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DIY Wood Christmas Tree Stand

December 6, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

outdoor_christmas_tree_standHave you ever loaded your family up (like on Christmas Vacation) and headed out to cut down a Christmas tree? Matt and I were a little excited our first year of marriage and took up that task. It was a good three-hour drive, where my youngest brother (who we took with us) kept asking why we didn’t just buy one from the lot in front of Cicis pizza.

Memories. Isn’t that something we love about Christmas?

Now that we have our own kids and they are old enough to appreciate the experience, we loaded up and headed north to the tree farms once again. Bonus: we live a lot closer to the farms now.

cutting_down_your_christmas_treeWhile shopping for trees, my J and I fell in love with all the little trees they had. We decided we needed one of those as well and cut one to take it home.

oh_christmas_treeI had visions of creating a wood box to hold the little tree on our front porch. I started out on my dream by getting a long 12″ piece of wood.

I used my Ryobi Compound Miter Saw to cut the board into 12″ square pieces. I then stained the five pieces I cut and handed my dream project off to my awesome husband.

He used wood glue and nails to create a wood box.

building_a_wood_boxOnce the box was created, he measured for the middle and drilled a huge hole into the center of the box. This hole was wider than the circumference of our tree trunk, which was perfect.

building_a_christmas_tree_standMatt is creative and took it even a step further than I had imagined. He screwed an old spaghetti jar lid to the inside of the box, so when the jar was twisted onto the lid, it could hold water for our tree. I was merely going to put a pitcher under our box to hold the water. Both ways work, so you could go whichever way you want, if you want to create this same tree stand.

Wood_christmas_tree_standI love the simplicity of the design. It’s simple, yet so pretty. The natural look with a few shiny lights at night is so pretty.

front_porch_christmas_treeThis wood Christmas tree stand looks so good with my wreath from a chicken feeder. I am loving the more simple decor we are doing around our house this year. I hope you too are able to enjoy the simple things this Christmas like the joy of finding your tree.

Natural_christmas_decor

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DIY Paper Pumpkins

September 9, 2013 By Erica Deuel 8 Comments

welcome_to_fall

I can’t believe fall is here. Although the “official” first day of fall isn’t till later this month, I am so excited to start decorating for my favorite season. This weekend I pulled out my bucket of fall decor and happily started placing my collection of pumpkins around the house. I love fall.

As I was in the basement getting my bucket of fall stuff, I saw my huge box of left over moving paper. When we moved in, I had a hard time throwing out the paper we used to wrap some of our breakable stuff, so I saved a bunch of it.

uses_for_moving_paper

We have been using it for painting projects. I let the kids paint on it, or I put it under other things we are painting to protect the surface. I decided to try to make a paper pumpkin with some of it.

I started by cutting a bunch of paper pieces the same size. Next, I cut the ends of my paper strips to be rounded. Once I had a stack of rounded edged paper pieces, I folded the paper into one big fan and wrapped it with a thin piece of wire.

making_a_paper_pumpkinSlowly, I started to pull the different pieces of paper out away from one another. This is a step that forces you to be some what patient. The moving paper is so thick that if I pulled to quickly the paper would rip.

making_paper_pumpkinOnce the paper pumpkin is fluffed, I glued the two end pieces (on either side) of the paper fan together to make the pumpkin hold shaped. I didn’t want it to separate back into a fan type shape, but I wanted it to hold the circle/pumpkin shape.

DIY_paper_pumpkinOur kids were really excited about seeing the pumpkins coming out, and they wanted to help in this project. I let them help fluff the pumpkin and to find a good stick or six of them to act as its stem.

Fall_kid_pumpkin_craft

boy_with_sticksOnce I had a good stick for a pumpkin stem, I glued the stick and a small piece of felt (that I cut to look like a leaf) into the center of my pumpkin. My paper pumpkin was than complete!

fall_craft

I’m pretty happy with this rustic paper pumpkin. I love that it was made with recycled materials and that it brings a little rustic charm to our decor.

paper_pumpkin_tutorial

Have you started decorating for fall? I hope you had the chance to incorporate a spoonful of imagination into your weekend!

A special shout out to L. Thompson for winning a set of my Burlap Greeting Cards. I will be in touch!
Thank you so much for stopping in! I hope you have a blessed day!
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Wood Cake Stand

August 9, 2013 By Erica Deuel 6 Comments

unique_cake_stand

I have an obsession with natural elements. Sometimes I wonder if I really was supposed to build a Swiss Family Robinson tree house, rather than buy this new house. Not really…but can you imagine!? That place has always been a dream to me.

If you remember my log end table, you know I love working with logs and sticks. The latest project I incorporated them in is this unique cake stand. If you have a chain saw (or a dad with chain saw like me), than you can do this project!

The first step was to have my dad slice me some slivers of a larger piece of wood while I stole a piece of his firewood.

