Holiday Shelf Sitter

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Welcome to Day 11 of my 12 Days of Christmas Crafting. We are almost there! For the penultimate project, I will make a holiday shelf sitter.

This holiday shelf sitter makes a nice little Christmas decor piece. It can be part of a table centrepiece, on the fireplace mantle, or part of any holiday decor. This particular one is for the Christmas holidays but you could use this project for any holiday at all!

What is a Shelf Sitter?

A shelf sitter is a block of wood that simply sits on a shelf. It is made from a thicker piece of wood so that it sits by itself. There is no stand needed.

This makes this little piece of decor very versatile as you can pretty much put it anywhere.

Previously I’ve painted and stencilled a shelf sitter. You can read all about that project here.

Supplies Needed

Here’s what you need to make a holiday shelf sitter.

• piece of wood – I like using 2 x 6s. You can cut to any length you want. Typically I like to use 6-inch lengths or 10-inch lengths. It all depends on what you want it to say. Make sure the edges are smooth after your wood is cut – sand if necessary.
  Also, consider wood frames or artist boards from the dollar store. They’re not as solid and not as deep, so keeping it standing may be an issue, but it could also work.
  If you wish, you can paint or stain the wood first. It’s entirely up to you. Remember that one side will be covered with paper. Make sure it is completely dried and cured before starting this project – follow the directions of the paint or finish you are using.
• decorative paper to cover the wood (this project uses no paint!). I used some buffalo plaid Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up. Be sure to consider scrapbook paper, wallpaper or gift wrapping paper as well. You want something to go with the season that you are making this for.
• graphic cut out of adhesive vinyl. I cut a simple graphic using my Cricut Maker on adhesive vinyl. You can use a ready-made graphic or design one yourself.
  Along with this, you’ll need the weeding tool, transfer tape and a scraping tool. I really like the XL scraping tool from Cricut.
• mod podge – this will be used to attach the decorative paper

How to Make a Holiday Shelf Sitter

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on making this shelf sitter.

• Cut your decorative paper to fit the face (front part) of your wood. Make it a scant smaller (no more than 1/8 of an inch) so that it is just inside the edges of the woodblock.
• Apply mod podge to the wood. I like to use a foam brush to do this step. Don’t be too stingy with the mod podge; you want to make sure it is everywhere so that you don’t get any bubbles. Make sure the edges get some mod podge as you want to make sure it is well adhered to.
  TIP: mod podge is water-based and so you can wash your foam brush and re-use it again!

• To make sure everything is stuck on well, I use my Cricut scraper to rub over to make sure it is secure.
• Make sure the edges are pressed down well and that there are no bubbles.
• Apply your vinyl graphic. For details on weeding and using transfer tape, check out my post All About Adhesive Vinyl.

Look at how nice this turned out. It was quite a simple project and I love that it can be customized to say anything you like.

Want to dress it up a bit? Add a bow or some decor to the top. It can be stuck with a staple gun or a glue gun.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for our final day of my 12 Days of Christmas Crafting.

Want to remember how to make this holiday shelf sitter? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.