Stenciled Rustic Trees for a Christmas Village
I'm at it again with the stenciling today and I'm here to tell you that not too many people do it perfectly.
I am one of those imperfectly perfect stencilers but I know how to embellish and to make it look better than perfect.
Today I'm stenciling Christmas trees on rough hewn wood and that is not easy!
See what I mean...
Rough hewn wood is very rough, the texture of the wood is split, un-sanded and basically very rustic.
So, like I said, rough hewn lumber is rough!! The first thing I did was to paint the boards with Raw Silk by Fusion Mineral Paint. I wasn't careful, didn't paint some of the sides and made it as uneven as I could... easy right?
While you're reading through this post please visit the bold blue links for the products I used and links to related Homeroad projects. The READ NOW section will take you to bonus projects too!
When the white paint dried I began my stenciling. The first one I did I used a combination of black and brown for the pallet colors. I had to use a very dry brush to keep the color from bleeding under the stencil since the wood was so rough. Also, always remember that you can go back in with a fine brush and the base color to fix any mistakes. I do it all the time!
I used a fine Sharpie to add lines to the boards then I added a gold star and stars in the sky using Rub and Buff Gold Leaf.
The final thing I did for this one was to embellish it with some pine and berry branches that I painted freehand.
The next tree was a basic triangle tree with a gift box at the bottom. I stenciled it with FMP in Bayberry then went back in with lighter shade of green and white to give it definition.
Lastly, I added the snowflakes which is also part of the stenciling kit, a gold leaf star at the top using a gold leafing kit, and painted a red bow on the box.
You can definitely stencil simple things with gold leaf, just paint the adhesive into the stencil and let it dry. Lay a piece of gold leaf over the dry adhesive and use a soft brush to remove the excess gold leaf. I use an old shoe brush. Easy as pie!
The third tree was the smallest. Again, a basic triangle shape this time on a sled. The large snowflakes were also part of the kit. You can decorate each tree anyway you want to, there are several options in the stencil kit.
Lastly, I dotted the gold leaf adhesive around the tree to look like snowflakes and laid tiny piece of gold leaf on the dots. I used a soft brush to remove the excess and ended up with beautiful tiny gold snowflakes.
Each of the Christmas tree boards got a good sanding on the edges. I thought about antiquing the boards but decided against it at the last minute because the color went with the houses I had.
Please pin ---->>
I'm adding these to the 2 village houses I found at the thrift store. I think they were originally a Target find and I painted the roofs black to make them very basic.
If you'd like to make your own Christmas houses you can use another great Old Sign Stencil for Christmas Houses. The stencils make it so much easier to make the doors and windows on your houses!
READ MORE: CHRISTMAS HOUSES
I think you're going to love these adorable tree stencils from Old Sign Stencils. There are so many variations of this project.
READ MORE: OLD SIGN STENCIL PROJECTS
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Old Sign Stencils provided me with these stencils and Fusion Mineral Paint with the paint. All opinions are my own.
