I saw this too cute advent tree in the Garnet Hill catalog for a mere $68 buckaroos and thought with my new basic woodworking skills I could definitely recreate it. Here goes nothing.
I took all 1×2 scraps, a 5/16 dowel and a 1×4 scrap cut to 3.5″ for the base. Below are the cut pieces and I made a center hole in each piece (using a 3/8″ drill bit so it could slide on the 5/16 dowel and swivel) and 2 holes on each end – only about 1/2″ into the wood – for the lollipop sticks.
Then I found colored stain from Minwax – never knew but they have it and it works awesome!
Now for some light sanding.
Next I glued the dowel into the base (I did predrill a 5/16″ hole but not all the way through the base). Then I made spacers from this 7/16″ plastic tubing. You can barely see them in photo way above and even less so in real life but the spacers keep the wood pieces from touching so they can swivel nicely. Each spacer is about 1/2″ long except the one piece I put on top to hold everything on which was only about 1/4″ long.
So it goes piece of tubing, wood, piece of tubing, wood, and on and on until you have 12 gradating pieces of wood.
I just arranged the wood pieces like a spiral so each lollipop has its own space without knocking into something above. (This also helps with the balance so the tree doesn’t tip over.) Here she is with Dum Dums – and I can only imagine how great it would be with Blow Pops.
Just wondering where you found the plastic tubing. Does blue or orange carry it? I've wanted an Advent tree for forever and LOVE this one. Thanks!
Tracie – I found the tubing at Orange in the plumbing dept. Good luck with your tree, it really was a quick build.
Thank you for sharing, I love this idea. I have created a round-up of all my favorite Advent calendars and I have added yours! You can check it out here http://www.thecraftyblogstalker.com/2012/11/25-diy-christmas-advent-calendar.html If you would like me to remove your feature please let me know and I will take it down right away. Oh, and please stop by and grab a feature button and wear it proudly! You deserve it!
I would love to make this but I was wondering how you did the pieces for the tre what size are they? I know you said 1×2 but how long are they ? Im very in experienced but would love to make it!!! So any more details you could provide would be great!!!!