Yard Art!

Who has seen those really cute yard art for Christmas and wanted to buy some? Well after looking at the price tag at a local craft fair, I kept walking and started thinking.........I could so make them!  I did a little research online and thought about buying a pattern but then decided against that too. I like to just wing it. 

My wonderful husband bought the plywood, I sanded it and drew the tree with chalk. Once I had it the right size and perfected it, I went back over the final one I wanted cut out with a different color chalk. I told him what color to cut on and he trimmed it out for me.

Once it was trimmed out, I decided I wanted to put lights through it. We just drilled random holes. I would suggest having the strand of lights handy, we did not think about the distance between each bulb. But we made it work. Then I primered it or I should say the kids primered.... They had fun helping!

Once the primer dried, I painted the tree green (standing like it is) then took a darker green and made it look more like branches.I laid it down to paint the star and put gold glitter on it. Stump is a mix of the green and some red I had to make a brownish color. Once the paint dried, I applied a lacquer to it. I painted it on the tree and put some in a small travel size spray bottle to spray the star and in the holes.. Once you get a good coat on the star you can brush/roll it the next time. I followed the instructions and put 3 coats. You can put more or less.

My husband built a stand for it and put the light in it! I think it turned out pretty good. We had some packages with colored lights on them that we stacked at the bottom. I have a few candy canes I am going to finish to put out and maybe next year I will  make a Santa or something........ The kids love it! Merry Christmas!!