Can’t swing the price of new decorations? Learn how to make unique rustic homemade Christmas ornaments pallet crate-style using scrap wood! Wrap with twine for the full effect. Fun, creative and affordable, and made very easy with stencils.
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Desiring a new look for this year’s main Christmas tree, I decided a rustic take for homemade Christmas ornaments that weren’t glass ornaments were in order!
Buying all new ornaments is so intriguing, but it just wasn’t in my budget. So I wanted to come up with a way that didn’t restrict the amount desired. DIY to the rescue!
I’m actually inching my way to trying dried orange slices, and even had my hands on some clay at one point. However I decided to use what I had on hand to create unique decorations for what I had in mind.
So I rummaged in my workshop to see what some scrap wood posts and boards could ultimately become.
Other homemade ornaments
I’m not a stranger to handmade ornaments. THESE Buffalo Checked presents and wood slice snowflakes are among my favs! However I desired a new twist this year. Plus, what’s not to love about a new Christmas craft?
Now, what would the overall theme for this year’s homemade ornaments be? I reasoned I’d figure it out.
On the way to the workshop, I walked by a large round pallet spool top that I had collected months ago… hmmm… would this fit in my living room under the Christmas tree to act as part of a unique tree skirt?
Hauling the big lug upstairs (that was fun), I plunked it into place, and immediately knew this year’s tree theme would be ‘rustic crate’ style! And that would be easy to chime in with scrap wood for sure!
However I’d need a little help with adding some crate markings to the wood ornaments.
Wood Christmas Tree In Crate stencil HERE
The stencil I used to create these pallet crate Christmas tree skirts fit the wood scraps perfectly! So this year’s Christmas tree theme was officially set in stone wood!
Not only did these crate-styled homemade Christmas ornaments turn out adorable, they are so price efficient to make! I could have literally cut hundreds of wood slices out of these boards and made as many as desired.
However all I needed were a few for the main tree to gitter done this fine rustic holiday season.
So let’s make some easy DIY Christmas ornaments, easy enough for the whole family to get involved in, rustic crate-style! Full instructions are in the tutorial below:
Homemade Christmas ornaments, rustic crate-style!
Supplies you’ll need:
Wood Christmas Tree In Crate stencil
(if you have Herringbone Wood Christmas Tree Stencil, the words are the same size)
Random posts, planks or boards that can be sliced thin
Fusion Mineral Paint in Coal Black
Preparing the boards
1. Gather wood that can be cut or sliced fairly thin.
The above boards are a 3″ square reclaimed wood post, a piece of tongue and groove flooring that’s painted on one side, and a cedar strip.
The more light weight you can cut your wood pieces, the better for the Christmas tree so they don’t weight the branches down too much.
2. Lightly sand the fresh cut wood edges with a sanding sponge.
Note: stencils shown above are from Herringbone Wood Christmas Tree, which are the same size words as Wood Christmas Tree in Crate. I suggest to look at both listings to see which one you think you’ll use most.
Stenciling the wood cuts
3. Stencil random sayings in random positions with Fusion’s Coal Black or a black craft acrylic paint.
This stencil hosts random tongue in cheek Christmas phrases coded in shipping crate style. And since these are ‘crate ornaments’, the more random you stencil the ornaments, the better!
And try different positions, such as some words closer to the bottom, sides, top, etc. leaving space to wrap some string around some.
How to stencil with exceptional results
- load a dome-tipped stencil brush with paint
- remove most paint onto a rag until brush feels dry
- tap or swirl paint through the stencil for the desired effect
You can learn more tips on how to stencil in this very informative post: Everything you need to learn about Stenciling HERE
Wrapping the wood ornaments with string, twine and raffia
4. To add crate details, wrap some crate ornaments in string, twine and raffia as if the crates are wrapped up for shipping.
To wrap the ornaments:
- Consider using a mix of heavy string, thin twine and raffia. The more rustic the better!
- Start the string at the back of the ornament.
- Wrap around the ornament 2 or 3 times, crossing the string over itself in the front.
- End the string in the back of the ornament, and tie a knot or two in the back to keep it in place.
- Snip the ends to trim, and you are done!
Other supplies to decorate your diy ornaments with:
- rustic ribbon such as burlap
- casual, rustic yarn
- fabric scraps
- baker’s twine
- short, flat black screws like THESE
- molding clay additions
- small letter ink stamps
- shipping labels
- vintage stamps
- string them together using small wooden beads
- glue on some German glass glitter for a little antique shimmer
- mix with handmade paper ornaments for a very homespun vibe
- loop some twine through each and hang by themselves from doorknobs
- consider spray painting unevenly for an additional rustic look
Creating ornaments with cedar strips
- Cut a couple of cedar strips to the same length, or different if you wish to create a stacked crate look.
- Stack the cedar strips side-by-side horizontally.
- Place a shorter cedar strip placed vertically on the two horizontal strips, then use hot glue to attach it to the others, in order to hold your ornament together.
- Wrap with string off to one side if desired.
Drilling holes into the ornaments
- Place a wood ornament onto a wood plank.
- Using a drill bit in a cordless drill, choose a place to drill a hole to hang the ornament with. This can be in the middle, corner or sides.
- Choose a drill bit large enough to thread an ornament hook through. If using twine or string, make the hole a little larger.
Wood post ornaments
So let’s check out some completed ornaments! Aren’t they cute?
It was fun coming up with different looks for each handmade Christmas ornament. The sky’s the limit when you combine the sayings and string wraps!
There’s even a string wrap image on the stencil Wood Christmas Tree in Crate which I layered underneath real string in the LOT 12 ornament shown above. The stenciled version helps keep the ornament weights lighter too!
Tongue and groove flooring plank ornaments
This wood piece was from a stack of tongue and groove flooring.
Either side could be used, however I loved the weathered painted side, which provides a good contrast to darker Christmas tree branches.
A mix of wood ornaments
And the various wraps of string, raffia and twine keep the homemade Christmas ornaments unique from one another!
So let’s hang the ornaments on a tree to make it extra unique!
Ornaments hung on a small tree
Here’s a sample on a small Christmas tree seedling. Adorable! And you sure don’t need many on this sized tree!
However these homemade Christmas ornaments be used in many other ways than just on a tree:
- Attach to gifts wrapped in brown paper wrap
- Hang up garland-style
- Use as unique place card holders with names on the backs
- Tuck into garland or evergreen branches placed on a mantel
- Stage with pinecones and pine branches in a wood tote or crate
- Attach some to a wreath
Wherever your vision takes you is where you can go! They would be very easy for kids to make too!
I can’t wait to share how these homemade Christmas ornaments look on my main Christmas tree once pics are taken! I’ll update this post once I do. However until then, I’m really enjoying how these ornaments turned out! Simple, price efficient, and unique!
They certainly check all the ‘crate boxes’ in my book…
Other favorite homemade Christmas ornaments:
Check out other unique Christmas ornament ideas HERE
Visit all my Christmas decor to-date from one page HERE
DIY homemade Christmas ornaments, rustic crate-style!
Supplies:
Instructions:
- Select boards that are or can be cut quite thin to create lightweight ornaments. I used a 3" x 3" post, cedar strip and floor plank.
- Using a mitre saw, cut the boards in square shapes to resemble crates.
- Lightly sand each ornament edge with a sanding sponge.
- Stencil crate sayings on each ornament with Wood Christmas Tree in Crate stencil. Position in different areas, leaving some room for twine.
- Wrap ornaments with twine, raffia or string.
- Drill holes in the middle or corners of the ornaments to hang.
- Use long Christmas ornament hangers, twist as desired, then hang on tree.