Reclaimed Wooden Snowflake, Featured on "Studio 5"

I was asked to tackle the Reclaimed Wooden Snowflake by Studio 5 for a West Creek Design segment.

Immediately I was smitten! I heart anything that involves reclaimed wood. I started hunting around my garage for scrap wood and bought the rest of the wood I needed from Lowe's. My go to for any type of wood decor project is the cedar fence slats from Lowe's. They're priced at $1.16 a piece for a 6ft board. You'll need 7 for this project. You can't beat that deal. (Unless It's  free)

I loved the post on My Altered State's blog. She has been building these reclaimed snowflakes for quite a while and had very easy instructions, that I followed to build mine.

I figured out the dimensions for the size of the wooden snowflake. I knew I wanted it 3ft in diameter. So started making my cuts. 

You need....

-3 long boards (36" long)
-3 short boards (24" long)
-3 lg V's (6- 45 degree cuts)
-3 sm V's (6- 45 degree cuts)
-6 triangles

After everything is cut, I layed it out to make sure the pattern would work.

My favorite way to add texture and depth to a wood project is with paint. For this project I started with a dark walnut stain and covered the wood. I let it dry overnight. 

Next I went back and forth over the board with a block of paraffin wax. Then I covered the board with white paint. After it was dry, I placed a piece of duct tape over the white paint. Then I took my blow dryer and heated the duct tape. After you've heated up the duct tape, press it down and smooth it out with your hands. Now peel it away and you will get an amazing chippy reclaimed look.

Next, I marked the center of each of the boards. The center Mark is where the boards will intersect, keeping everything symmetrical.

I started out one board at a time, attaching the embellishments on each end. You can attach the embellishments the V's) with glue (you can't go wrong with gorilla glue). I love the look of screws, but be sure to drill pilot holes or the wood will split on you. You can also use a nail gun. I love the ease and speed of the nail gun. It's very secure and doesn't split the wood.

After each of the the boards have their embellishments, start with the long boards and make an X shape. Attach with glue, screws or your nail gun.  Now take the final long board and attach it down the middle of the X. Be sure to line up the marks on the middle of the boards. 

Next start with the smaller boards and do the same thing.  Now you have a beautiful reclaimed wood snowflake!

Featured on Studio 5 "Tree Slice" holiday ideas

Today West Creek Design was featured on Studio 5, showcasing great ideas to add rustic warm charm into your holiday decor with wood slices or tree discs.

First things first.... I want to give a shout out to my favorite boutique for dressing me and helping me look so fabulous on the show! Have you heard of Kendalljane Boutique?! They have the most fabulous clothes and amazing prices, you just can't go wrong with them. On Studio 5 today I wore their new Red Plaid Tunic! Not only is it extremely comfortable, it's so flattering on! You can wear it by itself or add some layers to it like I did. It's a must have for Fall and  right now you can get it on their site here! For only $31.99 you don't want to miss out on this top!

Right now they are offering West Creek Design fans 10% OFF their entire purchase!

Use code :WCD10 at checkout! So head on over there, I'm sure you'll find something you'll LOVE!

Now on to great ideas for your holiday decor using regular old wood slices. I first discovered this darling wood slice wreath.

found here on Pinterest. 

I knew it would be a great transitional wreath for fall all the way until Thanksgiving.  As I gathered the supplies, I found all the wood I needed piled up next to my Mother-in-law's shed. With her permission I grabbed as much wood as I could and knew that I couldn't stop at just the wreath.

I used my miter saw to cut the wood slices. You have to be so careful while your cutting the wood. Having knots in the wood and different thicknesses can sometimes cause the miter saw to grab the wood and throw it, or cause your hand to slide into the blade. ALWAYS clamp the wood so that it's completely secure and won't move on you when you're making the cuts with the miter saw. 

If by chance you don't have access to a wood pile or a miter saw, you can purchase wood slices on both Amazon or Etsy. I was able to grab some wood slices from Rustic Wedding Supply via Amazon here. I was very happy with the wood slices and the shipping was great. There are many other vendors and options available online. I also ordered biodegradable craft rings here via Amazon, for the base of the wreath. These are compressed MDF like material that the wood slices adhere to really well with the Gorilla wood glue. The wreath was extremely easy to put together as shown on the Studio 5 segment.

Once I had all the wood sliced, ideas poured into my head.  I loved taking each individual wood slice and stamping it with snow flakes, drilling a hole in the top and tying it with jute for Christmas ornaments.

I also made coasters with the individual wood slices stenciling numbers on, and then covering the coasters with polyurethane to seal the wood.

One of my favorite ideas was to make place card holders. I took the wood branch and instead of cutting small slices, I cut chunky ones, and then used a dremel saw to cut a deep line across the top of each piece of the chunky wood slice. I love the rustic element this adds to a a table setting.

A great neighbor gift for the holidays are these adorable push pins. I took a small branch and cut baby wood slices out of it with my miter saw. I then took a small finishing nail that was twice as wide as the wood slice and pounded the nail all the way through so that the sharp edge stuck out on the other side....tada a wood slice push pin.

I found a great chunky wood slice at Hobby Lobby. I took a drill bit and drilled a hole in the middle of the wood slice. I then took my jig saw and went from the hole I made in the middle of the wood slice and hollowed out a circle to make a wreath shape. I took a palm sander and sanded the middle so that it was smooth. This gave it the wreath shape. I decided to spice things up and paint the inside of the wreath gold and a small edge of the outside circle. I finished it off by hanging it with a burlap ribbon. This is one of my favorite projects using a wood slice.

Without the middle cut, this wood slice makes an excellent staging piece. Whether it's for a center piece or as a plate charger. I love the possibilities of the texture and height it can give.

Also using store bought wood slices, I applied orange craft paint to the middle and then used a paint stir stick as a stem to turn them into a pumpkin collage.

I very excited about the stocking holders made from a chunky log. I used a small branch and clipped off the stems for the stocking holder hooks. This was so simple to make but will have a huge impact on my mantel this holiday season.

Thanks again to Studio 5 and Kendalljane Boutique for hosting West Creek Design and this fabulous segment. I hope you're as excited as I am for the upcoming holidays. If there is any interior design or staging needs that you might have, West Creek Design would love to help. Contact me at westcreekdesign@gmail.com.

KendallJane Maxi Dress Giveaway

We are doing our first give away with KendallJane Boutique. If you want to win follow me (West Creek Design) on FB and Instagram (@sarahmdee1), then head over and follow KendallJane Boutique on FB and instagram (@kendalljaneboutique) as well. Comment on this post after you follow to enter. Contest ends on April 28th, winner will posted on FB and Instagram. GOOD LUCK