How to Make Holiday Decorations & Yard Ornaments From Wood

Seal your wood holiday yard ornaments with polyurethane so colors won't fade.

Do you ever wonder what the Pilgrims would think about today's holiday decorations? Evergreen trees strung with popcorn garlands and handmade trim have given way to elaborate ornament collections featured on magazine covers. You can make your own holiday decorations of wood and some 21st century materials. Enjoy wood crafting while evoking your creative side, and think beyond Christmas by making decorations for year-round use.

Things You'll Need

• Sketchpad and pencil
• Scissors
• Cardboard
• Craft knife
• 1/2-inch plywood
• Eye protection
• Scroll or jig saw
• Drill
• Sandpaper
• Wood primer
• Paints
• Brushes
• Faux gems
• Super glue
• Polyurethane sealer
• Nylon rope

Instructions

1. Sketch out yard ornament shapes using a pencil and sketchpad, or download patterns from the Internet so you have a library of familiar holiday shapes--snowmen, stars, hearts-- from which to make templates. Cut out the shapes with scissors and trace them onto pieces of cardboard. Use a craft knife to cut out the cardboard templates.

2. Transfer the shapes you've cut from cardboard to ½-inch plywood with a pencil. Maximize the number of holiday shapes you glean from the plywood by fitting the templates together, the same way you use cookie cutters to maximize as much of the rolled-out dough as possible.

3. Don safety glasses. Power on your jigsaw or scroll saw and begin cutting out the decorations along the pencil lines you've drawn. Dust off your work surface frequently to get rid of scraps and sawdust. Keep the larger scraps and turn them into additional ornaments by shaping them into skinny candy canes or simple circles or hearts for non-Yuletide yard ornaments.

4. Drill holes in the top of each yard decoration. Use sandpaper sheets or a sandpaper tool to smooth edges and finish your decorations before you begin the artistic part of your project. Lavish each shape with primer to seal the wood, and then apply base coats of a variety of exterior paint colors.

5. Embellish, trim and decorate your wooden holiday ornaments: Use a small brush to add details like Santa's eyes, to edge golden stars with contrasting colors and to paint in the details of gingerbread houses. Use super glue to add artificial sapphires, emeralds and rubies for touches of glamor, and go for sparkling results by adding glitter to paint or sealer so finished wood ornaments sparkle in the sun when hung in your yard.

6. Feed short lengths of nylon rope into the holes drilled atop each of the painted and decorated wooden ornament. Then hang them from trees, bushes, doors, windows and just about every other area in need of some holiday cheer.

References

• ArtsnCrafts: Cut Out Wood
• Family Fun: Christmas Tree Ornament Patterns
• The Cow Factory: Painting Woodcrafts-Suitable Paints