• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Amy's Projects

Home of the never ending 'to-do' list.

  • Home
  • Blog

Press Forward DIY Wood Arrow Craft

July 14, 2016 by Amy 14 Comments

Press Forward DIY Wood Arrow Craft

I have lots of fond memories of LDS Girls Camp (youth camp for our church) growing up.  It’s been about 7 years since my last girls camp (as a leader), and I was excited to be going again this summer.  I volunteered to do one of the camp crafts this year and to go along with the Press Forward theme, we decided to make DIY wood arrows.  Our girls camp theme was The Wizard of Oz, which was also conveniently our New Beginnings theme.  Our wood craft day fell on the day that the cowardly lion gained courage, so our arrows say ‘Press Forward with Courage’!  They turned out super cute and it was fun to see the creativity of each girl.

The inspiration for these arrows came from this cute instagram post, here’s a link to her etsy shop.

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

How to Make a DIY Wood Arrow

This post contains affiliate links noted by *.

Materials

  • 1 – 1″ x 4″ x 8′ board (actual dimensions 3/4″ x 3 1/2″)
  • 1 – 1″ x 3″ x 8′ board (actual dimensions 3/4″ x 2 1/4″-2 1/2″)
  • scrapbook paper
  • mod podge*
  • stain/paint
  • foam brushes*
  • wood glue*
  • 1 1/4″ brad nails*
  • vinyl – optional
  • scissors
  • pencil
  • brad nailer (I love my Ryobi Airstrike, I only had to take the nailer and batteries to camp, compressor is in the tool!)

I made about 113 arrows. The wood and nails came out to be $0.84 per arrow.  The wood glue is about $4 and that is plenty for all of those arrows.

If you are making a bunch of arrows like I did, here’s how many you can fit on a board.

  • 9 feather sets per 8′ board
  • 25 arrow heads per 8′ board
  • 4 shafts per 8′ board (these can be made shorter or longer depending on your design/wording)

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Supplies for 113 arrows (word to the wise, don’t let anyone know that you’re handy 🙂 especially your Mom!)

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Cut List (per arrow)

  • 1 – 3/4″ x 3 1/2″ x 7″ (45 deg miter cuts on each end to make a triangle) – arrow head
  • 1 – 3/4″ x 2 1/2″ x 24″ – arrow shaft
  • 2 – 3/4″ x 3″ x 3″ (cut at 30 deg miter) – large feathers
  • 2 – 3/4″ x 3″ x 2″ (cut at 30 deg miter) – small feathers
    • For the feathers, I ripped down the 3 1/2″ board to 3″ wide before making the miter cuts.  I liked the proportion to the arrow head at 3″ instead of 3 1/2″.  If you don’t have a way to rip the boards, you can leave them at 3 1/2″ and it should still look fine.

Step 1

Make the arrow cuts according to the cut list.  Sand the arrow pieces as necessary.

I have a keyhole bit* for my router, this is used to make a slot to hang projects.   If you want to, route a keyhole slot in the back of the shaft.  To make the arrow hang straight on the wall route the slot 8 1/2″ – 10 1/2″ from one end, this will allow for some leeway.

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.    

Step 2 DIY Wood Arrow Assembly

Here is a handy 1 page assembly guide that you can print if you want.  Wood Arrow Craft assembly instructions

Paint Arrow Shaft

Paint or stain the arrow shaft (tops and edges), set out to dry.

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Trace Papers

Get 1 arrow head, 2 large feathers and 2 small feathers. Very Important: Orient the feathers so they will form a chevron. Trace the arrow head and feathers onto the scrapbook paper and cut out just inside the line. (Don’t pre-cut the papers, each piece is slightly different).

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Mod Podge Papers

Mod Podge the papers to the arrow head and feathers and set out to dry.  Apply a thin coat of mod podge to the backs of the papers and press the papers onto the wood, smoothing out any bubbles.  You can also apply mod podge to the tops of the papers to seal the paper.

Final Assembly

Very Important: If you use a keyhole, it needs to be on the backside closest to the feathers!

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Use wood glue and 2 brad nails per piece of wood to attach the arrow head and feathers to the shaft.

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Apply Vinyl – optional

Line up the vinyl, remove the backing and firmly place it on the arrow shaft. Pull the transfer tape off at a steep angle, making sure the vinyl stays in place.

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

 

I begged my sister to cut out a bunch of vinyl for me.  The words took up just under 17″ long and 2″ tall.  The font is bromello in 115 pt and bold.  Here’s the .psd file if you do Photoshop/Elements Press Forward with Courage.  You should be able to create something similar with a silhouette* or cricket*. 

