Shabby Chic Yule Log Tutorial

Hey friends!

I’ve gotten into making Yule logs over the last two holiday seasons (you can see last year’s yule log here) and I was really excited about doing another one again this year. I’ve been on a Shabby Chic kick lately, so I decided to break with tradition and do this year’s log in a neutral Shabby Chic style instead of using mostly natural elements.

I’ll be honest- I’m not overly impressed with how it turned out. I mean, I don’t think it’s horrible or I wouldn’t have posted it; I just think I’m missing something that could have made it better. Oh well; I guess they can’t all be show-stoppers 😉

Here’s what you need:

• A wood log (I used almond wood since that’s the main tree crop in my area)
• 2 taper candles in gold and silver
• 4″ burlap ribbon
• lace ribbon
• bead strings in pearl and smoke
• 8 small pine cones spray painted gold and silver
• 2 fancy buttons (optional)
• hot glue gun and glue
• scissors

Here’s what you do:

Tie the burlap ribbon around the log.
Glue on the taper candles. When I posted last year’s log tutorial, a lot of people were concerned about the safety of just gluing on the candles as opposed to drilling holes in the log. If you feel safer drilling holes in the log for the candles, by all means do so. Personally, I’m fine with just gluing them on as I use a LOT of glue to make sure they stay in place, and I’ve never had any problems with them falling over on their own. Now of course if something falls on or runs into them they will fall, but I imagine the same would happen if you drilled holes in the log unless you drilled them really deep! No matter which way you do it, remember the best weapon against an accidental fire is common sense- never leave burning candles unattended!
Glue the pine cones around the candle tapers.
Add the lace ribbon. I just kinda wound it along everything, then crossed it over and glued it onto the top of the log near the ends.
I found a couple of old vintage buttons while I was rearranging my craft room, so I decided to glue them over where I crossed over the lace for nice little extra touch.

I did the same thing with the bead strands- just kinda wound them in and out around the pine cones and bow and secured them with glue as needed.

Let me know what you think of my break-with-tradition creation!

Michelle