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3D Wood Star & Christmas Tree Topper

Wow! Wow! Wow! Check out these delicate Cherry Wood Star & Tree Topper created with our Thin Wood Veneer and a Cricut Maker!

Below is a materials list and a few details with how she created the DIY 3D Star and Christmas Tree Topper. Check them out below.

Materials Used:

1 – 11″ x 17″ Cherry .010″ Fleece Backed Sheet Long Grain (per star)
1 – 8.5″ x 11″ Cherry .016″ Paper Backed Sheet Short Grain (for cone)
2 – 8.5″ x 11″ Vellum (to line inside the tree topper)
Cricut Maker
Cricut Settings: NEW Fine Point Blades, 80lb cardstock with more pressure
SVG file from Etsy (We have no connection to the creator of the svg. We just love supporting artisans.)
Beacon’s 3-in-1 Glue
Small battery twinkle lights

The SVG cutting file from Etsy comes with all the instructions so we won’t go on about that. Below are a few helpful tips.

For the star, it doesn’t really matter if you use long grain or short grain wood sheets as the SVG file cuts in all directions.
For the Christmas tree topper cone, she used short grain because our wood sheets rolled into a tube easier with short grain. If the tube had been rolled the other direction, long grain would have rolled better. Roll with the grain. Not against the grain.
The SVG file comes with really nice score lines for folding. A Pro-Tip is to use just a little water on the wood on those score lines and then using a bone folder, score the lines on the back side of the wood. The wood creases beautifully.
Assemble 4 of the points, if using twinkle lights insert all the lights before adding the 5th star point.
If using twinkle lights with a battery pack and on/off switch, leave that out of the star when assembling. The tree topper cone will hide the mechanics but still allow you to access them to change batteries and turn lights on/off.
If adding lights, she did say she cut a little notch on one side of the 5th point to allow room for the wires to hang down into the cone.
The cone tree topper was just hand rolled into a cone shape. There is not a cut file for that in the SVG file.
The cone topper where it attaches to the star was a little finicky. The artist cut notches on either side of the cone to cradle the star while the center points were taller to cover the opening created for the wires.

3D Wood Veneer Mandala

This Maple Wood Veneer Mandala Flower is stunning, if we don’t say so ourselves! It measures out to be 10″ x 10″ of pure layered beauty of nature.

Real Wood Paper 3D Layered Mandala Flower

Below is a list of all the materials and Cricut settings we used to create this work of art.

Cricut Maker
2 – Deep Point Blades (We recommend NEW blades for best results.)
9 – 11″ x 17″ Maple Wood Back Veneer Short Grain
12″ x 24″ Cricut Cutting Mat (Or cut sheets down to fit 12″ x 12″ mat.)
SVG File from Etsy (We have no connection to the seller. We just loved the design and like to support artisans.)
Beacon’s 3-in-1 Glue
Sandpaper
Cricut Maker Settings: Natural Wood Veneer, Default Pressure

If you are at all familiar with Cricut, there isn’t much explanation needed for this project. Cut each of the 9 layers separately. Keep in mind this is wood and wood will have shavings and little splinters. You’ll need to go around the edges with a piece of sanding paper just to smooth out the edges to clean up the piece before you assemble. For assembly, we started with piece #9, the solid wood piece and slowly glued each layer onto the next. We didn’t really wait between layers for the glue to dry. Glued, Placed, Pressed, Repeat.

While writing this post, it did occur to me that if someone wanted to take this to the next level they could paint the flower and the background different colors. Since I see this flower as a poinsettia, I would paint the flower red and then the rest of the wood background a beautiful shade of green. I would recommend trying either acrylic paint watered down for a white wash effect or using watercolors. I think watercolors would be beautiful!

Printing & Sewing on Real Wood Paper

“To Plant A Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow” is a beautiful quote by Audrey Hepburn. A beautiful & talented artist friend of ours was commissioned to draw and design a digital graphic for us to use just for this project. She oozes talent as you can quite clearly see.

To Plant A Garden quote by Audrey Hepburn

We used 2 species of wood for this project. We used 1 sheet of Aspen .010″ Fleece Back 8.5″ x 11″ Long Grain and 1 sheet of Cherry .025″ Wood Back 8.5″ x 11″ Long Grain.

