DIY Wooden Tree Advent Calendar

For the past two years my boyfriend and I had been using this advent calendar that I made. But because it was made out of cardboard boxes that had to be glued shut, and therefore torn open, it was time to replace it.
The size of the boxes was also a bit limiting when it came to buying things for each other to fill them, which is something I took into consideration when I started thinking of a new DIY advent calendar.

This is what I came up with.
A wooden tree with hooks to hang on numbered baubles. The baubles are stuck to 24 little gifts, kept in a box alongside, and when a gift is opened it's bauble is hung on the tree. So the fuller the tree, the closer we are to Christmas!

To make this advent calendar I got some thin lengths of wood and coloured them with wood stain so they would match some of the furniture in our living room.
I cut 6 pieces of wood in decending lengths for the branches of the tree, plus one long piece which would be the trunk.

Figuring out the sizes took some planning, especially since 24 doesn't easily work in a pyramid layout. So instead of the branches having 1, 2, 3, 4 etc baubles on them, mine go 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6.

I hammered little nails into the branches which would be the hooks for the baubles to hang on.

Then I glued the branches to the trunk using a strong epoxy glue. It wasn't until I took this photo that I realised I used two different brands of tubes, but they still worked when mixed together.

I also screwed an eye screw into the top of the trunk and attached some twine so that I could hang the tree on the wall.

I bought two packs of 20 mini baubles, ommitted the glittery ones, and numbered the rest using a white paint pen. I might re-do this at some point using number stickers to make it look a bit neater.

Then all that was left to do was wrap the 12 gifts I bought for my boyfriend, which I've been gathering for the past month, and attach the baubles. Then I gave him the other half of the baubles for him to do the same with the gifts he bought for me...yesterday. But what's good about this advent calendar is that you don't have to have all the gifts ready on December 1st as you can add them to the box at any time. So it gives people who have had a particularly busy November a bit of wiggle room.

I really love how this turned out and I hope we'll be using it for many years to come!

DIY Jewellery Door Hanger

It seems with every place I live I have to come up with a new way to display and store my jewellery, and moving into my new house was no exception. I came up with an easy way to hang all my jewellery that didn't take up too much space but meant I could see it all at once.

I started by drilling some holes into a long, thin pice of wood. On the bottom I drilled the holes that the little hooks would screw in to, and on the top I drilled holes big enough to fit a kebab skewer.

I put the kebab skewer snuggly in the holes and sawed off the excess so there was about 2cm sticking out. These sticks are to put my rings on.

I painted the wood, first with primer and then glossy white to match the doors it would be attached to.

When the paint was dry I screwed in the metal hooks to the pre-drilled holes.

I attached the hangers to the inside of the door of my built in wardrobe using command strips. I've got a lot of love for those strips.

I like how the hooks and sticks keep everything in its place meaning I won't end up with a tangle of chains. And now my jewellery is kept right next to my clothes which is perfect for when I want to accessorize an outfit.

Check out my previous creative solutions to jewellery displaying.

Guitar hanger
Papier mache antlers

Pin it!

Wood Burned Owl Pendant

I've been using my wood burning tool again, this time to make an owl pendant.

I roughly drew out the design on a piece of wood before going over it with the wood burner. I have to be careful about doing too much as you can't undo any marks.

When the design was finished I cut around it and sanded down the edges.

I touched up the edges with the burning tool. For this design I used the small point nib which worked well for all the little feathery detail.

I drilled a hole in the top and attached a few jump rings, a random metal ring, and a chain to make a cute necklace.

Rustic Wooden Photo Frame

I made a photo frame!

This project was good because it used up two things I've had for ages.

The first was this plain wooden photo frame I bought from Hobbycraft years ago.

It was probably on sale. I don't think I would have bought it if not.

 

The second thing I got to use up was some of these little wooden things that come with canvases.

I used some of them a while back with these garden fence cards but I've still got so many more.

I quite liked the rustic, beach shack type feel of the little planks around the frame so I went with it.

I used wood glue to attach the wood to the frame and left it to dry under some heavy books.

I picked out some wood stain from the garage and did some test pieces to decide which colour I liked better.

I went for the lighter one and applied it with an old rag.

There were some parts where the glue had got on the surface of the wood so I had to sand the glue off so the stain would...youknow, stain.

Any excuse to show you my signed Ian Somerhalder photo

Then I popped a photo in the frame and it was done.

This was such a quick and easy project, and it's given me loads more ideas for decorating plain frames.

Glitter Pendant

I made a new necklace and it's super sparkly!

I used the same wooden disc as in this necklace along with a wooden ring which I painted with nail varnish to match the glitter.

I drilled small holes in the discs and then covered them in PVA glue and glitter. Lots of glitter! 

Toadstool Pins

I had this piece of wood lying around that I was going to use for something else but that never happened, and I had to idea to make little toadstools out of drawings pins (or push pins or thumb tacks) to attach to it.

All I did was paint the underneath and the pin part with white acrylic paint and then paint the top red with white dots.

Then I quickly made a little fairy to sit on the toadstool out of paperclips, a bead, crepe paper and felt.