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Wood Shim Christmas Tree
Hello! Welcome to Day 11 of The 12 Post of Christmas, where 12 blogs have come together to bring you a variety of amazing Christmas projects for $24 or less. So if you like to spend hundreds of dollars on each of your holiday decor items, then this post isn’t for you. But if you like cute, cheap, and easy projects then stick around and I will show you how I created an adorable wood shim Christmas Tree for less than $2.00.
Supplies
– Wood Shims – (I used Nelson Wood Shims, 1.25-in x 7.75-in.)
– White Paint
– Paint Brush
– Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
First, lay out all of the shims and brush them with one nice coat of white wash.
I mixed up a solution of equal parts water and white paint. This seemed to give the wood a whitish look, but I loved how you could still see the wood grains through it.
Once the paint dries, it’s time to assemble the tree. This process may sound a bit confusing, but trust me. It’s a breeze.
1. Start by hot gluing a few of the wood shims flat on top of one another. Make sure to line up the narrow ends, which this will be at the top. For the trunk piece. you will want to glue it about 1 1/2 inches down from the top of the other glued pieces. It should stick out a little bit from the rest.
2. After the trunk is in place, glue the next shim on top of the trunk. Line up the narrow end with the top of your tree, not the trunk piece you just placed. Continue to glue shims directly on top of each other. For balance, you will want an equal number of wood pieces on both sides of trunk. (I went with 5 on each side.)
3.For the base, take two shims and glue them together. You will want the narrow end to line up with the thick end. This will create an even foundation for your tree to stand on. (A leaning tree might not be quite as cute in the end.)
4. Finally, attach the tree trunk to the base with a dab of hot glue and you’re done! Yay!
This project is a fun modern spin on a traditional Christmas tree decoration. What do you think? I think I am in LOVE!
__________________________________________________________________ If you have not yet, be sure to check out all of the other amazing projects for the 12 Post of Christmas.
1st Day
2nd Day
3rd Day
4th Day
5th Day
6th Day
7th Day
8th Day
9th Day
10th Day
11th Day
12th Day
____________________________________________________________________ You may also like:
Stocking Hanger 
Advent Calendar from Shoe Organizer 
Festive Paper Stars 
Ten Minute Infinity Scarf -
Holiday Gift Wrapping
With the holidays approaching, we decided to re-share our holiday gift wrapping ideas to help inspire you. Hopefully some of these ideas will come in handy as you conceal all of your loved ones presents.
Check out this post for more details. ____________________________________________________________________ You may also like:
Wrapping Paper Bow
Advent Calendar from Shoe Organizer 
Salt Dough Starfish Ornament
Stocking Hanger -
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year Stocking Hanger
If you haven’t done it already, it’s time to start decorating for the holidays. We’ve been slowly pulling piece by piece out of storage, but have yet to actually put up a tree. In the process of getting things ready, we were asked to join in on a Holiday Song Inspired Project Blog Hop. Since we didn’t have a place to hang our stockings this year, I decided to make a stocking hanger with some fun holiday lyrics on it.
In the past, we’ve had a mantle or ledge we could hang our stockings from, but in our current home, we have nothing. No Mantle? No Problem!
I found some random boards (reclaimed wood?) in our garage and thought that maybe I could use them.
So, after a quick run to the hardware store to grab supplies, I got to work. First, I attached both boards together with a couple of flat braces.
Next, I slapped a quick coat of chalk paint on the front of the boards. I only did one thin, sloppy coat and it was just enough to give the boards a weathered look.
Then, I measured and marked 5 equidistant spaces out and had my hubby help me drill holes into the wood. *Side note: I’m typically decent at drilling, because it is pretty straight forward, right? However, these boards were ridiculously hard. I swear my hubs had trouble getting the screws in these too and he is the strong one!
After that, I screwed in the knobs to hold up the stockings.
As for the wording, I used my favorite technique to transfer the lettering from paper, only this time, I used pencil instead of chalk. I attempted to paint the words in with black acrylic paint, but it was super hard to get solid/straight lines, so I ending up turning to my trusty black Sharpie to finish the rest.
Finally, I added a couple of self leveling hooks to the back and hung it up.
Don’t our stockings look so cute? And I’ve heard that Santa has some goodies to fill them up with too!
Now, it’s time to check out some other fun Holiday Song Inspired Projects on this Blog Hop from the following fabulous bloggers!
Joy to the World Painted Burlap Plaque by View from the Fridge
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year Stocking Hanger by Elizabeth Joan Designs
All Is Merry and Bright Chalkboard card by Silhouette School
Home for the Holidays Painted Sign by One Krieger Chick
Sleep in Heavenly Peace Card Display by 3 Little Greenwoods
NOEL Christmas Pillow Set by Dolen Diaries
Deck the Halls DIY Art by A Prudent Life
Let It Snow Sign by The Blue Eyed Dove
Holiday Printable by Crafts by Courtney
Joy To The World by My Creative Days
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Advent Calendar Made from Shoe Organizer
I love a good count down to any holiday, so making an Advent calendar this year was a no-brainier. I found inspiration here while browsing the holiday section. To me, using a 24 slot over the door foot-gear organizer made the most sense for my budget.
Follow along and you can make your very own Advent Calendar!
Supplies
– 24 pocket over the door shoe rack – white
– Red wool
– Gold paint
– Spouncer
– Reusable number stencils
– Scissors or rotatory cutter
– Glue gun and glue sticksFirst, I began making my Advent calendar by stenciling numbers in sequential order to the fronts of the 24 pockets on the sneaker holder. I used my spouncer, gold paint, and stencils to make the
flawlessnumerals.
My recommendation to you if you are attempting this project, is to splurge a little bit on the plastic stencils vs. paper. Once my papers ones got wet, they started to pucker which made it hard to get crisp lines. There were also hours spent sitting around waiting for the paper stencils to dry. I had to reuse the 1 and the 2 many, many times so I am sure you can image the boredom I put myself through.
Next, I cut 4 strips of the red wool about 5 inches wide that are for the outline of the calendar. There was no exact science to this, I just eyeballed it. The red wool I used was something I had inherited from my grandmother. This just seemed like such a wonderful project to use this special fabric for. It adds another layer of meaning and a pop of color to the Advent calendar. I used the hot glue gun to attach the fabric strips to the edges of the footwear organizer and trimmed the entire border with a rotatory cutter to give it clean straight edges.
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Finally, it was time to hang it up and place all kinds of Christmas goodies for our little ones in the pockets. There are a few toys and candy dispersed throughout the days, but most of the pockets have a festive family activity for us to do.
Just because I love personal touches, I decided to use these adorable personalized gift wraps and gift tags from Tiny Prints to conceal our packages and write special messages in.
I am really excited how this project turned out and our boys really love it too!
____________________________________________________________________ You may also like:
Festive Paper Stars 
Whitewashed Brick Fireplace 
Chalkboard Tins 
Knit Vases
