His & Hers Key Rack {Using a Scroll Saw!}

A few months back, I was brainstorming ideas for what to make as a gift for my brother and sister-in-law (the ones who just had baby Rollie and built this amazing Baseball Bat Crib). We had drawn their name for Christmas, and I was having a creative block! You know, like writer’s block… only for creatives?

Well, Caleb and Laura are pretty sentimental (runs in the family I guess?), so I used some of our late Grandfather’s wood to make this wall-mounted key chain holder. I literally started it the night before our family Christmas gathering, but I loved how it turned out. I even put a little pacifier to hang from the little baby person. #socute

I had taken pictures of the steps in case I decided to do a tutorial here on the blog, but when I added the tree and things got intricate, I was thinking that it was going to be a little advanced and overwhelming for most of you guys. (If there’s interest, let me know!)

So I decided to make a more simple one that might be a little less intimidating. And it turned out soooo cute!

Let’s get to it, shall we?!

I designed this simple house with the little people to use as my template. You can just save this pic to your computer and print it yourself too!

After I printed the house the size I wanted, I decided to print it again a little smaller because I felt like the people were a little large. Nobody wants a giant clunky wooden person attached to their wad of keys. Can I get an amen?

After tracing the outline of the house onto the wood, I cut out the people and traced them on with a little distance between them.

Time to roll up your sleeves and get your power tool ON! I used our band saw to cut out the house since it was just straight lines. But you could use your scroll saw for this too. Then I started in on the little people using my scroll saw! (this is the one I use)

I took the little lady out, and started in on the gentleman! Remember, this has to be one smooth line because you’ll be using both pieces!

After cutting them out, everything got sanded down by hand (using 120 grit first, and then 220). One of the people was kind of a tight fit to slide easily in and out of his ‘home’ so I had to give him some special attention and quality time with a file in certain places.

Then I wiped on some stain! I’ve been playing around with General Finishes stains after they sent me some awhile back, and they’re so rich and beautiful. This shade is Brown Mahogany Gel Stain.

After the stain dried, I roughed up the edges using my RYOBI Corner Cat Sander and gave the little people another coat of stain so they would contrast with the house a bit.

I put the little people in a vice a drilled a tiny pilot hole on the bottom, and twisted in a little eye hook for the key ring to go on. Then routed a ‘key hole’ opening in the back using a keyhole router bit so that when you slide it onto the nail on the wall, it stays flush and in place.

The beauty of this project is that you can really use any shape/size for your house and people! And you can have additional family members. Just completely customize is to your family’s needs! I thought about even hand-painting (or stenciling) something above the people like ‘family’ or our last name. But I ended up giving this at a little ‘Galentine’s Brunch’ gift exchange, so I didn’t want to personalize it too much. My friend Katie got it! (HI KATIE!)

Just another fun scroll saw project to add to the collection! I love using my scroll saw and find that there are endless creative ways to use it! If you’re intimidated by power tools and aren’t sure where to start, TRY A SCROLL SAW FIRST! And they are pretty inexpensive as far as power tools go (this is the scroll saw I have). So now there’s nothing stopping you!

As always, if you give this project a try (or any of our tutorials) be sure to send us pictures! It makes our day!!

~Bethany

 

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