The kids made this little tree for our mom’s birthday. It wasn’t that hard (well, we made it ourselves!) and it turned out great! I put together a little tutorial for you guys. 🙂
- Pick your pallet. We have a huge pile of pallets behind one of our barns, so we had plenty of options. You don’t want the boards to be too far apart or it looks odd. This is the one we chose: (*Shudder* I know these next few pictures are terrible quality, but I can only say that the lighting in Dad’s shop is also rather terrible. XD )
- Draw the line. We simply set a board on the pallet at the angle we wanted, and traced a line with a pencil. You might want to use a carpenter’s pencil or Sharpie so you can see the line better. You can measure and all that boring stuff if you want to be more precise, but we just traced. 😉
- Cut it out. We – meaning my brothers – used a Sawzall to cut along the lines. This was definitely the trickiest part of the process, and my brother accidentally broke one of the branches when he stepped on it. O.o (We fixed it by first tracing the broken pieces onto an extra pallet board, then cutting it out, and then screwing it back to the tree’s “trunk”.) Make sure to saw the boards at the right angle so you don’t hit the back boards while you’re cutting the top ones.
- Trim it up. You’ll have to cut or break off the back boards so they don’t stick out in front. We did this by a combination of cutting them off with a Sawzall and whacking them off with a hammer. (Be as careful as possible, though – don’t want to break any limbs (human or tree)! XD ) Lookin’ good!
- Sand it smooth. We didn’t actually sand it completely smooth because we wanted it to have a rustic look, but it’s a good idea to at least sand the sawed off edges a bit.
- Secure the branches. Some of the pallet boards were a little loose after all that, so we put in a few extra screws to secure them.
- Paint it. Yay, now for the fun part! We painted ours all green, but you could also do red and green stripes, or leave stripes of raw pallet wood for a more rustic look.
- Bring on the lights. This is optional, but we strung some pretty Christmas lights on it to make it more interesting. We used white, but you could also use colored lights.
- Display it proudly. Ta-daa! You’re finished! You may want to stop at that, but on the other hand I think it would look neat to make a forest of trees in different sizes and colors. So fun!
I hope that wasn’t too confusing. Anyway, do you like how it turned out? I think it’s pretty cute! You can click here to see my sister’s post which has a bunch more pictures of us making the tree. Thank you, brothers, for doing a lot of the hard work for us. 😀 ♥
Merry Almost-Christmas! (HOW CAN IT BE SO CLOSE ALREADY?!)
***Allison***
Cute! I’m sure your mom loved it. OOH YES CHRISTMAS IS SO SOON!
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Thanks! Yep, she sure did! I KNOW, RIGHT?!
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That is SO cool and pretty! I bet your mom loved it. 😀 I wanna make one! 😛
-Clara ❤
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Ha ha, I’m so glad you liked it, Clara! Yeah, she did!
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Super Cute! What a great idea!
~Gracie
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Aww, thank you, Gracie! I know, right? We actually got the inspiration from Pinterest, so i don’t know who thought of it first. 🙂
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Your welcome! Pinterest is so great! 😀
By the way, I’m getting a Nikon Coolpix l840! I wanted to tell you because you are the main person that inspired me to decide on that specific camera (and probably Megan as well, cause you both have the l830)! I’m super excited! Goodness, you’ve inspired me so many times. How does that happen?! XD XD
~Gracie
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YES! XD
OH THAT IS SOOOO EXCITING! You’re totally going to love it! Even though I have a new DSLR, I still definitely miss my old camera sometimes. Aww, I’m so glad I’ve inspired you! ♥
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This is such a neat DIY! It looks so lovely with the lights. 😄
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Thank you so much, Sarah! I agree!
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Ooh, how pretty! My dad loves pallets. 😉 Happy Birthday to your mom! 😀
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Thanks, Grace! Yeah, my mom does too, but my Dad doesn’t quite get why you would use pallets rather than any other wood. XD We’re like, “Because it looks neat, and the boards are already cut!” XD Ha ha! Aww, thanks – I will tell her.
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You’re welcome! Heehee! XD XD You’re very welcome! 😀
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I want to make that now XD. I don’t know if we have any more wooden pallets, though.
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Ha ha! I’m so glad you do! I hope you find some pallets! 🙂
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That’s really neat! It looks fabulous! You and your siblings did a great job!
P.S. Merry (almost) Christmas to you too!🎄
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Thank you so much, Sylvia!
P. S. Thanks! 😀
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And Happy Happy Birthday to your mom!
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Aww, thank you!
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Such a cute idea! Love utilizing old palettes. Up cycling is amazing, thanks for sharing.
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Thank you so much! You’re quite welcome!
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That is a very clever idea! 🙂 Aren’t brother’s great when you need them to cut things for you? ;D I made something this year, and while I did do some of the cutting, my 12 year old brother gave me some valuable help. 😉
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Ha ha, I know, right?! XD Thanks!
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Lovely. Well done Allison.
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Aww, why thank you!
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That’s such a cute DIY! Merry Almost-Christmas to you too! 😉
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Thanks so much!
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You’re welcome!
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So neat! My brother has a hobby/business making rustic pallet art, and this is right up his ally. I told him I wanted one for Christmas, and he said he was out of pallets. 😦 *sigh* Oh, well. I really hope to make one sometime, for next Christmas, it would be so neat to make 3 or 4 to put up around your house!! 😀
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Thank! Ooh, that’s so neat! Ha ha, that’s too bad.
😉 I hope you can make one sometime!
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I ❤ your crafts! Cute Christmas tree!🎄🙌🏼
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Aww, thank you, Rutvi!
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Loved it! It’s sooo pretty! And sooo cool! It looks AH-mazing in the dark! ❤ ❤ ❤ Merry Almost-Christmas! (AH ITS SO CLOSE) What are you wishing for this holiday season? And I'll bet your mom will LOVE her present – happy birthday to her! ❤
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Thanks so much, Sara! I know, right? Some of the things in my Christmas list is the KOTLC series and new watercolor supplies. 🙂 What about you? Aww, thanks! She did!
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You’re SO welcome! Ooh, I hope you receive them! This may sound odd, but for Christmas I’m wishing for a real, old fashioned typewriter – I just think it would be sooo fun & neat! 😋
I’m very glad your mom liked it! 😊
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Ooh yeah, that DOES sound neat – and very photogenic. XD
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YESS, it would be so cool to take pictures of – another great reason why typewriters are awesome! 😉
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