Barn Wood Santa - DCC Blog Hop

This month's Blog Hop

features Handmade craft ideas!

I have so many works-in-progress,

I literally had to search through my

hundreds of photos and figure

out which project I could blog about -

considering I have spent more

hours in a smelly, noisy gym than out

in the past two weeks. 

Keep in mind, when I'm in the gym,

I'm watching my kids play ball,

not painting or taking pics or blogging.

(and I certainly wouldn't want you to think

I was actually working out at the gym)

I don't really do that.

So before I head to the gym again

tomorrow morning, to not work out, I thought I'd share

this little barn wood Santa I made.

 I really liked these planks of barn wood.

While they did require a heavy hand

with the wire brush, they didn't have many

nails that had to be removed.

So I could clean them quicker and get

on with my instant-gratification fix.

;)

Materials List:
Wood Plank
Power Drill & 1/8" Drill Bit
Baling Wire (12" length)
Fabric Scraps or Tulle
for bows
Acrylic Paints:
Flesh, Red, White, Black
Brown, Light Green, Dark Green
Metallic Gold
Sponge Roller, Paint Brush
Pink Powder Blush
Cotton Swabs
Oil Based Wood Stain
or sealer of choice
Clean Rag (to apply stain)
Sanding Block 
Tracing Paper (for pattern)
Transfer Paper
Stylus

I squeezed some white acrylic paint onto

a paper plate and used a sponge

roller to apply several coats of paint to the

planks.  I didn't paint all the way

to the edges - I wanted some of the barn

wood to show through.

I drilled two small holes in the top

corners of each plank,

so I could thread some wire through for

hanging when I finished.

 I made a pattern by sketching out

a skinny Santa face onto

a piece of tracing paper; and I

transferred the pattern to each plank

using a stylus and transfer paper.

 I painted the hats and suits with

red acrylic paint, and the hat brims and

beards with another coat of white paint.

I painted the faces flesh tone.

Next, I shaded around the beards with

a chocolate brown paint, and I shaded

underneath the hat brims with

a golden brown paint.

To give the cheeks a little color,

I used a cotton swab and pink powder blush.

Next, I painted three holly leaves

onto the bottom of each Santa plank.

The green paint over the red paint

never really achieves opacity;

but I've noticed with experience that

once you've shaded and highlighted each

leaf, the blotchy base coat actually

looks really good.

I shaded around each holly leaf with

chocolate brown paint.

Next, I shaded the lower and left sides

of each leaf, and then highlighted

the top and right sides of

each leaf with a lighter green paint.

 I used a liner brush and metallic gold paint

to add swirly stems and curls.

I added metallic gold and red dip dots.

I used my hand sander to remove some

of the paint from each plank,

then dotted the eyes and highlighted

the tops of the noses.

I shaded under the mustaches.

I stained each piece with an oil based stain.

I added a jingle bell to the hat

by painting a 1" flat wood circle with

metallic gold paint, outlining with

black paint and a thin liner brush,

and then attaching it to the hat with a

1/2" nail.  I added some white

outlines on the beard, the mustache,

and the eyebrows.

I threaded some baling wire through the

holes I'd drilled earlier, and curled

the ends to secure the hanger.

I added a tulle bow.

Then another.

Oh, why not three?!

HO HO HO

Barnwood Santa!

I've set him aside as a hostess gift!

 Use the link at the top of this post

to go through the hop

and check out more Handmade craft ideas!

~ Peace and Happy Painting ~