For Christmas I decided to offer to my family something I made with my own hands. Since we are not living close to each other, I wanted to do something that they could see every day and that will remind them of our family.

This Instructables is part of the Homemade Gifts Contests so if you like what I did please vote =)

Step 1: Video

Here's the video of the build, if you are looking for more detail about it, keep scrolling !

Step 2: Design

I found my inspiration on the web, after doing some research on Pinterest I found what design I wanted for the ornaments. I redraw and rescale some of them and then printed to their final dimensions.

Step 3: Preparing the Medium

The meduim used could have been a wooden tablet bought from the store, this could be done if you lack some time, but I decided to reclaimed pallet wood I had around my workshop.

So after dismantling two pallets using a hammer and a crowbar, I planned the planks and cleaned the edge before gluing them together with wood glue and clamps. Once it is dry, I cleaned all the traces of glue on the tablet created and went to te next step.

Step 4: Cutting the Medium

I sticked the drawing with schoolbooy glue because I didn't have any repositionable glue, it works the same but it is harder to remove. Then I cut the external pattern using a jigsaw, if some lines aren't perfectly straight, you can use some sandpaper to correct your cuts.

Step 5: Grooving the Animal

Using a Dremel and an engraving bit, I went on every inside line to create a V groove. I proceeded then to chamfer all the edges of the animal.

At this point, the paper can be removed from the wood, no need to do it neatly, the remains will be taken away on the next step.

In order to get cleaner grooves, I sanded all the grooves with 80 grit sandpaper and the chamfers too.

Step 6: Paint & Sand

Using a fine brush, I applied one layer of black paint into the grooves, on the external edges and on the chamfers.

Then I sanded all the face with 80 to 240 grit sandpaper to eliminate the smudges and obtain a smooth surface.

Step 7: Finishing

Finally, I stained some parts of the animal in order to have some contrast and make it more realistic. Once the stained has dried, I applied at least three coats of spray varnish on the wood.

All that was left to od was to put some hardware on the back to hang it on a wall, I used for that the same hardware used for paintings.

If you like my work, please vote for me in the contest !