How to Make Scrap Wood Trees

There is something about creating, crafting, DIY’ing that gives us a boost of energy. We love taking a piece of wood, paper, fabric, some kind of material and making it into something we can use in our home or decorate with. The process of figuring out how to make it work or look good is exhilarating. When we decided to make these trees, it was exciting to see how they turned out.

For this project, we used mostly scrap wood that we had laying around from other projects. If you are just starting into the world of DIY and wood projects, your scrap pile may not have enough pieces and that’s okay. Just head to the lumber/ hardware store and pick up several 1×2″ boards. We’ve bought them in 8′ and 10′ long boards. I say grab several boards because you’ll definitely want to make more than one tree. Also if you are just starting out, save those scrap pieces of wood as you never know when you might need them for a craft or project.

What You Will Need:

• Several 1×2″ boards
• 1- 2×2″ board
• wood glue
• Paint (greens, red & white)
• wood stain
• ribbon
• a miter saw

Cut List:

For each tree you will need 6- 1×2″ blocks; one each starting at 3″, 4″, 5″, 6″, 7″ and 8″. You will need one 2×2″ cut to 2″ this is the trunk of the tree. This is a project that is easy to make multiples of. We used our miter saw which has a ruler up to 8″ on it. That made things super easy. After all the pieces are cut, you’ll want to sand any ruff edges or spots.

Assembling the Trees

Starting with the smallest 1×2″ block (this should be the 3″ piece) and the next largest piece (this should be the 4″ piece), you’ll place a line of wood glue along the edge of the 3″ piece. Then center it on the edge of the 4″ piece. When I glued ours together, I made sure not to start the glue too close the the ends of the smaller piece. This helps keep the oozing of extra glue to a minimum.

A few tips and tricks with gluing. You can use a Q-tip or your finger to spread the glue so there’s not too much glue. You can paint the glue on with a sponge brush. If you have clamps that will fit, you can clamp all the pieces together as they dry.

We are gluing on the smaller edges to make our trees stacked. You’ll continue to put glue on the smaller piece’s edge and then add the next larger piece until you have made your way through all 6 pieces. I like to make sure the glue is drying and set before adding another piece onto the tree. When we make these trees we generally make several at the same time. So by the time I am finished gluing all of the first blocks together it’s dry enough to move onto the next level and so forth. The last piece that goes on is the 2×2″ trunk. I like to stain the trunks and paint the trees before I glue them together.

Finishing Touches

I like a variety of colors and textures with my trees. I use these wood trees for the Christmas season as well as for my winter decor in January. I have painted and stained my trees, depending on the look I am going for. When I lean towards the neutral color scheme, I use my stained trees. When I lean towards whimsy and fun I go for my red, green and white painted trees. When you are making your trees- think about the colors you like to use in your decorating and then paint/stain accordingly.

Now that the trees are all painted, stained and glued completely together, it’s time to spruce them up, embellish them and make them stand out. I like to sand the edges for a worn, farmhouse look. Then I add ribbon or twine in contrasting or matching colors. You can glue on sequins, add glitter, small berries or pinecones. Even a few snowflakes would look cute. Get creative and make it you.

The very last thing I do is style the trees in my home, on my porch or even give them as gifts to friends, family and neighbors. There are so many ways to style and use these trees. One of my favorite ways is on our sideboard in the front entryway. Where would you put one of these trees in your home?

Much Love:

Joleen and Jess