You will need

• Resene testpot in your choice of colour; Fleur used Resene Half Rice Cake
• Resene Timber and Furniture Gel in Resene Jarrah Tree
• 4mm thick plywood
• Saw, drill and sandpaper
• Cloth or rag
• ‘Merry Christmas’ printed onto paper
• Sellotape and small craft paintbrush
• String/twine and beads

Instructions

Step 1:  Print out ‘Merry Christmas’ in a font and size that you like. Measure the biggest letter (‘M’) and work out how big you want to make your bits of plywood.

Step 2:  Cut the thin plywood into 14 equally sized rectangles (Fleur’s are 6cm by 7cm). Sand the edges smooth.

Step 3:  Measure where you want the holes for the string to go and drill these.

Step 4:  Using rubber or silicon gloves and a soft cloth, rub the Resene Timber and Furniture Gel in Resene Jarrah Tree onto the front, back and sides of each of the ply rectangles.

Step 5:  Roughly cut out each of the ‘Merry Christmas’ letters and Sellotape one to each of the wood rectangles.

Step 6:  Using a pen, trace around each of the letters, remembering to press firmly so that you leave an indentation in the wood.

Step 7:  Remove the Sellotape and paper letters, and with a small, fine craft paintbrush, paint each of the letters with Resene Half Rice Cake, following the indentation as a guide. Leave the paint to dry.

Step 8:  String the wooden letters together. Fleur used wooden beads to space out the letters further.

Top tip: Use 2-3 colours to paint your Christmas message to bring the garland into your Christmas colour palette.

Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe, 2017.