Mini Canvas Ornament

Wordless Wednesday

~ Peace Out ~

Personalized Family Ornament

I love making personalized ornaments!

 

 My favorite Christmastime activity

is going through my boxes of ornaments -

 

aw, who am I kidding?

 

My favorite activity is sitting in

front of the fireplace with a hot toddy

and the glow from a fully decorated,

lit Christmas tree in the background,

and the knowledge that all the empty boxes

have been stored away neatly.

 

 

Anyway!!  I love making personalized

ornaments and using them as gift tags on

wrapped packages.  For a change,

this ornament is specifically for hanging.

Well.  I guess you could still use

it as a gift tag ...

 

To make one hearth, you'll need a

3"x4" wood square and one jumbo craft stick.

 

 

I used three pre-cut wood stocking shapes

(you could probably fit five stockings

on the mantle if you don't mind them

hanging off the edges a bit).

 

 

And one Woodsies skinny stick,

rounded ends trimmed and cut into three

cuff lengths (I trim all my wood shapes

with Easy Cutter Ultimate from

Midwest Products).

 

Acrylic Paints:

 

 

These are the colors I used:

Hauser Light Green, Napa Red, Slate Gray,

Lamp Black, White, and Multi-Purpose sealer.

You'll also want a sanding block.

A permanent marking pen.

And a 6" length of ribbon for hanging.

 

Trim one rounded end off the jumbo

craft stick, and then cut a 4 1/2" length.

 

 

 

 Paint the jumbo craft stick and

the rectangle gray.

Paint the stockings green.

 

Allow paint to dry thoroughly,

then sand the edges lightly

with the sanding block.

 I used a regular craft stick to measure

out straight lines, because crooked

lines really bug me.

:D

Then I blocked out a 2" square in the center

of the rectangle for the fireplace

opening.  I made a border around the

opening the same width as the craft stick.

 

 

Paint the square opening black,

and paint the bricks red.

(You don't have to be that neat ...

just get the basic brick shapes

in and leave a perimeter

of gray "mortar"):

 

 

Allow the paint to dry thoroughly,

then sand lightly with the sanding block.

Use a liner brush and white

paint to add details to the stockings.

 

 

Here's where I notice that not all my pics

uploaded from my phone to my

web album.  Actually, I noticed earlier,

when I wanted to post the pic I took

of all the wood pieces together.

 

Anyway, imagine you see the trimmed

skinny sticks painted white and sanded

lightly ... and then imagine you see

the pic I took of the cuffs actually

glued to the stockings.

 

 

 Seal each piece with Multi-Purpose sealer,

and allow to dry thoroughly.

Then use your pen to outline the

details, and write a name on each of

your stockings.

 

I used a thin red ribbon for

hanging ... I attached the ribbon by

putting a line of hot glue lengthwise

across the top of the rectangle where

the mantle will be, then secured

the ribbon by pressing the mantle in

place.  Sort of a ribbon sandwich,

if you will.  I used hot glue

to attach the stockings to the mantle.

 

 

 

From this ^

 

to this:

 

 

With just three or four photos

lost somewhere in cyberspace.

Hmm.

 

~Peace & Personalized Christmas Ornaments~

Baby Jesus Ornament

This little craft is perfect for the

classroom - even the very young could

make these if you did a little

prep work ahead of time.

 You'll need the following supplies:

A 3/4" round head button plug,

a Woodsies giant oval,

a Woodsies small oval,

a scrap of gauze

(I had mine left over from Halloween)

acrylic paint: Flesh Tone, Marigold,

Extreme Glitter Gold, Multi-Purpose Sealer,

pink powder blush, a cotton swab,

a hot glue gun, glue sticks,

a permanent marking pen, a button, 

and a ribbon scrap.

Baby Jesus ornaments make me happy!

Here are two of my earlier designs:

  Hmm.  This one must be so old

I haven't even blogged about it.

I will put this on my To-Do List.  :)

 http://megpiedesign.blogspot.com/2010/11/baby-jesus-ornament.html

Back to this year's ornament:

  Paint the button head Flesh Tone and allow

to dry thoroughly.  Blush the cheeks

with pink powder blush and a cotton swab.

Seal with Multi-Purpose Sealer.

Paint the small oval Marigold.

When dry, brush with Extreme Glitter Gold.

 

 

 Wrap the gauze scrap around the oval.

I found that really stretching the

gauze tightly and tucking in all loose ends

works the best.  Use hot glue

to secure the end of your gauze on the

back of the oval.