Printing on Real Wood Paper

While we do recommend Short Grain direction for portrait prints, our Aspen .010″ Fleece Back Long Grain sheet went through the HP ENVY Photo 7855 printer just fine. (The .016″ Paper Back Long Grain did not go through as a Portrait print. Use Short Grain as a Portrait print.)

We get asked all the time about what printer do you recommend. There are far too many printers available for us to test print on every printer. And frankly, we aren’t in the printing business. We just want to bring beautiful, all natural wood sheets into your creative world.

We used a photo printer for this project which is NOT a Laser Printer. We always recommend a Laser Printer or seeking a professional printing company. However, we have been testing the waters with this HP ENVY Photo 7855. It’s doing ok. There is some bleeding on the Aspen, if you look closely. This is why we recommend Laser Printers. Ink Jet printers ink is wet, takes time to dry and during that drying time…the ink can bleed aka follow the wood grains. We always recommend testing with your specific printer. We mention this printer because it has done a really nice job printing on maple and cherry. Aspen is a grainier wood which tends to allow for more ink bleeding.

Sewing on Real Wood Paper

Not only did we go against all odds and use a non-laser printer on this project BUT we also hand sewed the corners. Yep. You heard that right! You can sew Real Wood Paper. Our .010″ thick Fleece back and .016″ thick Paper back sheets can be sewn on a sewing machine! For this project though, we needed a little more exactness on the corners so we opted for hand sewing.

First, we used a guide and needle tool to punch through the wood. Threaded up our needle and away we went!

This project was actually very quick and easy. The finished print size is approx 6″ x 7″. We used Beacon’s 3-in-1 Glue to adhere the Aspen Fleece Back to the Cherry Wood Back prior to sewing the corners. This was maybe a 1 hour project start to finish. Cute. Unique. and Perfect for our Greenhouse.

Print
Cut
Glue
Punch
Sew
Done

Wooden Cross Bookmarks Made With A Cricut

Making a DIY Wooden Cross Bookmark with a Cricut Maker couldn’t be easier than with Real Wood Paper! Whether you are looking to make one for yourself or to give as gifts, they are quick, unique and beautiful!

We used 2 species of wood for this project. We used 1 sheet of Walnut .010″ thick Short Grain and 1 sheet of Maple .010″ thick Short Grain.

The SVG Cut File was purchased from Etsy. There are 4 cut layers and we arranged them so that we could get all 4 layers out of one 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of wood paper.

While we do like to use the Strong Grip Mat, we also always use painters tape to tape down our Real Wood Paper sheets. We don’t want them to move. The wood is too beautiful to waste!

Below are the settings we use for all 3 of our Real Wood Paper thicknesses.

Real Wood Paper Thickness: Fleece .010″ Thick
Cricut Blade: Premium Fine Point
Cardstock Setting: Medium Cardstock – 80#
Pressure Setting: Default

Real Wood Paper Thickness: Paper .016″ Thick
Cricut Blade: Premium Fine Point
Cardstock Setting: Poster Board
Pressure Setting: More Pressure

Real Wood Paper Thickness: Wood .025″ Thick
Cricut Blade: Deep Point
Cardstock Setting: Natural Wood Veneer
Pressure Setting: Default

PRO TIP: Make sure your blades are new/sharp. Wood is hard on blades. For best results use new blades.

Here you can see each of the 4 layers of Real Wood Paper. We like to use Beacon’s 3-in-1 Glue as our adhesive.

Pressed Flower Memorial Bookmarks

I lost my Dad just 5 weeks ago. While we are so very heartbroken, I wanted to make a keepsake for myself and family. I pressed flowers from his funeral with the intent of making wooden bookmarks. One morning it came to me. I needed to scan his signature onto the bookmarks. I had birthday cards he had given to various family members over the years. I was able to scan in a signature for each role he was to our family.

Love you, Bob
Love you, Dad
Love you, Grandpa Tossava

Husband. Brother. Father. Father-in-law. Grandfather.

