How to make wood burned ombre alphabet art

I am in love with the ombre effect, especially in art. Wood burning is an easy way to make an ombre effect. For this art project I chose one of my favorite art themes, letters, to use the ombre wood burning technique on. All that is needed is the point tip on the wood burning tool and you too can make an ombre effect on any wood surface.

Materials and Tools

1.5″ Wooden Letters A-Z and &

Basswood Canvas – 12″ x 12″

Creative Versa Tool

Ruler

Thin strip of wood

Glue

I arranged the letters on the Basswood canvas and included an ampersand.

Once I had them arranged I glued them down using a scrap of wood as a guide in between rows.

Then all that was left to do was make lots and lots of dots with the wood burning tool. The row of letters on top were almost completely filled with dots and then they were spread out a bit more for each row until the bottom row was loosely dotted. This image shows the letters about 1/2 filled in from the final. The process was a bit like needle felting.

Walnut Hollow is having a sale! Click the image below to take 20% off the hot tools and hot tool accessories so you can make projects like the one above that Abby created today:

Thanks for taking time to check out this wood burning tutorial and if you’d like to see more of my crafting with a re-purpose and adult coloring pages pop on over to my blog Sweater Surgery.

Stefanie Girard is a crafter with a re-purpose. She has been cutting stuff up since she was old enough to hold a pair of scissors in her tiny hands. She earned her degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and move to Los Angeles to work in the entertainment industry first as a Set Decorator and Prop Master then onto TV Producer specializing in How-To TV shows for HGTV and the DIY Networks. After writing 5 craft books for the Quarto Publishing Group she now spreads the crafty word online through book reviews and original projects with a focus on recycled elements.

Boo! Halloween Fence decorations

I love making big projects and Walnut Hollow wood shapes are the perfect surface to work big with. Their Halloween shapes make a great top border for my rolling gate and the large pumpkins layered with skulls and the letter “B” can be combined to spell the word “BOO”.

This decoration looks great during the day (both from the front and back) and super cute at night lit up with twinkle lights and battery-powered tea lights in the eyes of the skulls.

Tools and Materials

2 – Short Pumpkins Large

1 –18” Letter “B”

2 –Skulls

2- Bat signs

2- Pumpkin signs

2- Cat Signs

2- Ghost signs

DecoArt Paint in black, white, orange and brown

Paint brush

Wire

Wire Cutters

Optional: 4 Tea lights, twinkle lights

This project is perfect to get the kids involved with as there is lots of painting that no special skills are needed. I really enjoyed the time I spent first giving everything a coat of base color with the DecoArt paints.

Next I added dimension to the pumpkins with brown paint on the edges and in crescent moon shapes on the pumpkin to shade in the curves.

For the black cat and bat I used white paint on the edges and to give the bat details on the wings.

For the ghosts and skulls I brushed a bit of black paint on the edges.

To decorate the fence I simply slid the picks of the signs between the top pole and the chain links.

The attach the pumpkins, letter “B” and skulls I used a bit of floral wire to wire them to the fence.

To attach the tea lights in the skull eye holes I used a bit of double stick foam tape.

I hope you’ll try your hand a painting up a bunch of Walnut Hollow shapes and sharing your Halloween spirit with your neighbors.

Stock up on essentials to make projects like this and more during our 50% off sale at WalnutHollow.com. Click the banner above to shop now.

Thanks for taking time to check out this tutorial and if you’d like to see more of my crafting with a re-purpose and adult coloring pages pop on over to my blog Sweater Surgery.

Stefanie Girard is a crafter with a re-purpose. She has been cutting stuff up since she was old enough to hold a pair of scissors in her tiny hands. She earned her degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and move to Los Angeles to work in the entertainment industry first as a Set Decorator and Prop Master then onto TV Producer specializing in How-To TV shows for HGTV and the DIY Networks. After writing 5 craft books for the Quarto Publishing Group she now spreads the crafty word online through book reviews and original projects with a focus on recycled elements.

 

 

How to make a charging station cord box

With the new school year season upon us thoughts turn to organizing along with new supplies and books.

