My scrap wood collection

On the last post I did, I got asked about my 'scrap wood'. So I thought I'd give a little insight into how I came about all these chunks of decorating soon-to-be's.

THISis my collection. It doesn't look too big, but I would say there are around 50-75 blocks of wood in there! I've come about the wood in various ways, I started out by raiding the 'scrap bins' at home depot. They usually have manageable sizes of random wood for cheap, and will cut it for really cheap, if not free. I would just have them cut me a bunch of random sizes, that way I had a bunch to choose from when I got home.

When we moved there was a pool in the backyard of our new house, the pool is now gone, but it left behind a HUGE stack of wood that the Bank had used to cover the pool.

Needless to say, between this stash and the fact that my Dear Hubby was nice enough to ask for a saw for christmas, I haven't had to go to Home depot for wood in quite awhile.

Now onto the cutting of the wood. I have a few basic sizes that I like to work with. But really you can get them cut to any size that you want

I'll give you a little run down of the sizes:

5.5x4 and 8x4 - I like to use these two sized together and stack them. Ive done Happy Valentines, Happy Halloween, basically Happy Anything. :)

11x6 - I use this size for gifts a lot, I just did a baby name on one for a friend's shower, and I use them as wedding gifts. But it's a good basic size for just about anything!

17x6 - This is a good size for a LONG name, or a quote. I cant find one of these that I have kept, so you'll just have to trust me ;)

2.5x6 - I probably have used this size the most, they are perfect to just stick on a shelf somewhere or as small gifts. I used these for neighbor gifts for Christmas and they worked great!

7x6 - This is another good size for basic decorating. You cant fit much on it, but its perfect for short words (Love, USA, Boo, etc)

Another good size to have on hand that I am out of in my box, is a square block. I use 6x6's and 8x8's mostly.

Here are a few more examples that I just dug out of my decoration boxes.

 Anyways I hope this helps you get an idea of how to start a 'wood stockpile' of your own! It's SO nice to just be able to whip up a Wedding gift, or a few holiday decorations for free!