For the bookmark, I used .025″ Thick Cherry Wood Back Short Grain and cut them 3″ wide by 7″ long. You can cut them to any size you desire with a paper cutter, guillotine, scissors, sharp blade, etc.

For the printed on circle cutouts, I used both .016″ Thick Maple Paper Back Short Grain and .016″ Thick Birch Paper Back Short Grain. I first printed them with a HP Envy Photo 7855 printer, then cut them out with a 2.5″ circle paper punch. Again, you can make them any size. This is what worked for me and my project.

I would like to point out that all flowers are not good for pressing. While we did have a gorgeous assortment of roses that I would have loved to use, they are too big, bulky and do not press well. Roses are better preserved using silica gel, which I did do. Smaller, dainty flowers work best for pressing. I took a chance with the daisies but they turned out beautiful. Almost translucent after I ran them through the laminator.

I put all the flowers between sheets of printer paper and placed them in between pages of a huge dictionary I have. I waited about 2 weeks and they were ready to go.

For glue, my first go-to is always Beacon’s 3-in-1 Glue. You can purchase that from any craft store. I used if for the signature pieces and the flowers. I arranged each bookmark, glued everything in place and let them dry overnight. The next day I ran them through a laminator. You do not need an expensive or elaborate laminator. I used a very inexpensive laminator that I’ve had for over 10 years. I used a paper cutter to trim each bookmark down.

To say I was pleased with how this idea of a keepsake turned out for myself and family, would be an understatement.

Wood Paper Luminaries with Free PDF and SVG Files

We are once again featuring the flexibility and luminosity of our .010″ Thick Fleece Back Sheets. We have the instructions and FREE PDF and SVG files (link below) to make these adorable Real Wood Paper Luminaries.

Below you will find step by step instructions on how to make your own Wooden Paper Luminaries. For this project, we used the Cherry .010″ Thick Long Grain Fleece Back 8.5″ x 11″ sheet and Aspen .010″ Thick Long Grain Fleece Back 8.5″ x 11″ sheet.

Aspen .010″ Thick Long Grain Fleece Back 8.5″ x 11″

Cherry .010″ Thick Long Grain Fleece Back 8.5″ x 11″

Download Free SVG & PDF Files Here. You will yield 5 cut pieces per 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of Real Wood Paper Fleece Back. You will need 2 sheets of Real Wood Paper to complete this project. You can either cut the pieces out with a Cricut and the SVG File or you can cut by hand using the PDF template in the download links provided above.

Step 1

Cut out 10 pieces of Real Wood Paper .010″ Fleece Back.

Step 2

Tuck one tail under another.

Step 3

Continue tucking each new tail behind the previous.

Step 4

When all the tails are tucked, it will look like this.

Step 5

Fan out all the pieces into a large circle.

Step 6

Be sure to maintain the center connections.

Step 7

Gather pieces into your hand to begin other end.

Step 8

You will now tuck the ends in front of the previous piece.

Step 9

Continue adding pieces.

Step 10

Almost done! Keep tucking!

Real Wood Paper Luminaries are complete! Well done friends!

If you want to illuminate them, just insert one of those battery powered tea lights you can get in a multi pack at the dollar store. To hang them, we used fishing line and taped one end on the inside of the luminary and out through the center hole.

A couple other examples of our .010″ Thick Wood Back sheets being illuminated with battery operated tea lights. Table Numbers for a wedding and a Lantern using our Exotic Sheets that was sewn on a sewing machine and Table Numbers for a wedding.

To cut Real Wood Paper with a Cricut cutting machine, please visit this Cutting Real Wood Paper With A Cricut Tutorial for all the setting information.

DIY Wood Bow for Gifts

Who knew you could make a bow out of wood? We did! Our .010″ Thick Fleece Back sheets are so thin and flexible it’s easy to make a beautiful, natural bow for your gifts. Great idea for 5th Anniversary Wood Gifts!

We made a quick video to show you how we made the bow but if you are looking for more details read on below the video.

Below you will find step by step instructions on how to make a wooden bow for gifts and packages. We also used the Cherry .010″ Thick Short Grain Fleece Back 8.5″ x 11″ sheet but have other Fleece back options available.