DIY Christmas Tiered Tray Decor + Free SVG

Make these festive tiered tray decor items for your home to display with your laser machine, and download the free SVG in the post at the bottom.

When I first bought this tiered tray, I was excited to buy items to fill it up.

I love browsing through the craft and hobby stores for inexpensive finds, especially around the holidays.

But instead of buying more decor this year – I decided to make use of the wood and acrylic I had on hand.

Why not make my own?

This way I could personalize my items – exciting!!!

In this post, I’ll be sharing a free SVG of my designs for this project at the bottom for you, as well as my cut settings for my laser machine…

This post may contain affiliate links, however, all opinions are my own, as always.

What You’ll Need For DIY Tiered Tray Decor

For these decor items, I used what i had on hand, and in some cases, pre-painted wood I had already painted.

If painting beforehand, be sure to watch your material closely in the laser, as always, to avoid any accidental fires from the sparks that may happen.

Sparks are fine, but you always want to keep a close eye on your cutting material just in case. I cannot vouch for every type of paint or stain in the laser cutting process, and there is no liability for user error to either Thunder Laser or myself for these incidents.

Always be sure to keep a fire extinguisher (or even a spray bottle filled with water, at least) nearby.

FYI: If you have a CO2 laser, the settings will differ for you as well as my settings shown in this post are for my RF laser. It’s recommended that you run a test sheet for scoring/engraving/cutting for your laser so you have some go-to settings for the different materials.

Here is what I used to create this banner:

3mm Baltic Birch wood
laser machine
SVG file (grab my free SVG download at the bottom of this post!)
Starbond glue – this one is my favorite for gluing wood to wood or acrylic to wood
spray paint, stain
tiered tray (if you don’t already have one)

My Laser Machine

In this project, I’m utilizing the Nova Plus 35 60W, which is a workhorse laser machine – read the specs here.

My laser machine, a step up from the RF laser Thunder Bolt featured here, has a 24″x36″ honeycomb bed – WOW!

It took us a total of 6 grown men to lift it into the house from the garage, just a heads up. It’s a total beast of a machine and has already knocked out a ton of projects with speed and precision.

Laser Cut Settings for DIY Tiered Tray Decor

For my design, I wanted to incorporate a dedication to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, at the very top.

For the other tiers, I designed traditional Christmas signs and shapes to display.

To cut these shapes out cleanly, I used these settings with my laser machine:

Score: 200 mm/s at 15% Max power, 5% min power (1 pass) (this is the setting I used for the faux shiplap lines on one of the sign squares)

Cut: 8 mm/s at 60% Max power, 25% min power

It took my laser cutter about 12 minutes to cut out all the wood shapes.

BTW, I like to use magnets to help hold down the wood, especially if it’s not perfectly flat and even, which is most often the case with wood.

Because the honeycomb is metal, I can place magnets on top of the wood material, being sure not to get in the way of the laser head as this may end up scratching my lens.

Finished Tiered Tray Decor Designs

Here’s what my finished tiered tray looks like with these DIY wood cut designs I made with my Thunder Laser!

finished tiered tray decor diy thunder laser project

I love how everything came together – I might have some room to make even more on my tray!

Top Tier: all about Jesus!

crown of thorns
nativity scene with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the manger

tiered tray decor diy thunder laser project _P6A1891

Middle Tier:

have yourself a Merry little Christmas

For this gift tag sign, I put a piece of wired ribbon I had on hand through the hole so that I could stand it up on its own with the help of the wire inside the ribbon.