Sparkle Clause & the 12 Crafts of Christmas: #4, Scrap Wood Tree

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Sparkle Clause here and time for #4 on the crafting list! I have seen a few of these pallet trees floating around Pinterest and I have fallen in love with them!  So, when I saw a house down the street under construction with a HUGE pile of scrap wood on the curb I pounced!  I pulled up with my little "box" of a vehicle and snagged me a few pieces (not gonna' lie, I'm going back for more).  However, this could easily be made from pallet wood too.  So I ransacked my hubby's tools (just kidding that's my stuff) and this is what I came up with!  Hopefully it's easy enough for you to do too because I feel that they're a wonderful addition to your holiday decor inside or out.

Here's what you'll need:

- Scrap wood

-Long and small nails

-Hammer

-Tape measurer

-Saw

-Ornaments

-Ribbon

1. Wood: you will need 1 long piece (trunk), and 5 consecutively smaller pieces.  My bottom "branch" was 2.5 feet and then each "branch" after that was cut 6 inches shorter than the last.

2. Angle the ends:  To give your tree a more triangular shape cut the ends off at an angle, pictured bellow.  This handy saw base gave me perfect corners each time.  However, if you have a power saw of some kind this project would go hellofa' lot faster!

3. Nail it together: Using the same 3-inch proportion as before, I started nailing at the top.  The top of my very top "branch" was 3-inches from the top of the "trunk".  Then the top of each "branch" was 3-inches from the bottom of the previous "branch".

To give the best stability, I would nail 4 nails into each "branch" in a square pattern.  You could glue the "branches" on too, but I don't think it will have the same longevity. I mixture of glue and nails is best.

4. Prep for pretties:  Nail on small nails randomly onto each "branch".  You may need to stabilize the branches with scrap wood before nailing. These little nails provide an easy place to hang ornaments from!

See that little nail? That wee-little nail?!

Lastly, customize!  I adorned my tree with a pretty custom bow made from chevron wired ribbon (from Hobby Lobby), and hung miniature ornaments from the little nails (my kiddo's helped with that part!).  But honestly you can do-it-up any way you want: paint it, vinyl letter phrases, big ornaments, stars...whatever!  It's you're tree, make it reflect you!

Merry Crafting!