wood bird Christmas ornaments

wood bird Christmas ornaments – True to my fascination with everything avian, my Christmas tree has lots of bird ornaments.  The idea for this particular ornament came when I was out walking my dog.  I noticed the vast abundance of Georgia pinecones littering the ground. What could I do with these? If I used them inside, how was I to extract the little creatures living inside them?  I gathered up some of the little cones.  When I returned home I popped them on a tray in the oven at 150 for about 15 minutes to remove any friends.
I remembered I purchased some little pics after Christmas last year and they would be perfect for the wood bird Christmas ornaments I was planning too.  

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I absolutely adore this “beautiful bird” applique die cut  by Sizzix.  I love this die cut so much that I have two or three ideas stewing in my head where I wan to show you how to create different ornaments with this die cut using unconventional materials to create stunning tree, mantle or package decorations.  

Supplies for wood bird Christmas ornaments:

• foam board
• wood veneer
• X-acto knife
• sanding sponge (or nail file)
• bird die cut
• Sizzix machine  (works great to gut thick items, fabric and is supervised child friendly)
• Glue
• sentiment stamp
• permanent ink
• distressing ink
• snow paint

Instructions for wood bird Christmas ornaments:

This version all starts with simple to find, good old foam board. Foam board can intimididate many of us because it usually requires using a craft knife to cut and that can take some practice. The best advice I can give you when cutting foam board (I prefer dElmer’s because it comes in many thicknesses, is high quality and can be purchased with grids on one side) is to utilize the “three cut rule.” That is, trace your shape, use one pass of your X Acto knife to score exactly (or as close as you can) on the traced line, make a deeper second pass and finally score deeper to cut completely through. Don’t try to cut all the way through with one cut, this doesn’t yield smooth-edged results.

As shown in the photo above, cut the foam board down to manageable pieces. Cut some to match the size of the bird image on the die and some to use for the wings.

The good news is that, if you choose to use the shape of wing I did, you only need to trace a large teardrop shape onto the foam board and cut them out with the X ACTO knife. Have handy a sanding block or nail file to smooth any jagged edges.

There is a wing shape included in the die cut that you can use if you wish but I have to admit I am partial to teardrop shaped wings.

The easier part of this project involves using the Sizzix BigShot pro to cut the bird shapes from the foam board. The BigShot Pro is a heavy-duty die cut machine that cuts thick materials such as foam board.

It makes cutting these foam board bird shapes so easy!

Now its time to cover the shapes with the real wood veneer comes in 12″ x 24″ Real Wood Thin Cherry.  It is ideal for card making,mixed media, veneering, paper crafting, custom embellishments, and wood modeling and it is compatible with most cutting dies.

You will need to use the wing template and an ink pen to trace the shape and a die cut machine to cut the real wood. For this smaller duty project, I went back to my lighter duty Big Shot machine and found that I could cut four sheets at once.

Once the sheets are cut, you can glue them to the foam core shapes to cover.

Use stamped sentiments for the wing and StazOn ink and I used chalk ink to smooth the edges of the foam.   I also used the brown ink to create the brown beak. 

And to coordinate with the pine cones I spray painted (which made those little creatures promptly vacate if they were not dead already) I added a small pine cone dusted with snow paint and a bit of holly spray.

These wood bird Christmas ornaments are the perfect addition to any nature themed tree.  They can be made fairly quickly and easily in multiples. I hope I inspired you to try to make your own ornaments from simple foam board. What other dies do you own you could use to create special creations? Don’t forget to check back here to see more unusual ideas using this wonderful die.