Slice_wood

I picked the sliver of wood that I liked the best and used some of my amazing Haven swag sandpaper from 3M to make the top smooth. Side note: I love this sandpaper and the back no slip grip sold me on this product! They aren’t paying my anything to say that. It is legit. Good stuff.

sanding_wood

I cut my piece of firewood to the height I wanted for my cake stand with my new miter saw (that I will be sharing with you next week).

Tree_woodI then squirted a little wood glue into the center of my wood sliver and pressed the stand tightly into it. I then hammered a small nail in from the top of the cake stand to add some extra strength, and it kept the two pieces tight as the glue dried.

using_wood_glue

Hammering_a_nailMy last step was to stain the top. I used Early American for a nice dark color. It soaked in immediately to the raw wood. There wasn’t much brushing the stain on or wiping it off. It kind of soaked right in and stayed, but it worked!

staining_wood

wood_cake_standOnce the stain was dry, it was done! I love the way it turned out! I must note that I placed these strawberries on the stand for like two seconds for the picture. If I was to really place food there for longer periods of time, I would seal the top with something that is safer for food. I think my stand might end up holding jewelry, but the possibilities are endless!

natural_cake_stand

What do you think!? Do you like adding natural elements to your home too? I mentioned in my Haven conference recap that I wanted to share some of the swag love with one of you! O. Sing, you won!!!  I am so excited you finally won something since you enter ALL my giveaways! I will be in touch!

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you have an awesome weekend!

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DIY Wood Star

December 7, 2012 By Erica Deuel 13 Comments

I am so excited to show you my Christmas mantle today and how I made the big DIY wood star in the center.  It required some scrap wood, wood glue, clamps, wood stain, and a little wire.  I made it free (since I had all those items) and now have a new focal point on my mantel for this Christmas season.  I love it!

I started with some long pieces of scrap wood.  We cut six pieces each about 30″ long.  Note:  My husband helped me with this project as he does with a lot of projects I dream up.  

It was kind of impossible to get that perfect 60 degree cut where the ends were linked together like a puzzle, so we opted to leave the pointed edge and just lay the lengths of wood on top for an overlap look.

When we were creating the overlap look, we simply used some wood glue to attach the corners and we used a clamp to hold the wood tightly together as the glued dried.  This is a good place to say I made two triangles out of my six pieces of wood, so three pieces of wood each were needed for a triangle.

After the glue had dried on my “triangles,” I stained them.  I painted on a dark mahogany stain onto each triangle and then went back and rubbed it off/in with a soft, old towel.

We then did the glue and clamping step again to attach the two triangles together to form the star.  After that glue had dried, my star was almost finished.  I decided to wrap some wire around the edges to give it another texture and fun touch0.1

I used some garden scissors to cut the wire, and I really like how it added a fun yet subtle addition to my star!  The star is now complete!  I think there are so many ways you can modify this design to create something unique for your house or to give as a gift.  The sizes you can create are endless.  Wood glue is amazing.  You could even spray paint your star instead of staining it.  That would be a quicker step.  I knew I wanted a dark color for my star, so it popped on my gray wall but you could do any color!

I love how my mantel came together.  It is simple yet has a lot of natural, rustic elements that I can not get enough of!

Now to give you a few details about my mantel, so you can create this look too.  My star was inspired by this simple wood sign I made last Christmas.  Love was born in a manger.  I love it and painted it in like two seconds on an old scrap piece of wood.

My vase of red ornaments is actually two pieces of glass.  I have had the big filler vase for a couple of years, but I think I got it for like $5.00 one year at Wal-mart.  The bottom “stand” part is simply a juice cup upside down.  My filler vase is literally just sitting on top to give it some height.  What a cheap way to create a new and versatile look.  Have you ever done this?

My pine cones are from my backyard, and I simply dabbed some white paint on the edges to make them look more Christmas-y.  I got this tip from Erin at DIY On The Cheap.  Thank you my sweet friend!  She has a great tutorial for how to create this look.  Check out her gilded pine cones!

My lanterns are from Ikea.  They were about $4.00 and $7.00 each, and I already had them on hand and actually used them in my fall mantel.  Do you recognize my wood sticks?  They are from my backyard and were used on my thankful tree.  I love how they add some height, yet they are simple and not a harsh eye sore.  I also have a collection of baby food jars that I love to put tea lights. They were perfect to pull out for my mantel so give it some light. They look amazing all lit up, but with three little kids it doesn’t happen till night when they are in bed.  🙂

I had to include one picture with all our bright-colored stockings (two of which are for the dogs)!

Have you decorated for Christmas?  Have you used any natural elements in your mantel this year?  I’d love to see your mantle!  If you have a blog, please leave the link in the comments below, so I can check yours out too.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

Linked up at: Crafty Scrappy Happy, Serenity Now, Red Head Can Decorate, The Lettered Cottage, Ten June, 52 Mantles, DIY Showoff

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