Seasonal Character Door Hanger with Home Depot

Thanks to The Home Depot, I have my first Christmas project done and it feels so good to be ahead of the game! And what’s even better, you too could have this cute snowman. All you have to do is sign up for this week’s FREE Do-It-Herself (DIH) Workshop at your local Home Depot. How cool is that? You can get all the details and register here.

This week’s free DIH Workshop is this Seasonal Character Door Hanger. Learn more about Home Depot’s workshops at http://workshops.homedepot.com

Did you even know that Home Depot offers these free workshops? I didn’t until recently and they have me sold on how much you can learn. Not only do they create cute projects like this Seasonal Character Door Hanger, but you can also learn how to do different home repairs, use a variety of tools and even build larger home decor projects. They have three types of workshops to help do-it-yourselfers of all ages and experience levels. You can sign up for a Do-It-Yourself (DIY), Do-It-Herself (DIH) or even Kids workshops. And this week’s offering is a #DIHWorkshop, so ladies—text and call your friends and start planning a girl’s night!

I highly recommend that you take the workshop, but I wanted to show you what you’ll be learning and provide some tips I thought of while I was creating my very own character. And I’m not the only blogger doing this. This is part of a Virtual Party of 25 bloggers, so you’ll have plenty of inspiration before attending your local workshop.

There are so many ways to even do a snowman!

I decided to do a snowman, but I’ve seen this as a scarecrow, Frankenstein’s monster, Santa… Whatever holiday you are celebrating, you could create a character to match. And the design is perfect for making it double-sided, so you could have a scarecrow on one side and then do the snowman on the other. Pretty cool!

Three of the big ways I customized my character: (1) I put the  brim on straight, (2) I filled in the screw holes with wood filler so you wouldn’t see them in the finished product and (3) I added a scarf!

Materials

• 1 – 1″ x 6″ x 8′ Tongue and Groove Pattern Stock Board
• 1 – 1″ x  4″ x 8′ Common or Pine Board
• 1 – Box #8x 1 1/4″ Phillips Square Drive Flat-Head Full Thread Zinc Coated Multi-Material Screw
• 1 – Pack #8 1 5/8″ Zinc-Plated Steel Eye Screw
• 1 – 1/4″ x  50′ Manila Rope
• 1 – 8 oz. Carpinter’s Wood Glue
• 1 – Wood Filler (optional)
• 1 – Sanding block (optional)
• Decorative Paint (for the snowman, I used white, orange and  black chalkboard paint)
• White Chalk (optional)
• Scarf (optional)

Instructions

Measure and cut your wood per the diagram. Once you cut, you’ll have (3) 32″ pieces, (2) 24″ pieces and (2) 4″ pieces (My small pieces were cut straight because I attached my brim on straight, however you’ll need angled pieces if you attach your brim at an angle.) Sand any rough edges with your sanding block. TIP: Did you know Home Depot will cut your wood? Even if you’re not at the workshop, you can have Home Depot cut the wood for you! The workers there are very helpful and will do any straight cuts. 

Assemble your base. Lay the three 32″ pieces vertically side by side and run a bead of wood glue in the grooves. Secure the boards making sure to keep them level at the top and bottom.

Attach the brim. You can put the brim on at an angle or straight. To make sure you have the 24″ board hanging equal distance on both sides, use your small 4″ pieces. Then attach one 24″ board using (6) 1 1/4 screws, two in each Tongue and Groove board. Then repeat on the other side. Be sure to sandwich your 4″ piece between the two 24″ pieces and attach with screws on both sides.

This is before sanding. Once you sand you can’t tell you had screws!

OPTIONAL: Fill in screw holes with wood filler. In order to have a clean look without any screws showing, it’s easy to fill in your screw holes with wood filler. Just follow the instructions on the wood filler label, but you basically fill the holes, let it dry and then sand to make smooth. It doesn’t take long and it’s totally worth it in the end.

Install eye hooks and rope. Using a 1/8″ drill bit, pre-drill two holes vertically in the top and center of the far left and right Tongue and Groove boards. Screw in two eye screws into each of the holes. Tie your rope to the eye screws. TIP: I actually left this for last (after I painted) to avoid getting paint on the hardware.  

Paint your character! For my snowman, I wanted a rustic and slightly distressed look. To do this,  I white washed the face of the snowman using equal parts water and white paint. Use enough water so that your paint allows some of the wood grain to show. I then painted the face and distressed it by doing a light white wash over the whole face and rubbing out some with a wet rag to create the uneven, natural distressed look.

For the hat, I painted it using black chalkboard paint. I then “distressed” the chalkboard paint by rubbing chalk all over. I then rubbed it off using both a dry and wet rag. You can also lightly sand edges to allow some of the wood to show through. Have fun with it.

Add your flair. I decided to add a scarf to my snowman. Just pick any scarf you don’t mind not wearing for a little while and wrap it around the whole base and knot it in front.

Isn’t this such a cute way to greet guests? It makes such a large impact with just one project. And it has me wanting to crank up the Christmas tunes and cozy up next to a fire. Too soon? (Insert an Emoji winking face here!)

For even more ideas, be sure to check out our Virtual Party!

You’ll see 25 different Seasonal Character Door Hanger ideas! But first, I must give a special shout out to my support team of Sandra, Amy, Summer and Alicia. We worked with each other throughout this project and you guys are going to love what each of them came up with (hint: we were all feeling a bit frosty). Thank you ladies for making this project extra fun!

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So are you ready to sign up? For those who attend the workshop, I’d love to hear about your experience and see what you create so be sure to post on Instagram and tag me – @tonalitydesigns! I’ve been known to share what my followers create on my feed!

I acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in this program. As a part of the program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All opinions above are my own and are based on my experience with their products and brand.