Christmas Tree from stakes

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Today I want to share a Christmas Tree that I made from stakes.  I may have raided my husbands stash of stakes to make these, LOL. 

 

I cut my desired lengths for the branches.  I then laid them out and cut the main trunk to the length I needed.  I did no measuring.. I really was not striving to be perfect as I wanted it to look not perfect.. if that makes sense. 

 

I painted the stakes and after it was dry I took a piece of sandpaper to each branch and the trunk.  Again, I wanted it to look a bit 'rustic' and not perfect.   

 

The first one I made, I did not put glue on before nailing and what a mistake that was.. on the 2 following I did put some E6000 glue down and then nailed.  The branches are now secure.. very secure.

 

I then used my cricut explore air to cut out the words for each branch.  I wanted the words to grow in size with each branch.  I found the general idea for these on pinterest.. However, if you want you could google Christmas words with how ever many letters you are looking for.  I then placed the vinyl onto the stakes. 

 

I had some ribbon and twine laying around so I used bells and small ornaments I had to hang on the branches.  Put a dab of hot glue on the back side of the branch so they stay in place.

 

This particular tree I did not mod podge over, but the other two I made I am giving away so I did mod podge so the vinyl would never come off.  That is totally optional. 

 

I hope this may has inspired you to get some wood pieces out with some power tools and create!  Have fun

 



Christmas Tree Pallet

  I wasn't sure if this would be an epic fail or win.  The Christmas tree made from pallets is going viral. I am sure you have seen the post I speak of. 

 

Here is my take on a Christmas Tree pallet.

 

I started off with a pallet and kinda gauged where I wanted to cut.  I knew I wanted some of the nails and or nail holes to be present on my tree.  Added rustic look!  So I cut and placed the 'branches' in the order I wanted.  I used a stake I had laying around, however, I wouldn't use a brand new one again.. It needs to be 'roughed up' to go with the pallets.. Unless you are using a brand new pallet.

 

I then took some scrapbook paper and mod podged it onto the pallet.  I did let this set over night.  If I were to do this again, I would for sure make the paper fit the 'branch' .. not just the 12 inches in length the paper is.  The morning after, I took my sander and  roughed up the scrapbook paper a bit.  I didn't want it to be perfect. 

 



For my other branches I took some acrylic paint and just randomly painted with a bunched up paper towel. Again, I wasn't going for a 'perfect' look.  I wanted to be a bit messy and primitive if you will. You can make the tree any color you wish.. I'm a purple fan to the extreme, so I did purple.

 

After I the paint dried, I put a thick layer of mod podge over every part of the tree.  The paint dries quick as you only put a thin layer .. Unless you do thick painting.

 

I added some buttons and a star that I scuffed some paint up.  Screwed it all onto my stake and there you have it!  I did paint over the stake.  As I said earlier, it was too new looking.  I'd stain it or just get some wood that looks used next time.

 





Thanks for stopping by!

~Kara