Rustic Christmas Tree Sign

I drew a simple outline of a tree onto the square sheet of plywood using a straight edge. The sides of the tree measured 16.5 inches tall and 12 inches across at the bottom; the tree stump is 4 inches wide by 2 in. 

Using my jigsaw, I followed the pencil outline to cut out the tree shape. Jigsaws are pretty easy to use, you just have to take your time and follow the lines (and don’t get distracted by your son asking you if you know where his favorite sweatshirt is or you will get a little bump you have to sand out in the next step!!)

The cut out tree shape

Now it was time to try out the WORX MakerX tools! I grabbed the rotary tool, hooked it into the MakerX hub, attached the sanding band and went to work smoothing out the rough edges of my tree.

I used the rotary tool to round out the base of my tree.

Next, the tree got a quick coat of dark brown paint. 

Do you like puzzles? This part of my rustic tree project was like a jigsaw! The wood discs come in a variety of sizes; I dumped out a few of each size into a pile and grabbed a small glue brush and wood glue.

Brushing wood glue onto the backside of the discs I began gluing them onto the tree. I had to slide them around a bit and play with the different sizes to fill in the tree. The tiny discs were my best friend; they were great at filling in small areas! 

While the glue was drying on the tree, I moved onto painting the base board. I poured 3 neutral paint colors onto the board ( dark brown, tan, ivory).

I blended the paint together creating an ombre effect.

When the paint was dry I glued the tree to the board with wood glue. I noticed the base of the tree blended too much into the board so I brushed on a little ivory paint to make it stand out more.

Now, I removed my rotary tool from the MakerX hub and attached the MakerX Wood And Metal Crafter. I had a cute idea for the top of my sign that I wanted to create using the wood burning tip.

I’ve never used a wood burning tool before so I practiced my technique on a piece of scrap wood...once I got the hang of it I was ready to go!

Using 2 inch wood slices I wrote out the letters p-e-a-c-e with a pencil. I clicked on the power switch and turned up the heat on the wood crafter to 900⁰. I guided the wood crafter over my pencil outline and burned the letters into the wood slices.

My top tip is not to lift up the wood crafter as you are burning in the letters; do it in one smooth stroke.

 I added a little detail to the edges of my letters after I was through. 

To finish up my sign, I strung the letters and 2 wooden snowflakes onto a thin piece of twine; making a simple knot around each letter to secure it to the twine and make a garland.

I attached each end of the twine to the back of the board with my staple gun. I also added a small length of nautical rope with my staple gun to the back to make a sturdy hanger.

I hung up my sign on my faux brick wall; you can see my Hometalk tutorial here for the details ( fun project!).

Happy Holidays, Friends! Visit me for more great holiday decorating ideas!