Front Yard Santa Sleigh
I love impressive front yard holiday displays, but I'm also not a fan of plastic blow up ones you buy from the big box stores. So, here's an alternative. It's impressive, made of wood, requires minimal materials, folds flat for storage and will only cost you about $40!
MATERIALS
3 sheets of plywood 4x8 (I used the cheapest I could find)
Paint
Jigsaw
Sandpaper
STEPS
Print out the sled pattern above and transfer it to your plywood. There's a grid on the pattern so you can transfer the grid using a ruler and pencil and then re-draw the pattern square-by-square. I super-sized it so each side of the sleigh takes up an entire sheet of plywood and then I got the front and back pieces out of the third piece.
Once you've got it all drawn, cut it out with your jigsaw.
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Do a quick sanding to get rid of any splintery edges. This is supposed to be a rustic sleigh, so you don't need to go too crazy with the sanding.
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Paint your 4 pieces. I did all of mine in a Christmas red, but then came back and painted over the sleigh runners with gold spray paint. I then did some detail work with craft paint for the No. 25, holly and a few other details here and there.
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Now just just hold up the two sides (it's helpful if you have Mark Steines around) and slide the slots from the back piece into the slots on each of the sides. Repeat with the front piece. I call this paper doll technology
Mark Steines and Cristina Ferrare welcome actress Danica McKellar from the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Crown for Christmas.” Actress Sadie Calvano talks about her show, “Mom.” The owner of Studmuffin Desserts, Seth Raphaeli, is making grand-mère pomme gâteau, a.k.a. grandmother’s apple cake. Ken Wingard is making a DIY Christmas Santa sleigh. Cristina cooks sweet potatoes with blue cheese and bacon. Keep your dogs entertained this holiday season with a great puzzle game; Laura Nativo is making a DIY snuffle mat. Kym Douglas and Sophie Uliano are showing you how to have a festive party with all natural, homemade body treatments. And, our family has fixes for last-minute Thanksgiving emergencies. Credit: Copyright 2015 Crown Media United States, LLC/Photographer: jeremy lee/Alexx Henry Studios, LLC
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If you're not going to fill the sleigh with anything, you're all set. If you do want it to hold presents like I did, once your sleigh is together, measure the opening of the bottom from inside the sleigh and cut another piece of plywood a few inches larger on all sides than that. Just lay it in the bottom of the sleigh, the angle of the front and the back will hold it in place. Now wasn't that easy.