How to Make Outdoor Xmas Decorations

Decorating outdoors for Christmas can be done with an assortment of store-bought accessories, but you can easily craft your own. Consider making decorations that can be displayed long past the holidays, taking advantage of the winter season. These Christmas decorations do not require shiny lights or fancy glitter. Use vintage items and old wood to make decorations that reflect days gone by.

Things You'll Need

• Old fence or barn wood
• Measuring tape
• Table saw
• Pencil
• Jigsaw
• Drill with small bit and screwdriver bit
• Wood glue
• 1-inch wood screws
• 2-inch-wide wired plaid Christmas ribbon
• Scissors
• Staple gun
• 4 pine floral picks
• 3-inch stencil letters
• Gold acrylic paint
• Stencil brush
• Old wooden sled
• Small wired pine swag
• Floral wire
• Wire cutters
• Pair of ice skates
• 1/2-inch-wide plaid Christmas ribbon
• Large-eyed tapestry needle
• Green floral foam
• Serrated knife
• 2 Christmas floral picks

Instructions

Wooden Welcome Skis

1. Cut a barn or fence board 6 feet long. Measure its width. If it is at least 8 inches wide, you will only need one. If it is narrower, you will need to cut another board 6 feet long. Measure and mark the width of the board 4 inches wide and cut it on a table saw. You will need a total of two boards, 4 inches wide by 6 feet long.

2. Find the center on one end of a cut board and mark. Measure down from this end, 4 inches on each edge. Line up a ruler from the center mark to an edge mark and trace a line. Repeat for the other edge. Cut along the drawn lines using a jigsaw. The result will be an arrow-pointed tip. Repeat with the other cut board.

3. Lay the boards on the ground and cross them over each other, 24 inches from the tips, forming an elongated X. You will be working from the back. Apply wood glue between the crossed boards. Drill small pilot holes through the intersection in three places. Place a wood screw in each pilot hole and attach to secure the two wood skis.

4. Cut a 36-inch piece of 2-inch-wide wired plaid Christmas ribbon. Hold two pine floral picks in your hand, with one right side up and the other upside down. Tie the ribbon into an 8-inch bow around the center of the two pine picks. Turn the skis with the front facing forward. Place the bow over the intersection. Insert a staple gun inside a loop on one side of the bow and attach to the skis. Attach the other loop in the same way.

5. Space the stencil letters down the front of one ski to spell out "Welcome." Paint the letters using gold acrylic paint and a stencil brush. Lean the skis beside your door or against a porch railing.

Decorated Wooden Sled

1. Lay your sled on the ground, right side up. Place a small wired pine swag across the wooden steering bar. Cut pieces of craft wire to wrap around the swag branches and attach to the steering bar. Fluff and arrange the wired branches.

2. Take the laces out of an old pair of ice skates. Use the laces as your guide, and cut two pieces of 1/2-inch-wide plaid Christmas ribbon. The laces should extend from the tops of the skates approximately 18 inches, if they do not, cut your ribbon longer so they do. Thread the ribbon on a large-eyed tapestry needle and re-lace the skates.

3. Cut a green foam floral brick in quarters, lengthwise, using a serrated knife. They will look like long sticks of butter. Insert one quarter in each skate. Cut off any excess that sticks up above the skates. Insert a pine floral pick and a Christmas floral pick in the top of each skate.

4. Hold the ribbon ends of the laces together and tie them in a knot close to the top of the skates. Center the skate tops in the middle of the pine swag. Separate the four laces with two in each hand. Wrap one pair around the swag and the center of the steering bar. With both pairs of ribbon in the front, tie them in a knot to hold the skates in place. Tie the remaining ribbon ends in a bow. Lean the sled against the house or a gate, and the skates will hang in the center of the pine swag.