Press Forward with Courage

Here are a few of the creations from the Young Women.  I didn’t catch them all, there were some really adorable and creative ones.

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial. DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Ignore the back drop props, with 46 arrows, they were drying on everything and anything.

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial. DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

This wood arrow craft was definitely a hit!

Here are some of my Mom’s ward young women’s creations, so fun!!!  Their camp theme was different, so she had my sister print out ‘press forward’ only. 

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Thanks for pinning DIY wood arrow!

DIY wood arrow makes a fun project for craft night. We made these at girls camp and they were so fun! Free plans and tutorial.

Linked to Savvy Southern Style

Filed Under: Church, Crafts, Projects, Woodworking Tagged With: arrow, crafts, Press Forward, Young Womens

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jelica says

    July 15, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    I’ve always had a soft spot for arrow decor. I love the bright colours you used. Great step-by-step tutorial, too. Love it!

    Reply
    • Amy says

      July 16, 2016 at 11:34 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  2. JaneEllen says

    July 18, 2016 at 9:55 pm

    Love what I see, am going to print out this tutorial for hubs to make some arrows for me (at least I hope so). This is awesome tutorial. made an arrow about 3 yrs. ago but not with any paper on it or writing. Did you hand paint writing or use vinyl from cutting machine? Sorry if you addressed that in tutorial which I skimmed at end. Know our daughter wants an arrow as she’s gushed over mine few times. Wonderful project and love saying on arrows.
    Happy week

    Reply
    • Amy says

      July 19, 2016 at 5:07 pm

      Thanks JaneEllen! The wording is from a vinyl cutter, but you could definitely hand paint it too.

      Reply
  3. Debrashoppeno5 says

    July 19, 2016 at 5:20 pm

    The arrows really look great. I like how you added the phrase and made them so bright and colorful.

    Reply
    • Amy says

      July 20, 2016 at 2:13 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  4. Shanon says

    March 9, 2017 at 10:08 am

    Just curios how much each arrow came to I need to stay within a budget. Thanks

    Reply
    • Amy says

      May 2, 2017 at 8:13 am

      The wood and nails came out to be $0.84 per arrow.

      Reply
  5. Lee ann says

    May 1, 2017 at 10:14 pm

    These are great? Can you tell me approximately how much you spent on the wood for this project? I see you had enough for 113 arrows, which is close to what I’m looking at too. Just trying to get an idea to see if it is in our budget. Thanks!!!

    Reply
    • Amy says

      May 2, 2017 at 8:13 am

      The wood and nails came out to be $0.84 per arrow.

      Reply
  6. Jenny says

    June 19, 2017 at 10:17 pm

    I have been meaning to comment…I am using your idea at Girls Camp this week! I leave tomorrow for camp! The thing I’m most nervous about with the project is using the nail gun for all the arrows…did you have 1 or more leaders using a nail gun? I only have 1 nail gun at the moment and I’ll have about 20 girls at a time to work with. I’m mostly just hoping that it works and no unexpected problems with it! I’ll have to send you a picture afterwards with our arrows. Thank you SO much for all the info here and detailed instructions. My husband cut all the wood and I cut all the vinyl. Quite a process for 100 girls!

    Reply
    • Amy says

      June 20, 2017 at 12:34 am

      Awesome, have so much fun! Yes 100 arrows is A LOT of work. I ended up setting the girls up in stations and explaining what to do at the beginning. Painting/staining, paper, mod podge, vinyl. I only had one nail gun too. I stayed with the nail gun the whole time, I helped the girls place the arrows then they nailed them, while I held the pieces in place.
      Our only trouble was sometimes they trace the paper wrong and not have the feathers mirror.
      Good luck and have lots of fun!

      Reply
  7. Holly Rose says

    September 10, 2019 at 8:10 pm

    Thank you so much for this post. I used this for a YW activity. For our saying it was “Have Courage and Be Kind. It worked out so well. Including the angles and measurements were so helpful. I’m math challenged :).

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 20 Fun Girls Camp Craft Ideas | Tip Junkie says:
    February 13, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    […] Inspirational Arrow Craft ~ This craft requires, wood, vinyl, scrapbook paper, mod podge, stain, and a few other items so you […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Good Eats Recipes
  • Delicious Treats Recipes
  • Life
  • Woodworking
  • Crafts

Copyright © 2023 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in