a good one but my wee tots are grown up now.  Still I hope they will want these in their own homes one day.

To get started I rustled up some old 16 x 20 frames and painted them antique gold.  I had some 16 x 20 art canvases on hand and forest green, chocolate brown and metallic gold acrylic paint.  We used foam brushes to paint directly onto the hands and control the amount on each rather than dipping hands directly into the paint and "stamping" the canvas.  The girls had the idea of combining both their hand prints onto each canvas rather than each having their own set of prints.  *Snap*  Great idea!

Once their hand print canvas dried each girl set about topping off their tree with a hand painted gold star.

After the star dried we slid the canvas into the frame and set atop the mantle.  For now two trees rest on either side of my mantle.  One day they'll each have one of these in their own homes.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me
That hope and love will ever be
The way to joy and peace for me.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me.

Not so much speculation about this project.  I know we'll be making this a tradition with grandchildren some day.  And I'll see the twinkling of their little eyes all excited to get their hands painted and a gold star on their hand print tree.