It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And the most wonderful time to make some beautiful “addicting to create” wood slice Christmas tree ornaments! Aren’t they just the cutest!!!
Now I can’t take credit for this idea, because I was not the original creator of these beauties. I was exposed to the wonderful world of wood slice ornaments by a beautiful neighbor of mine, that collects beautiful wood, slices it, sands it, paints it, and seals it, with lots of other steps and love in there too. I was lucky enough to get an invite over for a craft night to add my own personal paint touches to a few of these babies… because she is awesome like that!
Well look what I made! And some of them I bought from her too! Check them out! And if you are not in the DIY mood, please check out Lacey & Mowbray to purchase your own beautiful hand crafted Wood Slice Christmas Tree Ornaments! They are so fun!
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So first off I’ll tell you a little about the fun ornaments that I painted! Because I’ll save the best for last! Wink!
Every year I try to make our family a new ornament with our family on it. This year I made us into little snowmen with scarves, coal eyes, mouth, and a carrot nose. Then I put the year on the back. Aren’t we the cutest snowboys and snowgirls. LOL…
I love this little green plaid ornament (that I copied from my friend. She makes the most beautiful wood slice plaid ornaments, with beautiful sayings on them). I also love that mine has a little moss on the side of it! Hint… Look for wood branches with cool moss on it! Love it!
Next I have a little Disclaimer: I am not very good at doing fancy lettering… Fancy lettering is a gifted art form, and even if I try and copy some fancy letters, they never turn out the way I had imagined. I think I painted over the letters on the kitties ornaments, and started over a few times… they are not puuuurfect, but they are puuurfect for us! Wink!
But YA! I made the kitties their own Kitties First Christmas Tree Ornaments and I think they love them! LOL! Anyone else have kitties that love taking ornaments off the tree and flicking them all over the house?!?! Not just mine??? Oh good… Christmas is definitely an adventure with kittens…
Look at Foxy’s tongue… “Meow… let me fly through the air, onto the tree, and knock all the ornaments off… all day long… meow! So fun!! Meow!”
Now check out some of the Wood Slice Christmas Tree Ornaments I got from my very talented friend… I absolutely love this Burch tree Love Ornament! My eye is drawn to it every time I look at our Christmas Tree. And I love the wood that it’s painted on with the knot coming out of it! My fav for sure!
And check out her red plaid ornaments! The red plaid is what first made me fall in love with these wood slice ornaments… They make me so happy! Not to mention the beautiful lettering that my friend is gifted with. Man… How my crafting game would improve if I had that lettering talent! It is beautiful!
And I love these little antlers! They just needed to be a part of my ornament collection! So cute!
Now let’s learn how we can make some of these awesome wood sliced Christmas tree Ornaments for our own trees! Or if you are not up for the DIY aspect of these ornaments and would love to get your hands on some made already for you, I highly suggest contacting my friend Julie who sells so many beautiful ornament designs! Check her out at Lacey and Mowbray on the Instagram!
This post includes affiliate links. These links are to things that I personally use, or that are better than what I have. This means the products are awesome & will be very helpful for you to complete these projects.
SUPPLIES NEEDED TO MAKE WOOD SLICE CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS:
- Wood Branches – Look for branches with beautiful bark that doesn’t easily fall off. Birch and Aspen branches are beautiful but look for branches with bark that is not pealing, also beautiful dense Cedar are awesome, and if you can get your paws on some Lilac Wood branches because they cut so smoothly!
- Chop Saw or Table Saw
- Sandpaper – high grit to make it super smooth (150 – 220 Grit Sandpaper).
- Mod Podge
- Paint Pens – there are lots of different brands and sizes of paint pens but I hear Uni-Posca Paint Marker Pens are some of the best!
- Drill and Drill Bit
- Twine
STEPS TO MAKE WOOD SLICE CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS:
Step #1: Find your wood! Look for wood branches with bark that doesn’t easily fall off the branch, such as cedar branches!
Step #2: Dry your wood branches before cutting them into slices. Fresh cut branches or branches that are too old can both cause imperfections. If your wood is too wet, and you cut it, eventually as it dries out it can crack, and if your wood is too old it can be hard to sand it smooth. Look for wood on the ground that is not freshly cut, and not super light in weight (light usually means old).
Step #3: Cut your wood. Use a Chop saw or Table saw to cut your wood into 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick slices. Watch your fingies!
Step #4: Sand your wood until it’s baby bum smooth! To get a smooth texture use a high grit sandpaper like 150-220 Grit sandpaper. Or if you are planning to make 10000000 of these beauties then a belt sander might do the job quicker! Like this…
Step #5: Seal your cut wood surface with Matte Mod Podge. This also acts to prime your wood surface, makes it a smooth surface for your paint pens to write on (saves your paint pen tips), and helps to prevent your paint from bleeding into the wood. Wait until this primed layer is dry before moving onto the next step. If after one layer of mod podge your surface is still not completely smooth, give it a little sanding, and add another layer of mod podge. You can never have too much of the podge! wink!
Step #6: Think of a fun design and paint it on your ornament! If you can’t think of something super amazing, Pinterest has tons of beautiful ideas to try. Or get creative and make an original masterpiece personalized for someone special! These make a beautiful personalized gift idea for all the special people in your life!
NOTE: If you want to paint the background before painting your design, you can use some regular acrylic paint for the back ground, then let it dry, seal it with some mod podge, let it dry, and then paint on your design!
So many steps but so much fun! Make a little assembly line. By the time you finish painting your last ones background, the first will be dry. You can speed up your drying time too by using a blow dryer on low heat!
Step #7: After your paint is dry, add a top layer of Mod Podge to seal it, and protect it! I think it even protects it from kitty teeth! Wink!
Step #8: Drill a hole from the front to the back at your top edge, string the twine through the hole, and tie it in a beautiful knot, so that you can hang your masterpiece on your tree!
Voila! You are done! Now make 1000 more for everyone you know… because they are so fun to make! YAY!!
I hope this tutorial inspires you too get a little crafty with some wood this Christmas, but if you are not up for all that fun creativity, and would prefer to buy the perfect specimen of a Christmas tree Ornament, that has already been made by my beautiful friend Julie… please contact her at Lacey and Mowbray! P.S. She also sells beautiful Embroidery! Wink!
Until next time, have a beautiful Christmas Holiday Season, and don’t forget to make beautiful things everyday!
XO JCL
