Easy DIY Mini Pallet Sled Ornament with Art-C

Product in this post was provided by Art-C and I was compensated for my time to write this post.  Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are 100% my own. 

Each year my family adds at least one special ornament to our tree.  This ornament is sometimes handmade and sometimes store-bought.  It becomes a fun search at times to find THE ornament for that year which we can then add to our collection and hopefully pass down to future generations.

This year, THE ornament is a handmade ornament.  This has been the DIY year for our family.  We did more work on Glinda, my vintage travel trailer.  We renovated part of our house for me to move my studio back home.  We are currently working on the guest bathroom.  And I’ve been busy creating more than ever.  So, when I received my awesome box of goodies from Art-C, I was ever so excited to find these mini pallets inside.

I chose to use the 3×5 mini wood pallet.  With the holiday season upon us, I saw a sled right away!  This project came together so quickly with the help of The Groove Tool and the other products provided.

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Changing attachment tips is super easy on The Groove Tool.  Snap one off and add the other.  Here you can see the coarse sand tip on The Groove Tool versus the fine sand tip.

Using the coarse sand tip, smooth and round the edges of the bottom slats to imitate sled rails.  This was so quick and easy with The Groove Tool.  It also comes with 2 speeds for even more control.

Aren’t these nicely rounded rails?  Can’t you see the sled already?

I gathered the other supplies to start dressing up my sled.  I also swapped out the coarse sand tip for the brush tip.  This tip is best for painting and I love using it with my stencils.

Squeeze out a little paint on a nonstick surface and swirl The Groove Tool in the paint.  The brush provides such an even coat of paint, therefore, it doesn’t take much at all.

See how evenly it covers the mini wood pallet?

After I started to paint the rails, I realized I did want the bottom of the sled painted too.  I used the Groove tool where I could and then used a 1/2 flat brush to get under the rails of the newly formed sled.   I then used the smaller flat brush to paint the rails with silver metallic paint.

After all the paint was dry (which didn’t take long), I glued a small strip of leather to the front of sled with the edges tucking under rails and under sled.

For a little extra detail, I used the gold metallic paint to add a small dot of paint where the leather would attach to a sled on the sides.  It now kind of looks like a brass head nail.

Continuing with the fine tip applicator of the gold metallic paint, I added the word Joy and some little starts using a tiny stencil sticker.

Continue to embellish as desired.  I added a small border which was also painted with gold paint, a small cork piece as well as leaves hand-cut from corrugated paper all found in the botanical collage kit.  Fold and crinkle your leaves for even more form.

Finally, I added a few flowers.  The large flower had great stamens, but I embellished them further by adding a dot of gold paint to each tip.  This was easy to do with the fine tip applicator.

Here are a few more pics to share.  I think it is adorable.

I’m so glad I still have a few more of the mini wood pallets in a few different sizes.  I can’t wait to play with them some more.  What a fun new surface to create on!  What would you make with a mini pallet?  You can also find these at your local Michael’s stores.  I’d love to see what you make with them, so please share with me if you do.

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Live Your Art Life this Holiday Season!