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

Halloween Lollipop Tree Tutorial

Hello Everyone!

It's Candace and Nicole from Crafty Sisters!

We are excited to share this fun project with you. We had so much fun creating our countdown to Halloween lollipop tree. We don't think our kids get enough candy on Halloween,

so we made sure this year to give them candy all month long! ;) That was oozing with sarcasm.....

Our tree inspiration comes from Garnet Hill. We saw this lovely floating around on last year and thought it would be easy to recreate! We thought a Halloween version would be even more fun!

garnet hill

We promise it is easier to make than it looks, all you need is a drill- and a saw to make straight cuts. The shoes are totally optional. Best part is.....it all breaks down for storage. A total must anymore with as many crafts as we make. Our husbands keep making landfill trips when we aren't noticing!

Alright, let's show you how we built our Halloween tree! Here's what you will need:

2 1x2" 8' long boards

1 36" long 5/16" threaded rod cut to 31 1/2"
2 locking nuts 5/16" size
9 1" wooden beads
1 4" piece of 4" fence post
5/16 drill bit for threaded rod
9/64" drill bit slightly smaller than lollipop stick/ to hold lollipops on 1x2
drill bit to fit & sink size of bolts on each end
optional witch feet or a larger base
31 funky lollipops
black, orange & white craft paint
die-cut numbers to fit 1x2, or number stencils 1/2" size

Here's what a threaded rod look like...if you have never seen one.

We found ours for the best price at Home Depot.

Cut your 1x2's to desired length.

We started with an 18" 1x2 on the bottom, cutting in one inch measurements

until the top piece which ended up being 3".

You will have 16 cut 1x2's pieces when you are finished.

Find the center on each 1x2, drill one hole with a 5/16th drill bit.

Drill holes for lollipops, about 3/4" of the way into the 1x2 on each end.

Use a drill bit that is just slightly smaller than the lollipops you are using for a snug fit.

Sand and paint each piece of wood, beads, base, and shoes.

Nicole used her Cricut to cut and size numbers from paper to a 1x2, they need to be about 1/2" in size.

You can stencil or use a paint pen to draw on the numbers too!

Drill a hole through the wood base with a 5/16 drill bit.

On the bottom, use a large drill bit (or paddle bit) to fit the bolt, to sink it.

We used a "locking" bolt at the end, so there would be no slipping and you don't need a washer

to hold it in place.

Carefully do the same to your top 3" piece. You only need to go deep enough to fit that bolt. It's okay if the paddle tip pokes through the other side a little bit since you'll need to drill a hole for the lollipop.

We used the wood beads as spacers. So easy and no need for any extra drilling or parts!

Cut your threaded rod before you thread everything on or else you have a very likely chance of bending the rod and you'll end up with a crooked tree. Yes, lesson learned the hard way on this one.:)

A hack saw works great!

We have loved all the witch shoes we've seen everywhere lately and knew

they would be perfect for our tree base.

You can personalize them any way you want! We used some really cute paper from K&Company from their Halloween line this year. We loved their paper last year we used on our Spooky Villages.
If you're not feeling confident enough to cut your own witch shoes out, we have some extra unfinished witch shoes you can purchase. Send us an email if you are interested.

The lollipops we picked up from Oriental Trading Company and they are solid and worth getting. You can also use anything you can find locally, or make your own. The Halloween pops are so popular right now.

If you don't want your kids to have candy all month long, faux lollipops would look great too!

That's it! Not too bad?

We are definitely going to need another tree for Christmas, our kids are so spoiled!

Make sure to join us this week as the WYLTC? ladies knock off their version!
On Friday we will have a linky party right here to share
all Halloween wood crafts, so if you have made something fun
this year for Halloween, come and share it!