Rustic Valentine Tree

By Chris Wallace for Walnut Hollow

The Rustic Pallet Collection’s Rustic Tree is not just for Christmas! You can create Trees to celebrate many occasions – Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, 4^th of July, Back to School, Thanksgiving, Birthdays and Special Occasions!  I’m sure you can think of a few more.

 

This time I added the Rustic Wood Ledge and 5″ and 1 1/2″ letters to the mix.

Begin by basecoating the Tree, Ledge and Letters with DecoArt® Americana® Cranberry Wine and Terra Coral.  Alternate the colors so you have nice contrast for the wood pieces.

I added Graphic 45 paper (Botanical Tea) to the front of the 5” letters – it’s simple, just trace around each letter with a pencil, cut and adhere with Tombow® MONO Multi Liquid Glue.  I used the same glue to adhere the 1 ½” letters to the squares and circles of burlap. I used Tombow® Power Tabs to adhere the burlap pieces to the Rustic Tree. If you use Power Tabs, you can change the burlap attachments or move them around when you wish. The Power Tabs hold extremely well, but can be removed when needed.

The burlap flower at the top of the tree was purchased at Joann Stores – it’s a David Tutera flower that has a stem. I wrapped the stem around the very top of the Rustic Tree. Love the flower!

The Rustic Tree was nailed to the inside of the Rustic Ledge.  Use Tombow® MONO Multi Liquid Glue to adhere the 5” wood letters to the front of the Ledge. Fill the Ledge with Valentine Kisses – they are in the stores now so go get some.

I used small clips to attach the valentines to the Tree.

This is a great piece of home décor for Valentine’s Day – save it to use from year to year. Fill with vases and flowers, candy, cards or whatever else you might like!

Halloween Tree

By Chris Wallace for Walnut Hollow

Remember? I said I was going to doing something “un-traditional” with the Rustic Tree. This is just the first one and it was so easy to make!

You could use regular Black acrylic paint for the “branches”, but I used DecoArt® Americana® Chalkboard Paint™ so I could change the words from year to year if I wanted. Use a large flat brush to paint the Chalkboard Paint on the branches. Follow the instructions for painting 2 coats and letting it dry thoroughly.

Using a large flat brush, paint the “trunk” of the Tree with DecoArt® Americana® Chalky Finish, Heritage. By now, I guess you know that this new paint from DecoArt is a huge favorite. It’s nice and thick – you only need one coat.

The Marvy® Chalk Markers are great to use on the Chalkboard Paint. Usually I rub a regular piece of chalk over the dry paint to condition it for the Chalk Marker or for regular chalk. This time, I just left the paint as is and wrote with the Chalk Marker right on top.

I wanted to add a few things to the tree – like ornaments. I decided to paint clothespins and nail them to the branches here and there so I could pin a few things.

This is your early idea for the upcoming Halloween season. Better get started now – Happy Halloween!

 

 

Rustic Tree

By Chris Wallace for Walnut Hollow

I was so excited when this Rustic Tree became part of our Rustic Pallet Program! I thought of many ways to use it, but decided that I’d better create one for the upcoming Holiday Season before moving onto other ideas that are a little less traditional. On Facebook the other day, I was reminded that there are only 16 weeks until Christmas. Yikes! Time to get things started……….

Paint the trunk of the Tree with a large flat brush and a wash of color – I used DecoArt® Americana® Dark Chocolate with water. Paint the green branches with DecoArt® Americana® Hauser Green.

After the branches are dry, use a sanding block or an electric hand sander to sand back the paint on the edges and other places on each slat to be antiqued later.

Antique each slat with a mixture of Americana® Staining/Antiquing Medium™ and Dark Chocolate. Brush the mixture onto each branch and wipe off the excess with a soft cloth.

Your plain Tree should look like this.

Take the clothespins apart. Use a medium flat brush to paint all sides of each clothespin with Americana® Décor™ Chalky Finish Rouge. Once dry, put the clothespins back together – I find using a pair a needle nose pliers helpful for this step.

Start clipping the Christmas Cards that you and your family receive as they arrive so you can enjoy them throughout the Season!