Wood Slice Christmas Ornaments (Three Ways)

Three handmade wood slice Christmas ornaments painted with mandala dot designs, hanging on a Christmas tree with warm lights.

A throwback to a season of crafting with a nine-year-old joining in.

I was digging through old project files the other day, the kind of digital closet clean-out you do when you’re supposed to be doing something else. Anyway, I stumbled across a video I made during Christmas of 2020. Back when my son was still nine, still small, and still popping into my videos like it was the most natural thing in the world.

The ornaments in that video were simple and handmade, natural wood, a little paint, a stencil or two, but they still feel like part of the same journey of creating a unique home out of found and reworked items. 

A beautiful red-headed, nine-year-old peeks in and out of the footage, curious and half-wild, and it reminds me how I've always combined running a small business, supporting my family, and motherhood.

Those pinecone ornaments were even used as coworker gifts for my husband that year. I tied one around a mini tequila bottle like something you’d get on a very spirited holiday flight. They were imperfect, practical, personal, very much the way our lives are.

So I've dusted off the footage, refreshed the instructions, updated the links, and pulled all three project variations into one place.

If you want a few quick, meaningful handmade ornaments to make before Christmas hits full throttle, these will do the trick.

They’re inexpensive, beginner-friendly, and each one can be finished in the time it takes to listen to a podcast episode or half of a Hallmark movie.

Let’s jump in.

Heads up: some of the links below are affiliate links, and some go to my own shop. Either way, if you click and buy, it helps support my small business (and keeps me stocked in Wood Slices and Coffee).

⭐ Wood Slice Ornament Basics

Wood slices give you that rustic, cozy, handmade feel without needing a workshop or a lathe.

You can absolutely cut your own using wood logs. That’s what I did in the original video. I found a guy on Facebook Marketplace giving away a downed tree, and we ran with it.

Or you can skip all that and buy pre-cut slices on Amazon. Either way, they’re easy to work with.

There’s no wrong path. It’s just about how much sawdust you want in your life.

⭐ ORNAMENT ONE: Pinecone Stencil Ornament

Wood slice Christmas ornaments stenciled with a pinecone design, hanging on a Christmas tree with warm white lights.

A classic pinecone silhouette - simple, wintry, and great for anyone who loves a nature theme.

Supplies

(Some of these are Amazon affiliate links. Clicking them earns me a few cents - maybe someday enough to buy wood slices instead of making them.)

How to Make It

  1. Base Layer: Place the pinecone stencil over your wood slice and stencil it using Weathered Wood. You don’t need much paint, thinner is better here.

    Close-up of hands stenciling a pinecone design onto a wood slice using Weathered Wood paint and a stencil brush on a countertop.

  2. Shift for Highlighting: Once the first layer is dry, shift the stencil slightly to the side. This tiny offset will give you room to lay in your highlight.

  3. Copper Highlight: Using Pennies from Heaven, add just enough copper to make the pinecone look dimensional. It brings a warm glow when the tree lights hit it.

    A finished pinecone stencil wood slice ornament held up close to the camera, showing the layered weathered wood and copper patina highlight.

  4. Dry + Hang: Let it dry completely, add a ribbon or twine, and you’re done.

This one is quick, subtle, and pretty. Especially if your tree is a mix of textures and neutral tones.

⭐ ORNAMENT TWO: JOY Pyrography Letter Triptych

Three wood slice Christmas ornaments with the letters J, O, and Y burned into the wood using a pyrography marker, hanging together on a Christmas tree.

This set is one of my favorites because the three ornaments make one complete message — J, O, Y — and they look great hung together.

This technique uses a pyrography marker, which contains a chemical that burns into the wood when activated by heat. It’s gentler than a traditional wood burning tools, but still something you want to use thoughtfully. (And yes, I did this on my kitchen counter originally, while still protecting the granite.)

Supplies

How to Make It

  1. Stencil Your Letter: Center the stencil on your wood slice and color in the letter using the pyrography marker. It will look like faint yellow almost clear color at first.

    Clear letter stencils placed on top of three wood slices, arranged for creating J, O, and Y pyrography ornaments.

  2. Activate the Burn: Use a heat gun to gently warm the ink. As the temperature rises, the chemical in the marker burns the wood wherever you've used the marker.

  3. Repeat for All Three: Make one ornament for each letter: J, O, and Y.

  4. Hang as a Set: These look best clustered together on a tree branch or tied vertically on a wall hook.

They’re simple, graphic, and rustic.

⭐ ORNAMENT THREE: Mandala Dot Ornament

Three handmade wood slice Christmas ornaments painted with mandala dot designs, hanging on a Christmas tree with warm lights.

This is the meditative one. The “sit down with a cup of tea and dot your way into a calm evening” ornament.

It’s all dots, no stencil, no base coat. Just color and rhythm.

Supplies

How to Make It

  1. Start in the Center: Place a single dot in the middle of your wood slice.

  2. Build Outward: Create rings of dots around the center, alternating sizes by switching dot tools.

    Close-up of hands applying circular mandala dots to a wood slice ornament using a blue dotting tool and paint on paper plates.

  3. Add Metallic Accents: Use metallic paint to add shimmer on top of or between the rings.

  4. Keep It Symmetrical: Follow the natural circle of the wood slice. It guides the shape for you.

  5. Dry and Hang: These dry quickly and catch the tree lights beautifully.

If you fall in love with mandala dotting, I point you to one of my favorite artists who teaches the process beautifully, Lydia May. She’s the reason I tried this technique in the first place.

Full Video Tutorial

If you want to watch the original 7-minute tutorial with all three ornaments included here it is:

⭐ Final Thoughts

Handmade ornaments don’t have to be complicated or picture-perfect to feel meaningful.
Sometimes the most charming decorations are the ones made at your kitchen counter with a kid nearby and a little paint under your fingernails.

If you make any of these, I’d love to see them.
Tag me or send a photo — they always make my day.

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