We all have electronics as a part of out lives that need to be charged and it’s confession time for me…this is what my electronic charging area looks like:

Can you say, “oy”!? Well Walnut Hollow boxes to the rescue!

If your world looks like mine read on for the tutorial on how to make a charging station cord box.

Supplies and Tools:

1 Basswood Classic Box 3219

Professional Rotary Tool 29637

Drill bits

White Paint

Brush

Circle template

Pencil

Sand paper and sanding bits

Determine the sizes of the holes based on your cord widths and the number of holes you need.

If your cords and electronics are larger choose another size Walnut Hollow Box to accommodate your charging cord needs.

Draw the necessary holes and the cross line marks. Drill holes in the box by aligning the tip of the drill bit on the center of the crossed lines.

Once you have all your holes drilled sand the edges with the  Professional Rotary Tool.

For a final touch I painted the box white for a clean tidy look. I sanded the edges again after the paint was dry for a slight “shabby chic” look.

I hope you’ll try making a charging station box to tidy up your world of electronic cable madness.

Thanks for taking time to check out this tutorial and if you’d like to see more of my crafting with a re-purpose and adult coloring pages pop on over to my blog Sweater Surgery.

Stefanie Girard is a crafter with a re-purpose. She has been cutting stuff up since she was old enough to hold a pair of scissors in her tiny hands. She earned her degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and move to Los Angeles to work in the entertainment industry first as a Set Decorator and Prop Master then onto TV Producer specializing in How-To TV shows for HGTV and the DIY Networks. After writing 5 craft books for the Quarto Publishing Group she now spreads the crafty word online through book reviews and original projects with a focus on recycled elements.

How to make a computer lap desk

I mostly work with my computer on my lap sitting on the couch. Why would sit at an uncomfortable desk chair when I can lounge on my couch and get the same work done? But the warmth of the computer can be uncomfortable in the summer heat. (A benefit in the winter though!) And storage….can we ever really have too much? So, if all this sounds like your world why not make yourself a vented computer laptop desk out of a Walnut Hollow Basswood Cornice box.

Materials and Tools

Basswood Cornice box

Professional Rotary Tool 29637

Drill bits

Fabric

Batting

Trim

Hot Glue Gun

Pencil

Scrap paper

Scrap wood

Cut two rectangles of batting a bit larger than the box so they will wrap around the edge. Cut one a bit larger than the other and trim the corners to reduce bulk.

Cut a piece of fabric a few inches bigger than the batting. Set these aside for later after you drill the holes in the lid.

Place a piece of paper on the lid and then your laptop to see where the little feet on the computer are. You will want to avoid drilling holes near the feet. Sketch out a pattern of different size holes to use as a rough guide.

Place pieces of scrap wood and paper to fill the interior of the box. This will help reduce splintering on the inside of the lid. You can see in the open photo above I left this step out on the first large hole I drilled and the inside of the wood box split more than the others.

You are now ready to drill the vent holes in the lid that will help keep your laptop cool.

Draw down the drill bit to poke through the paper. This will mark the center spot on the wood lid through the paper.

Drill a variety of holes in the lid starting with the largest size first, then medium, and then fill in spaces with small holes.

Once you have all your holes drilled give them a sanding with the Professional Rotary Tool.

Now would be the time to paint it if you like. I liked the natural wood so I left it as it is.

All that is left to do is to hot glue the fabric to the box.

Trim off the excess fabric and glue a strip of trim around the parameter to hide all the rough edges and glue.

I hope you’ll try making this fun computer lap desk with your favorite fabric.

Thanks for taking time to check out this tutorial and if you’d like to see more of my crafting with a re-purpose and adult coloring pages pop on over to my blog Sweater Surgery.

Stefanie Girard is a crafter with a re-purpose. She has been cutting stuff up since she was old enough to hold a pair of scissors in her tiny hands. She earned her degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and move to Los Angeles to work in the entertainment industry first as a Set Decorator and Prop Master then onto TV Producer specializing in How-To TV shows for HGTV and the DIY Networks. After writing 5 craft books for the Quarto Publishing Group she now spreads the crafty word online through book reviews and original projects with a focus on recycled elements.

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