With a few pieces of scrap wood and some tester pots of paint you can make your own back-to-school decor for your classroom, or to decorate your home!
I have had so much fun puttering away in the she-shop lately. Yes, it’s been hot and muggy, but the thought of the kids heading back-to-school has me giddy with glee! I thought I’d rush the big day a little, and decorate my home to celebrate my favourite (their least favourite) day of the year.
I didn’t take photos of the first steps for my wood pencil – mainly because I wasn’t sure if it was going to turn out or not – but I started with a single 2″x4″ scrap piece of wood. I set my table saw to a 45° angle and cut the wood…
in the wrong place. As you can see below, I had to put my 2″x4″ back together with wood glue. lol The concept holds though – but only cut the EDGES of the wood at an angle.
The ruler was also a scrap piece of wood – stained and painted. No tutorial needed – I think rulers are kind of obvious.
Once I had the edges of the wood pencil cut, I used my mitre saw to create the sharpened end. I think I had it angled around 60° – but you can go shallower if you want. I should have clamped the wood better at the point section so you wouldn’t see the split – but too late is too late.
I used my random orbit sander and 60 grit sandpaper to make the sharpened end more rounded. You’d be surprised how well 60 grit eats through the wood – rounding my wood pencil took less than 10 minutes!
I painted the body of the wood pencil in Rust-Oleum yellow, the eraser with a tester pot of pink I had in the garage and the pencil lead in some leftover chalkboard paint. I coated the entire thing, front and back, in a clear polyurethane (outdoor-appropriate) to protect it from the rain and humidity. If you are making this back-to-school decor for your classroom, you really won’t need to do the poly step – it will be well protected inside.
It’s SO STINKIN’ CUTE!
With a never-ending supply of scrap wood (I screw up a lot), I thought I’d add some red to my back-to-school decor by cutting a couple of fun wood apples.
I used a 2″ x 6″ and cut two apple shapes on my scroll saw. Scrolling is an easy and fun job, but when working with wood this thick, it does take a bit of time. DON’T push the wood through the blade any faster than it wants to go – this from the chick that broke a blade doing just that.
I sanded my wood apple with 60 grit sandpaper to round the edges a bit and then smoothed it out with 220 grit for a nice, polished finish.
The thickness of the wood scraps I used (1 ½”), I didn’t need to cut a base or stand for my wood apple – it was able to stand by itself.
I painted them with a bright “Stiletto red” and added a bit of brown and green in dollar store DecoArt paint.
Again, and because this back-to-school decor is going on my front porch, I did coat my wood apples with outdoor-appropriate polyurethane to protect them.
They add just the right POP of colour to make my back-to-school decor stand out.
After I had the wood pencil, ruler and apples set out, I noticed that I needed some height for one of my flowers. I had a leftover drawer from the coffee table repurpose of last week, so I flipped it upside down, cut a mailing tube in half and attached it to the drawer front and painted it to look like school books.
I couldn’t resist the funny titles, or adding more bright colours, and I think it turned out perfectly.
Throw in a gorgeous dog (like our Miss Lacey) and it’s a “Leave it to Beaver” scene!
Time to shove the kids out the door, bid fond farewell to lazy summer days.
Two different front porches in two weeks – do you think my neighbours think I’m nuts?
Have a great one!
