Who’s ready for Christmas? Do you have any gifts left to buy?

With only 3 days left until Christmas, I’m really focusing on trying to relax mentally. Trying not to overwork myself for the holidays. Trying to focus on God and thinking of the Holy Family. It’s hard to do, but I don’t want to spend the next few days worried so much about making it a perfect Christmas. After all, we received the best gift already- Jesus.

I’m working on some simple DIY Christmas gifts this year. So hopefully the people I’m making these for aren’t reading this! 😝

One reason I can make some of these gifts is because we have a barn that’s been torn down. For over a year I look out and hope passerbys don’t see the pile of barn and think we’re junky people. (Afterall, it’s slowly getting cleaned up.) In my mind, I see a pile of recyclable pieces; potential crafts.

Since the barn was in my husband’s family for so many generations, we thought it was necessary to make a sentimental gift. A piece of the old barn for my husband’s dad (who’s barn it is). And a piece for my dad who has always admired old barns.

Actually last year my dad made one of his classic toy barns for my boys. It was his 25th one to be exact. All throughout my childhood he made these for donations and gifts and things.

There are so many elaborate wood pieces that we could make from the scraps, but it intimidates me. Thanks to my dad’s love of woodworking, I’m not afraid to use a drill or table saw. But I’m looking for something that I won’t mess up too bad.

So here are 5 DIY gift ideas. They’re relatively simple to make.

Wood coastets (Set of 4)

Coasters can be made by slicing thicker branches about 1″ wide. Then sand them well, stain, and clear coat. Make sure they dry well. Add felt to the bottoms so they don’t scratch your tables.

Trivettes (Set of 2)

Same concept. Cut even thicker branches about 1-2″ wide. If the bark stays on, leave it for extra texture. Sand, stain, and clear coat. You can also add felt bottoms on these also.

Wall decor

This was made by adding an upside down “V” brace on the underside and screwing it in. Then I screwed in the letters and wreath. The final touch was a red burlap bow that I fastened on with ornament hooks.

Shelf

Can be made by cutting to size any sturdy board. For a more rustic look, you can leave the wood roughed up. Then you just need brackets installed.

Bench

The most intricate of all the pieces can be made with a basic 3-4 pieces from the same beam. All you need is a seat, back, and two legs. Add in some braces between for extra support.

This one has some remnants of white paint, which is really neat. Another bench may have been a hand-hued beam that was planed for boards. We chose to sand it down and leave the edges alone.

Anyways, these 5 gift ideas are fairly easy to make. I just think that wood (and textures) make home feel cozy. I have a feeling these gifts will be a hit!

P.S. So many people stopped by asking to have some free wood to use for crafts. Our response was “of course!” Less waste. So glad other people could use it up too!

What are some other simple DIY gifts you can make?