What do you get when you give a crafty girl some tree branches and some power tools? Well, in this case you get some fun tree branch slice gift tags. I know that I said I wouldn't be posting much in December, but I couldn't miss Fancy Friday with all of my incredibly talented friends. Besides, I am super excited about this particular project and I couldn't wait to show it to you!
Not too long ago we had a huge tree branch fall off one of our Cleveland pear trees. My husband cut it down into firewood with a chainsaw. I told him that I wanted to make tag/ornaments with some of the pieces, so he decided to teach me how. It was my first experience using power tools and it was really exciting to learn how to use them.
First, I used a chop saw to cut slices that were about 1/4" thick. I cut several different sizes so that I would only have to do it once. It was a little messy and even with a vacuum hooked up to the saw there was still quite a bit of saw dust to clean up in the end. Next, I used a drill press with a 3/32" drill bit to drill holes in several of the wood slices. Even though the wood slices were fairly smooth, I discovered that they didn't accept the stamped images very well. At first I was discouraged and almost gave up on this project, but then I wondered what would happen if I lightly sanded them before stamping on them. I got some #00 steel wool and sanded each side for about 20-30 seconds until they were nice and smooth. That was EXACTLY what they needed and they stamped like a dream.
If you don't want to go to this much effort to make your tags, I have recently noticed that you an purchase pre-cut slices at the craft store and on-line. Just don't forget that all important step of sanding your slices before you stamp.
I stamped the "Merry Christmas" sentiment from the "Merry Everything" stamp set (#135071) in Real Red ink. Then I tied on some Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, linen thread and some small silver jingle bells. I hot glued everything to a box made with the Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit (#138104).
But I didn't stop there. I also made this fun tag and attached it to one of the triangle boxes that I traced from the October Paper Pumpkin kit onto Kraft Cardstock (#133674). Here's a link to a similar box pattern just in case you need it.
For this tag I stamped the sentiment from the "Mingle All the Way" set (#135773) with Jet Black StazOn ink. This time I used Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon. The box is stamped with various snowflakes from the "Endless Wishes" photopolymer stamp set (#136829) and heat embossed with white embossing powder.
Just one little tip...with the tags attached these boxes are a little top heavy. I had to weight them down with some change to keep them from falling forward when I photographed them. You can also add hangers to either the boxes or the tags and make darling ornaments for the tree.
I hope you like today's project. That's is probably all you will see from me until after the holidays, so I will go ahead and wish you a Merry Christmas and I will see you soon!
Be sure to head on over to see the "fancy" project Erica has for you.
