Advent Picture Tree

Hello wood crafting friends!  Its Krystal from Sassy Sanctuary here and I am SO excited to share my project  with you today!  I know I've said it before, but I love WYLTC!  Each month it pushes me to create something that I never would have otherwise.  Some of my most prized creations (besides my children) are WYLTC projects.  But I think this one is my all time favorite.

When the Crafty Sisters first shared this month's project I was so excited.  I  loved the idea of an advent tree, but the last thing my kids need in October is more candy.  I also had been brainstorming ideas on how to display pictures of Halloween's past so I knew I would kill two birds with one stone and create a count down tree with a photo display.

Ready to see it?

I just love it!

The base is magnetic so I can change out the number tiles while we count down to the big day.  And the tree itself hangs little pictures of my kiddos in their costumes.  So cute!  I just love looking back on all those fun memories!

  

So if you want to make your own, here is the method to my madness.  (its easy... promise!)

First I drew the tree silhouette onto a piece of 1/8" plywood and cut it out with my scroll saw.

If you are a newbie with a scroll saw, then a tree is perfect! If your cuts get crazy it just adds to the look!  Then for the base I simply glued (gorilla glue) some 2x4's together, becuase its cheaper then a post and I had it in the garage.  :)

Time to break out that magnetic primer I've been promising myself I'd use again!  I did a liberal (you want it thick!) application of the primer and let that dry.  Sand it smooth.

 

Time to paint!  You want to paint your tree, a dowel, and a pack of small screw hole buttons black.  You also want to paint the small wood tiles orange.  And of course distress to bring out the detail!

Then to assemble, drill a hole in your post and push your dowel into it.  Hot glue your buttons all over the tree to hang your pictures from, and then hot-glue the tree to the dowel.

Finish it off by using vinyl (or paint) to add your text and numbers.  Oh, and add magnets to the number tiles of course!

Then just hang your pictures and enjoy!  I used little picture pendant from the jewlery section of the craft store for my mini frames.

Everything is cuter in miniature!  I put nine frames on so I had room to grow and just filled the empty frames with scrapbook paper.

I love it!

But I've already said that.  :)

Thanks for the inspiration everyone!  This week has been amazing.  You ladies always blow me away.  I can't wait to see all the great Halloween wood crafts the rest of you are going to share!  See ya soon!

Krystal