My husband and I have recently discovered the joy of woodworking and painting. I find the process to be relaxing and calming. My husband does more of the building and I do simple projects and the painting. What started as creating decorations because Kiddo 1 wanted to decorate outside has turned into creating projects for the inside of our house. It is fun to come up with an idea, search online for similar ideas and to turn those ideas in reality. We use materials we have purchased for other projects, so our expenses have been minimal.
I wanted to create a cross and came across this idea while I searched online. Our tools are limited so doing complex cuts are not possible. This project took some planning to lay it out correctly but all the cuts were simple. The top and bottom boards are 40 inches long and I used those as my border. The backside has vertical pieces that connect the boards together.
This was my first project using painters tape. I used two vertical boards to connect the boards together. I sanded everything down then used painters tape to create the tree trunks. I cut the tape in half to create the branches. Using a round brush to dab the stain onto the boards instead of painting strokes worked well and limited the seeping under the tape.
I wiped the stain off using a towel per the directions on the can. I took off the tape once the stain was dry.
I wanted to create something for our family to hang in our entryway. I used painters tape to create the branch. The birds are cut out shapes from a Wren clipart that I printed on regular printer paper. I held the image onto the wood while I dabbed the stain around the outside of the image.
I created all of three of these projects in under three hours. Creating items for your house does not have to take a long time or use fancy tools. Many things are possible using a drill, palm sander and jig saw.
Wren's World 