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I’ve had Christmas on the brain for quite a few weeks now. Yes, I know it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet. Yes, I normally get irritated with anything even remotely Christmas-like before December 1st. Yes, I typically curse when I see the Christmas displays going up MONTHS in advance. But this year has been a weensy bit different… This year we’re going to my parents’ house for Christmas and I’m, like, super keen on the idea for a few reasons…
Every year Rob and I have spent FOUR days driving to and from Christmas. With 2 dogs. And last year, with 1 sick cat in a ginormous crate because you can’t stuff her in a tiny box for 14 hours in a car. We always take Rob’s car because that’s what he prefers to drive and I don’t care which car it is when it’s my turn behind the wheel. It’s also a lot easier loading and there is more room for the pets with a hatchback when you fold the seats down instead of the rigid design inside of a sedan. And in Rob’s car we have all of these animals PLUS our gifts we are giving PLUS anything I am just supposed to bring up (things boys forgot on their last visit, food items and things you can only find in our neck of the woods everyone loves, items I’ve made for family members, games for the family game nights, etc.) PLUS ourselves and, man, it gets really tight.
I’m super keen for the change in location of our Christmas celebration this year in part I go to my parents’ house so often that I literally have pretty much everything I need already there. I’m flying back next month and I literally only need to bring my medications and gifts because I already have clothes and personal items in the bedroom that has been mine for, literally, decades now. Heck, I even have a computer and a camera there to use if I need to work. AND it’s only a 7-hour drive without any overnight stays. BOOM! Half the drive time.
Plus there’s a lot more to do in the Houston area than in rural Oklahoma, so we can be doing so much fun stuff. And we already have a lot of these fun things planned.
Since it’s the first Christmas spent at home since my nephew, who turns 14, soon, was born, it’s been so long since the house has been prepped for the holidays. I mean, why bother when you’re just going to drive somewhere else for the holidays and won’t even be home to enjoy it, right? And so this fall my dad and I dug out the old Christmas trees, one from my Oklahoma days I had lost and one that my parents purchased when my sister and I were still in middle school and elementary school, letting them air out because man, oh, man did these suckers smell musty.
And then on my most recent visit, just last week, my mom and I started Christmas decorating in earnest. You see, getting crafty and stuff is totally my bag and my mom was super happy to have some help. Because doing up an entire house for the first time in ages is a daunting task, indeed. While I was there we decorated the fireplace mantle and hung our stockings with care and I did up the first of 3 trees that will dot the house. In the beginning, the design theme was “Christmas on LSD” but after realizing my dad wasn’t nearly as keen on the idea of lots of colors and glittery things, we backtracked, took a lot of stuff back to the store and then switched gears. And this year our theme is more of “a farm fresh” type of Christmas with traditional colors and lots of rustic charm like burlap and real wood items.
Which means that these adorable hand-lettered wood slice ornaments are perfect for our new Christmas scheme. And, as it turns out, they’re pretty darn easy to make. Want to see how?
Let’s hand letter wood slices for some adorably rustic chic Christmas decor!
- round wood slices (these already have holes drilled)
- downloadable lettering template (optional) and graphite paper to easily transfer the designs
- pencil and fine tip permanent marker (like these Sharpies)
- craft chalk paint in your choice of color (we used White Adirondack)
- Mod Podge (optional)
- decorative ribbon of your choice, ⅛” wide (we used this set from Michael’s)
If creating your own designs, trace your wood slices onto a piece of paper.
Paint circles within the wood slices to place your designs on and set aside to dry.
Draw a circle in the middle of each piece, where your paint will end, to avoid your design running onto the wood’s edges/bark and plan for where to drill a hole to hang your ornaments from. Hand letter your designs or using a computer program and appropriate font, create a design for each piece.
If using our designs, download the PDF here or click the image above to open the printable file.
If your paint has dried, transfer your design onto each wood slice using a pencil. If you’re using our designs, you can also use carbon paper to transfer the design easily. Just place a piece of graphite paper on top of the wood slice and place the design on top. Be sure that the design is placed as you like it which, honestly, can be a bit difficult since the paper is opaque, but do your best, these are rustic, after all! With everything in place, and not going anywhere, trace on top of the printable design to transfer it via the paper onto the wood slice below.
Now, careful not to smudge your pencil or graphite design, trace the lettering with a fine point marker. Go back over and thicken the downstrokes, leaving the upstrokes nice and thin, like seen above, to create that gorgeous hand-lettered look.
Drill holes in the desired spot for each wood slice and run loop of ribbon through to act as a hanger.
Allow the design to dry and erase any visible pencil marks. Seal with Mod Podge, if desired.
Now isn’t that just the loveliest? So simple, so fun and totally customizable with sayings that perfectly fit your family’s holiday spirit!
