California Wood Slice Ornament, Made with the Scorch Pen

Welcome to Day 4 of California Week!

I've wanted a California ornament to hang on our Christmas tree for awhile now. Our family had entered a promotional contest where you had to do X-number of things to win one of various prizes. We did all the things, because that's who we are, qualifying for the top-tier prize. I wanted the much-less valuable ornament with California on it and asked nicely if I could substitute a lesser-tier prize for the more expensive one we'd won. For reasons that didn't make sense to me then and still don't now, the answer was no. We'd done X-number of things, so we had to take the best prize. We could only have the worse prize if we'd skipped a bunch of the tasks. We didn't know that ahead of time and there was no way to undo the tasks we'd done. Maddening. 

Fortunately, I am a crafter and am perfectly capable of making my own ornament. It literally took five minutes. 

My ornament would look a lot better if I'd been able to photograph it on a Christmas tree, but it is March and we don't have a Christmas tree right now. My sister does. They keep theirs up all year, changing out the decorations for all the holidays and birthdays. Unfortunately, she lives in Idaho, so I couldn't photograph my ornament on her tree. Now that I think about it, I should make her an ornament with Idaho on it, in case they want to decorate for Idaho Statehood Day (July 3). Affiliate links below. 

California Wood Slice Ornament

Materials:

• unfinished wood slice with natural bark
• Scorch Marker Pro
• heat gun

Steps: 

Trace the outline of California onto the wood slice. Color it in with the Scorch Marker Pro. 

Move the heat gun back and forth over the design until it scorches to your desired level. You'll (probably) still want to be able to see the grain. It just takes a minute or two; you'll begin to smell burning wood. 

I've been having so much fun with California Week! Come back tomorrow for another project.