Christmas Decoration

1. Get a unique piece of barn board and cut to the length you want - make sure it has a straight bottom edge [so it sits on the ground without leaning funnily]. Rough, jagged pieces make for a more interesting piece.

2. Use a fire/blow torch to 'burn' the barn board. I don't literally mean throw it in the fire, but you want to roast the piece of wood as you would a marshmellow - this takes away the greyish colour and gives it that antique feel.
3. Once you are happy with your boards colour, take a wire brush and lightly brush the burnt side following the grains of the wood. This helps to even out the 'burnt effect', and rid the ashes that could flake off on their own.

5. Grab your supplies that you want to decorate it with. We used pine (both floppy and stiff) from a tree outside (fake works too!), some twine, and dollar store red berries, ribbon, bells and pine cones. Lay it however you wish; this is where you can get creative. I used the twine to tie it all in place, but a glue gun works fine as well. I found that incorporating some of the dollar store fake garland (with the wire) helped to hold it all in place.

6. Wah-la! You now have something that is very unique, antique-like and can sit proudly in your house, outside the front door (which is where mine is) or hang on the wall.