Don’t throw away your Christmas tree! You can recycle your tree into gifts and decor such as wood slice ornaments & coasters to last many years to come.
One of our favorite traditions for Christmas is going and cutting our Christmas tree down in the forest. Everything from the hunting of it to the smell of it as we load it on the truck, it’s a favorite memory of mine year after year. This year though I threw everyone off by saying I was looking for a crafting tree. I tried to esplain that I am looking for a large enough tree that has a big base but it’s tall enough for me to cut a large part of the trunk off and still have a tree to display in our house. I wanted to use the trunk to cut into slices to make into gifts! Little did they know, I was going to cut this tree in pieces so I could give them something to remember our trip by for Christmas.
We ended up finding one that was perfect and I was blown away by how many wood slices we got out of the trunk. My brother cut a big portion of the trunk off with his chainsaw them took the chainsaw to remove the branches. This made it easy-peasy to load into the truck. Then I took the branches to make a wreath out of (waste not my friends).
Once we got the trunk out, Clever Dad cut it into slices using a Miter saw. This was an easy process that only took a couple of minutes and produced a lot of wood slices. I then took those and turned them into some fun gifts.
Before I started this adventure, I bought this wood burner Walnut Hollow Creative Woodburner
Before you start your wood crafting adventures first you’ll need to cut the wood into wood slices. This would be best with a circular or miter saw. Once your wood is cut, you’ll want to dry them out so they don’t seal with moisture inside. I baked mine on the rack directly (the cookie sheet did not work well) for 30 minutes on 350 degrees. By doing this you’re house will also smell divine!
Here’s what you’ll need to make the wood ornaments and coasters:
- Walnut Hollow Creative Woodburner
- Wood Slices (if you don’t have any you can buy some on Amazon Wood slices on Amazon
)
- Drill to make holes in ornaments
- Sandpaper
- Sealant such as Polycrylic
or varnish
How to:
Wood Slice Coasters: Simply find the largest ones that are comparable in size, sand them smooth and then finish with a sealant.
To burn the wood slices:
- Practice makes perfect, take one of your not so pretty pieces of wood and practice with each of the tips. The kit above has 4 tips and they are each great for their own task.
- Before burning, write with a pencil what you would like to burn, then trace it with one of the tips.
- Did you know you could use your Cricut to make a stencil? This is very easy and is how I made my deer stencil. I simply cut the deer onto vinyl then I made a square cut around it so I could adhere it to the wood slice. After removing the actual deer cut, I then used the pointed tip to outline the inside of the stencil. I changed the tips and then used the more rounded tip to fill in the deer.
Wood Slice Ornaments: After burning them, drill a hole about 1/2 inch from the top. Run ribbon or twine through the whole then tie together for the ornament.\
The wood slice fun doesn’t stop here, check out these amazing wood slice crafts. Some are perfect for Christmas while others are great for all year round!
Christmas ideas for wood slices:
Turn your Christmas tree into a tree you could display for years with this Christmas Tree display http://designertrapped.com/2014/12/diy-wood-slice-christmas-tree.html
If you have super cute handwriting like Becoming Martha does, check out these cute sayings she included on her wood slice ornaments (no burner needed): http://becomingmartha.com/wood-slice-christmas-ornaments/
If you have an artistic talent, you could hand paint your slices and turn them into ornaments like these http://www.cuteasafox.com/2013/12/rustic-hand-painted-woodland-creature.html
These deer ornaments are very easy with just some deer clothespins from Target and hot glue! http://thediydreamer.com/christmas/deer-wood-slice-ornaments/
Paint your wood slice and make a cute snowman ornament http://yesterdayontuesday.com/2014/11/wood-slice-snowman-ornament/
Make a gold silhouette ornament with a photo of your child http://www.lovelyetc.com/2014/11/gold-silhouette-ornament/
Take 3 of your wood slices and make them into a snowman ornament http://www.shakentogetherlife.com/2013/12/rustic-wood-slice-snowman-ornament.html
It’s easy to put a photo on your wood slices with these steps shared by Lovely Etc http://www.lovelyetc.com/2014/11/photo-transfer-wood-slice-ornament/
Decoupage your wood slices with pretty paper and embellishments http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/2014/12/decoupage-wood-slice.html
If you have the wood burner I mentioned above, you could make this cute snowflake ornament http://cherishedbliss.com/wood-burned-snowflake-ornament/
Cut your wood slices a little larger and you could make a bird’s nest ornament http://www.dandelionpatina.com/november-diy-challenge-rustic-log-bird-ornament/
Display your wood slices all year round with these ideas:
This firewood display would be great all year round, especially to keep animals and kids out of your fireplace http://www.dwellbeautiful.com/november-diy-challenge-wood-slice-fireplace-facade/
Know someone getting married? Share your slices with them so they could have an interactive guest book like this one http://club.chicacircle.com/nature-themed-interactive-wedding-guestbook-craft/
These wood slice hooks would be perfect to hang up on the wall to hang your keys on http://littlehouseoffour.blogspot.com/2014/11/november-diy-challenge-painted-wood.html
Welcome your guest with this wood slice welcome banner http://halifaxbloggers.ca/diypassion/2014/11/14/rustic-wood-slice-welcome-banner/
You could turn a wood slice into patriotic decor like this idea http://www.simplydesigning.net/patriotic-tree-slice-decor-giveaway/
These wood slice magnets would look great on any fridge http://www.suburble.com/2014/03/wood-slice-magnets.html
This wood slice wreath is very clever and a great way to use up all your wood! http://findinghomeonline.com/wood-burlap-natural-fall-wreath/
Cut your tree to the very top with these tiny wood slice ideas:
This wood slice mirror with an Ikea mirror is pure awesome http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.ro/2012/01/m-is-for-mirror-2.html
This deer silhouette using the teeny tiny wood slices is just adorable: http://www.thekimsixfix.com/2014/12/wood-slice-deer-head-silhouette-pallet.html
Turn a pumpkin into something fun with this wood slice pumpkin
http://www.thekimsixfix.com/2014/09/wood-slice-dollar-store-pumpkin.html#
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