Easter time is fast approaching, like every holiday it seems. Not just holidays, but anything I put in the calendar that I want or need to do seems to quickly be just around the corner. Lists are a great way to make sure everything gets a good start, but it shows just how busy life is.  This holiday, I was only able to get a few Easter DIY decorations done.

No desserts have been made yet this year, only easy peasy decor. All projects are made from wood I had laying around. The only one made from new wood is the wall plaque. This has potential to be a long post, let’s get started with what I made, I want to show you just how easy it is to do yourself.

Cross Plaque

You first need to know I am terrible with actually measuring. I generally just guess and cut. Not to many of the diy projects I do are measured with a tape. I knew what I was after, that’s what mattered most.

It was rather chilly this particular day. The wind was the reason for the chill. So I went and gathered up supplies from the shed and went back into the house. I then penciled out the goal on paper and made a first cut x two. This is the bottom and top boards that represented just how wide the wall hanging was going to be. I knew ahead of time I wanted to have a saying, so leaving room for that is a must.

Making the next cut was for the cross arm, or horizontal beam of the cross. First I cut the left side as wide as the wood I was using. Reason, I needed supports running along the back, and cutting it the same size allowed for smooth edges when finished. Now decide how wide the cross will be, and cut that board.

The rest of the cuts are super simple. Figure the vertical pole of the cross. Multiple cuts of the same size for each side, depending on how tall your cross will be. Don’t forget the top of cross, you will need this as well. Don’t be afraid to use different widths if boards. I used two, it’s what I had lying around.

Lay out the boards to formation of finished product in reverse, or upside down. Figure the back support boards and cut. I then nailed the support to each board in front. I will admit right here and now that the curse of not really measuring, well you will end up with jagged edges. It’s okay, clean up is soon. I took the plaque out to shed along with the skil saw <because that’s where it goes> and cleaned up edges and the cross for any board that may need a trimmed. Looks good!!

Now sand the front. My wood was inexpensive, kind of ragged, so a good sanding was needed. I seriously then took the vacuum and cleaned up the dust off of the wood.

And now it’s time to stain, paint or leave plain. Your choice! While that’s drying, if you do it this way, go ahead and start looking for a saying to add. Once your topping is completely dry, go ahead and add the sprinkles. You know, the perfect quote, saying or drawing. For this one, I first used a white colored pencil to lightly write out the quote. Once I was satisfied, I used a paint marker over the colored pencil template. Use creative writing fonts if you have it in you. ME, not so much, so I simply just added thicker lines  to some letters, and a swoosh or two.

I then added a picture hook on the middle back so it can be hung if I choose. This year it’s hanging, next year it may not be.

Empty Tomb

This is 3 pieces of old pallet boards I cut up last summer. I could have used the same wood as the wall plaque but was after old raw wood look. I cut 4 boards the same size for bottom and long sides. Then I cut 2 edge pieces. [Here is where I realized that my sides were going to be too high, so I did a quick cut down on all 4 side boards.

Pallet boards are not really wide enough to nail to with out splitting, and I didn’t want nails showing. So I decided to use caulk to adhere boards together. Just a bead of caulk down each edge and clamp together. It took awhile waiting for the caulk to dry, so I really was working on all of these projects at the same time.

Once I had the tray pieces put together, I added two small pieces on the bottom as bracing across the two long boards. Was it needed? No, just more piece of mind from only using caulk to hold this together. This way I wont worry of pieces falling apart. I then took the tray out to the ban saw and cleaned up the edges carefully. I was not concerned with “perfect” at all. I just wanted a small tray to hold the cross and empty tomb.

The rest was the easy part.

I bought some sphagnum moss and placed a few rocks on one side of the tray for the hill that the three crosses will go on. This does not need to be full of rock on this side as you will not see it. Place a sheet of this messy moss over and tuck in edges to corners.  I then placed a small spray painted terracotta pot on the other side and fit in several pieces of crushed concrete we just had brought in to fill our lane. This part is like a puzzle, getting the bottom boards covered and finding the perfect rocks to curve around the ’empty tomb’ to give it the look of being in a hillside. Then find a rock to place near by the tomb yet pushed aside.

Then I went and snipped off a single little tree branch that was five steps out my door. Snip the branches to make the crosses and attach with hot glue. I also wrapped thin twine string to help hold the two pieces together and for looks. I then made a very small hole in moss so I could dab on some hot glue to bottom of cross and stick the glue to the rocks under the moss. Hold for a few seconds while it sets up.

Finally I found some burlap ribbon that I cut a thin piece of to add the ‘He has Risen’. Staple gun each side of ribbon. I then covered each staple with a scrap booking paper flower attached with hot glue.

Daffodil Bunny

I found a 1×6 board laying around in my husbands shop. I considered that fair game.  So with a pencil I drew out the outline of a bunny. At first I was not so convinced I was going to make anything with out totally ruining the board. I then cut the shape out with the skil saw.

I trimmed him up a little bit. Just to get the most obvious deformity fixed. Then realized it wasn’t to hard so I cut the second one. Sanded down the edges and spray painted. THAT WAS THE EASY PART!!

I found some wire I had again used for a project last summer and snipped up a piece to fit my bunnies.

Next, roll in the edges of wire to make a basket. Staple the one side down.

Then I took a piece of some sphagnum moss and roll into the basket. Then staple at the top to hold basket in place. This is not easy.

Trim off bottoms of daffodils and insert into the moss. You will need to take out daffodils to refresh in water or add new ones. As once they bloom, like most flowers, shelf life is minimal.

Bunny Trail

This little thing is all scrap wood. One piece of 2×4 and some 1×2. Simple as can be, I found the wood and knew it would be just a little sign. I had extra 1x in granary from the crates I made at Christmas. PERFECT!!  I quickly cut the pieces to what looked like would make a border. Gave the 2×4 a swift sanding then painted with spray paint. Once dry, nailed on the borders with two finish nails on each side. With a paint marker wrote my words and DONE!!