Love a holiday project that can be made in one sitting? This is it! It’s seriously one of the easiest things we’ve ever made. AND, it’s made mostly from scrap pallet wood. The finished project stands at about 40 inches tall but you can easily size this up or down to suit your needs. Prop it against your fireplace, display on a buffet table, or size it down and hang on a door. This would also make a great gift.
Here’s what we used:
Supplies
- Pallet Wood – 9/16 thickness
- Vertical Post – 2 in. wide by 36 in. length
- Bottom horizontal piece – 2 in. wide by 26 in. length
- 2nd horizontal piece – 2 in. wide by 22 in. length
- 3rd horizontal piece – 2 in. wide by 20 in. length
- 4th horizontal piece – 2 in. wide by 16 in. length
- 5th horizontal piece – 2 in. wide by 12 in. length
- Simple Star (pdf pattern)
- Wood Glue
- ¾ Inch Finishing Nails
- Epoxy
- 25 Small/Medium-Sized Clothespins
- Advent Calendar Cards (pdf)
Tools
- Nail Gun
- Jigsaw
- Table Saw
- Miter Saw
Directions
- Using your table saw – rip (6) two-inch pieces of pallet wood.
- Vertical Post – using your miter saw, measure and cut one of the pieces at 36 inches long.
- Horizontal pieces – using your miter saw, take the remaining pieces from step 1 and cut them to the desired lengths.
- Depending on the size you are wanting your Advent Tree, print out a star pattern appropriate to the size, trace it on a piece of wood, and use your jigsaw to cut the star. Here’s the Simple Star Pattern we used.
- Spread out your horizontal pieces and star onto your vertical post. We used a pencil to mark the locations.
- Glue the star and the horizontal pieces to the vertical post and allow plenty of time to dry. Some of the pallet pieces may be warped a bit so you may want to clamp those pieces to the vertical post or use your nail gun to secure them to the post.
- Once dry, I flipped the tree over. With the nail gun secure the star and horizontal pieces to the vertical post.
- Your pallet wood will probably be naturally aged but when you cut the pieces it will expose fresh wood. You may want to go back and stain those exposed edges with a stain that will come close to matching your distressed pallet wood.
- Most craft stores have decorative clothespins in different colors and sizes. I used medium-sized white clothespins for this tree.
- Lay out your clothespins, allowing equal space between them. Use epoxy to attach the clothespins to the wood and allow to set overnight.
- Create & print your calendar squares. We used a Bible verse for each day of the Advent, but you could do your own version of this using family Christmas traditions or random acts of kindness. I used white card stock I had on hand, but you could use kraft or colored paper. A paper cutter makes this quick and easy to trim. Advent Calendar Cards (pdf).
