Christmas Tress

Chances are if you have a Pinterest, you've seen these trees going around. You haven't? Well, you probably don't have Pinterest :)

Anyways, I saw them and fell in love. Deeply in love. I wanted them. So my friend and I decided we would make them. Aren't we awesome?

See... I've been collecting powertools. The problem? I'm scared of them. So we have a nice jigsaw gaining dust out in the garage. If it weren't for my awesome friend, Annie, my jigsaw would probably still be in the garage. I'm glad it's not.

We made a date to make them... and two days before... i finally broke out the jigsaw. And can i tell you? Jigsaw's are awesome. Before we knew it, we (my husband and I late on Sunday evening) had all three trees cut out. After some sanding and an all-day playdate, we both had 3 AWESOME looking trees. I'm pretty proud of us. 

Since so many people pinned these trees, i thought i would make a type of tutorial. Unfortunately, i got a little wrapped up in the project and didn't ACTUALLY take too many pictures. But i think i have enough. They are really simple. And relatively easy too! Are you ready?

What you need:

• 1- 10' x 10" x 1" piece of pine or "whitewood" board
• A jigsaw and "basic for wood" blade (they are REALLY small)
• Sandpaper sponge block
• Green paint
• White paint
• painters tape
• 3 wood stars
• red paint
• antiquing glaze (optional)

First things first I took our jigsaw out, followed instructions, and assembled it. Make sure you wear gloves AND googles. A mask would be good too,  BUT it made it so i couldn't breathe or see. We need a better one. 

Then i put out 10' piece of wood on the table and traced a tree shape on it by measuring the middle point, and drawing and isosceles triangle (two sides are equal in length. See below). Then i went back over my lines and made them wavy so it wasn't quite as uniform. (my friend Annie didn't do this, and hers were awesome!) Also, i made one stump 1.5 inches, one 2 inches, and one 2.5 inches just to vary it up a bit more.

When you are all done cutting them out, stand back and admire your handiwork. 

 Now, SAND! Sand and sand and sand. Grab your sanding sponge (in the picture below in a medium grit) and sand and sand. If you can see in the pictures, it makes a HUGE difference. Can you see how sharp the edges are in the picture above and the picture below? I think sanding your piece in the single most important thing to make it go from cheap to boutique. Please don't skip this step. Round you edges a little bit. I really doesn't take that long.

 Then, get together with your friend (or do it on your own) and PAINT! If you want to know what green color this is, let me know. It's something. I can look it up.

 I forgot a picture of the next part. But here they are drying. For the tape with just put lines on. It was easy. For the polka dots, i made a stencil with contact paper (though i recommend vinyl... contact paper bleeds to much on wood). Make sure to make all of your edges really tight or else it will bleed a little. It didn't make a big deal once we distressed it, but it's nice to not have to worry about any touch ups. Then we painted over with white.

Paint your stars red (we also added some glitter). Also, we rubbed on some distressing glaze. Google it, but essentially you just put it on and rub it around and wipe it off until you like it. It just sinks into the cracks. Distress so you see a little green through white (or until you like it) and you are done! Awesome, huh?

Tada! Now we have totally awesome trees for decorating for Christmas! 

(excuse the blurry picture, it was 8PM... we had started at 9AM. Obsess much?!)

Now go make your own! If you have any questions, let me know. They are super easy!