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Wood

Basswood Trees with eat.sleep.make.

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Hi all!  Shannon from eat.sleep.make. here!  So excited to share this inexpensive and easy project with you!  All you need is a sheet of basswood, a craft knife, a rule, pencil and some paint!
 

 

 
First – Decide how big you want your tree to be.  My first one I made 6 inches tall and 4 inches wide.  Mark the wood and draw your triangle
 
 
Second – Use your ruler and craft knife to cut along the lines you drew.  It may take several scores with the knife to get through the wood.  Don't press too hard or you may crack the wood.

 

 

 

 
Third – Draw a line half way up from the middle of the base on one triangle.  Then draw a line half way down from the tip of the triangle on the other.  Use your craft knife to cut a slice about 1/16 to 1/8 inch where the line was. 

 

 

 
Fourth – Slide your pieces together to make sure they fit.
Fifth – Paint a fancy little design on it!

 

 

 

 

 
These take little time to make, but turn out so adorable! It would even be fun to cut them out and let the kids paint/color/glitterfy them.
 
Stop over at eat.sleep.make. and check out some of our other Christmas projects!
 

 

 

 
Celebrate the Light Canvas

 

 

 
DIY Rosette Tree

 

 

 
DIY Snow Globe Necklace

 

Free Printable Christmas Countdown and Wood Clipboard Tutorial

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Hi all!  It’s Jenn from My Fabuless Life.  I’m SO excited that the Christmas season is HERE, and even more excited to share a little printable Christmas Countdown project with all of you.  If you follow me on my blog, you already know that I’m a sucker for all things counting down to the big Holiday, so this is one of several advent calendars that I have around my house.  
 
 
All you’ll need for this project is:
* a block of wood (mine is 8×10, purchased from a local woodcraft store, but you can easily use whatever scraps you have lying around, or even a picture frame).
*a metal clip or clothespin
*the printables I’ve provided for you at the end of the post
 
I sanded and rounded out the edges of my wood block, and then stained it with my favorite stain (Early American from Minwax).  Once the stain was dry, I sanded the edges again to give them a more aged look,
then I hot glued the clip on in the center of the wood. 
 
 
To give the cards a little something extra, I colored the edges with a red marker. 
 
 
This would be a really fun project with a picture frame too.  Just put some pretty paper inside the frame, and glue the clip to the glass on the frame.  
 
 
 

Enjoy!  And happy Holiday decorating!  You can get details on my full Christmas display (including details on the coordinating "Merry & Bright" print) over at My Fabuless Life.
 

 

Or you might enjoy a few of these other Christmas projects:

 

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

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Thanksgiving Centerpiece // Hi all!  It's Jenn from My Fabuless Life.  Can you believe that Thanksgiving is already around the corner?!  The older I get, the more I LOVE Thanksgiving.  I love that it gives us a whole month to focus on our blessings, gather with family, and of course, an excuse to throw diet cares out the window and and EAT!!

I loved all of the "Thankful Trees" I saw floating around the blog world last year, so this year, I wanted to create my own. We'll call it the "deconstructed," sparkly version.  

I started by cutting out my letters on my Cricut on some mat paper (like for matting pictures).  You can pick it up in packages of 20 at Hobby Lobby, and it's super cheap.  It's quickly becoming one of my new favorite crafting tools because there are about a million and uses for it.

After I cut out my letters, I just coated them with a layer of Mod Podge, and then glitter.  For the sticks, I used some fun paper straws from Target, and for the base, just a stick from the yard.

I drilled holes in the stick and placed the straws in.

Since I wanted the text to be kind of fun and crazy, I hot-glued the letters on at different heights before I trimmed the straws.  

Then I trimmed them up and set them on my table.

I wrote down things we were thankful for on some kraft paper (you can see my four year old's on the left–my favorite) and glued them to a few more of the straws.  This is my favorite part of this project, because it's a great way to teach my little one about blessings and being grateful, and the responses are priceless–as you can see.  You could easily save these in a scrapbook and look back over them each year too, making for some great memories.

 

Instagram Photo Frame

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Hey Whipperberry fans, it's Jenn from My Fabuless Life and today I'm going to show you a super simple way to actually take those beautiful life moments sitting in your Instagram feed and put them to good use!
 
I get some grief about what an Instagram addict I am, buuutttt…this is why!  It's such an easy way to capture those day to day moments, when you wouldn't normally be carrying your camera or you just don't want to mess with getting it out.  Basically, for me, Instagram is a photo journal, and I don't have to mess with editing all of those pictures at once, because I've already done it, easily, before the pictures are posted, which also makes them perfect for displaying.  This is one of the ways I decided to display mine and it's super easy.
 
 
I picked up a large frame at a local home decor store (it was on crazy clearance because it was missing the glass) and spray painted it with Krylon's Gold (I also love Valspar's gold spray paint).  Then, I actually picked up the "chicken wire" from the trash pile at a house being built in my neighborhood–it's the wire mesh they put under stucco.  I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm nuts, because I can be seen on a regular basis pushing a stroller and carrying handfuls of scrap wood, tree branches, and other treasures.  Am I embarrassed about it?  A little (my husband a lot), but I can suck up a lot of pride for free stuff ; ).  Anyway, if you don't have a local construction site to borrow from, I think you can buy chicken wire at any local farm supply.  And it probably goes without saying, but don't go stealing the stuff.  I pulled this out of a pile that was clearly trash–no one wants to see you on an episode of Cops.  Now that the legal stuff is out of the way back to our regularly scheduled project:  Lay the mesh over the back of the frame.  Don't cut it down to size yet!  It's much easier if you do it after it's attached.  
 
With a staple gun, just staple the mesh on around the back of the frame.  If you don't have a staple gun (it's totally worth the $10 purchase) you can use brass thumb tacks and some hot glue.  Put some glue on the back of the tack and then press it into the frame to hold the mesh (the glue will keep the tack from popping out).  Then go around and cut all of the excess off with some wire cutters.  BE CAREFUL!  This stuff is sharp!  And that's about it.  Time for hanging.
 
 
I hung my pictures with some embellished paper clips, and some Basic Grey cards I scored at SNAP!.    
 
 
Then to add a little more variety and color, I added some free Project Life-sized printables I found here & here, and a miniature version of one of my own prints.
 
 
 
I know Instagram printing can be pretty pricey, so as a bonus, I've created a few templates and a tutorial on how to print your own at home, or wherever you normally have your photos printed.  You can find the free downloads and tutorial over at My Fabuless Life.  
 
My Fabuless Life
Embellished Picture Clips // Repurposed Kitchen Cabinet