Valentines is coming up.  Thinking about gifts from the past I thought I would share a few of my favorites so far. All of these items were made mostly of scrap wood, and took less then a few hours to make.

So here we go!

First up we have a scrap wood tray. This tray is 18″ by 12″ and I used 1/2″ wood. First make the tray plate by cutting 8″ X 1″ and two 3″ by 1″ pieces of wood to 18″ length. Then, glue them together along the 1/2″ edge, with the 8″ wide piece in the middle. Once the glue is dry, glue the two 2″ by 1″ pieces along the edge of the tray (perpendicular to the direction the plate boards are running at the very edge, these will be used to secure the boards and as tray handle points).  Once everything is dry, flip it over to the back side and screw in at least one 1″ screw through each of the plate boards connecting them to the perpendicular handle boards. This way you have not just the glue holding everything together but a mechanical connection also.

Now, on to the handles. Here you have 2 choices: purchase a set of door handles from the hardware store or if you are like me and have some copper tubing laying around make your own!  Attach the handles to the handle runners, stain/seal the wood, and call it done! When I gave this one to Luke I added these mason jars with Swedish Fish  and a card the kids made “Dad you are a great catch!”. The jars are from Shutterfly(my favorite and no I’m not being paid to say that).

OK next ite

m. Super easy wood transfer with a poem. Now if you google on YouTube “DIY wood transfer” you will find better how to videos then I can provide. So I wont, but if you want to do this without the hassle of trial and error, then go to our Etsy shop and let me do it for you 🙂

 

 

Last but not least, my personal favorite, a message board. OK for this you need scrap wood of the dimensions you want the message board, three thin running boards equal to the over all width of your message board, wood glue, bulldog clips, branding iron to hot stamp the words, a roll of receipt/calculator tape, a 1/2″ copper pipe clamp, two eye bolts and wire for hanging the final product up.

 

Same as the tray, glue your scrap wood together along the thin edge to make a flat board and let it dry. Once dry attach the running boards to the back to secure the entire board. I used three running boards with screws about 4″ apart. Now, use the hot iron to hot stamp or brand your message in to the wood. If you mess up don’t worry you can always sand down and try again. Note, here if you hold the branding iron for too long, then the wood around the letter starts to burn and makes the letter less crisp, don’t worry just sand it down.  If you evenly sand, you’ll see that where the branding iron touched (the letter parts) are burned much deeper. Therefore, when you sand you just remove the surface burn wood around the letter creating a crisp more defined letter.  Finally, stain and seal ( I like to use red chestnut).

Now, use a cord or ribbon and lace through the receipt tape roll. I used the 1/2″ copper pipe clamp as a point to hang the receipt tape roll from. You can leave it at that or add a strip at the bottom of copper tubing or wood to secure the end of the receipt tape.

Then, I added some bulldog clips to hang pictures and art work. Last but not least, screw in the eye bolts to the back of the board and use the picture/mirror hanging wire to make a nice secure point from which to hang the message board.

 

There you have it, three ideas of items Dad actually wants mostly made of scrap wood!

Best part is with each of these there are small tasks (like screwing in handles) that you can do with the kids, building memories together. My kiddo loved attaching the handles to the tray and filling jars with candy, he also helped with the wood transfer one year (rubbing the paper off), and I can’t tell you how excited he was to write a special note on the receipt tape of the message board (not to mention the art that we had to pick out to hang up). These moments, made these gifts!