These DIY Wooden Pins Make a Statement

These cool DIY wooden pins feature the almighty ampersand. You’re going to love the wood inlay effect – and you can customize any way you like!

These cool DIY pins feature the almighty ampersand. You're going to love the wood inlay effect - and you can customize any way you like!

I love ampersands – I just think they’re the most gorgeous letter-form known to man. I recently discover wood veneer and I thought it would be a great idea to create these Wood Inlay Ampersand DIY pins – and they were really easy to create, too! Come and check out how I did it!

DIY Wood Pins

Supplies:

Wood craft circle
Wood veneer sheet (in Cherry)
Silhouette Cameo / Other die-cutter / Paper punches
Mod Podge Matte
Mod Podge Hard Coat
Watercolor (I used Burnt Umber)
Paintbrush
Sponge dauber
Sandpaper
Hot glue gun
Pin Backs

Your first step is to find artwork in an ampersand shape! You can search for clip art if you don’t have a cutting machine. If you do have a cutting machine, check the design store (Silhouette has ampersands here).

Step 1. Sand down your circle for it to be clean and free of splinters – most craft store wood circles that come in big packs aren’t sanded down and smooth.

Step 2. Measure your circle. With your die cutter, cut a circle from the wood veneer the size of your wood circle, with the ampersand image (or any letter) you want to use. No die cutter? No problem – you can also use a wood circle punch and a shape punch of your choice.

Step 3. Adhere the punched circle veneer onto the craft store wood circle – most wood veneer sheets have an adhesive backing, but if yours doesn’t, a light coat of Mod Podge before application will do the trick.

Step 4. Sand the edges of the veneered circle to ‘blend’ the veneer onto the wood to make it look seamless.

Step 5. Use watered down watercolor paint to paint the edges and the backside of your circle – this is to make it look like one whole piece even further.

Step 6. Use Mod Podge to fully coat the pieces and make them sturdy for daily use. I did at least two coats of Matte Mod Podge, and one coat of hard coat Mod Podge.

Step 7. Finally, attach your pin backs using hot glue – I find that stronger glue isn’t needed for wood pieces and that hot glue is sufficient, but you can always use E-6000 glue or something similar.