 

 Once your painted pieces are dry,

you're ready to assemble the ornament.

 

Put a small amount of hot glue on

the front bottom of the halo;

press the back of the gauze wrapped

oval to the front of the halo.

Flip ornament over.

Use a dot of hot glue to attach the

ribbon for hanging to the back of the halo.

For added support, I used a button

to sandwich the ribbon between

the oval and the button.

 

 

 This is what the front of your ornament

should look like.

Add closed eyelids by drawing two

"U" shapes with the pen.

I thought the ornament still needed

a little something, so I dug

through all my supplies until I found

this holly sprig.  I think I liked it because

it looked so much like my earlier

ornament where I painted the 

swaddling clothes and I painted the

holly sprig.  Any little decoration would

do ... a star, a heart, be creative.

~ Peace and Baby Jesus Ornaments ~

Woodsies(TM) Believe Sign

Okay, I'll admit it.

I'm a little obsessed with

Believe signs this year.  I've made

about three dozen.  Or so.

This one is super easy!!!

For each Believe sign,

you'll need one Woodsies(TM) wood slat,

acrylic paints in red, white, and two shades of

green ... and Extreme Glitter in Red.

A Crop-o-Dile or hand drill to

make holes in the corners of the sign for

hanging; craft wire for hanging,

and jingle bells or snowflake buttons

to accent the craft wire.

Base coat the wood slat with red.

Don't forget to paint the back and the sides.

I used a paint roller, because I made

twelve of these.

Paint the fronts of the slats with

Extreme Glitter in Red for extra glitz.

I taped off the top of each slat

with painters tape, and used a paintbrush

and green paint to make a stripe.

You could skip this step.

I wrote the word Believe on tracing paper

and transferred the word to each wood slat with

light colored transfer paper.

Use white acrylic paint and a round brush

to go over your pattern lines.

I decided to dot the "i" in Believe

with a sprig of holly leaves and berries.

I made a tiny pattern and transferred

the design directly over the "i"

Paint the holly leaves green.

Use a lighter shade of green

and a liner brush to outline the leaves.

Make holes in the top corners of the sign and

thread the wire through for hanging.

Before threading the wire through the

second hole, thread on jingle bells or snowflake

buttons for accents.  Then thread the

loose end of the wire through the second

hole and twist to secure.

Dot holly berries with bright red paint. 

Dot berries with white paint.

Coat sign with Multi-Purpose(TM) Sealer.

I didn't have my camera in my studio the day

I finished these signs, so I took

a pic with my phone.  I LOVE the way this looks!

It's my profile pic on fb and it's my

screensaver.  It makes me happy!!!

Use a black permanent marker to outline

the sign and the holly leaves.

Peace Out!!!

Beaded Snowmen

* Beaded Snowmen *

also previously referred to as the

particular ornament 

"specifically requested ... by my 11-year-old,

which would be difficult and time-consuming

to make for his 14 classmates"

Above photo is the beaded ornament

I made several years ago;

here is this year's Beaded Snowmen ornament:

 

 Here are the supplies you'll need for

each ornament:

three 5/8" wooden beads,

six buttons (3 red, 3 white)

tiny wreath ornament,

pink powder blush and a cotton swab,

acrylic paint in white and black,

Tulip Dimensional Paint in orange,

and an 18" length of craft wire.

An 1/8" dowel and a paint roller

to make painting the beads easier,

and a paintbrush and stylus

for touch-up painting and dip dots.

In order to paint these beads more

efficiently, I threaded them

onto a 1/8" dowel

and used a paint roller dipped in

white acrylic paint.

After I rolled several coats of paint

onto each bead, I used a paintbrush dipped

in white paint for the touch-ups

(the paint roller didn't reach the area of 

the bead nearest the holes)

Use the cotton swab to apply pink powder

blush to the cheeks of each

snowman bead.

Tape the dowels securely to the table

to make painting the details easier.

Dip the stylus into black paint

and dot the eyes and the mouths on

each of the snowman beads.

Use the Tulip Slick Dimensional Paint

in orange to apply the carrot noses.

To see step-by-step photos

of blushing the cheeks,

dotting the eyes and mouths, and

creating the dimensional noses,

click here.

Fold the 18" length of craft wire

in half around a paintbrush handle to create

a loop (do not twist to close ... yet)

Put the loop over the bottom

of the mini wreath ornament and twist the

ends to secure the wreath.

This will be your hanger.

Thread your beads and buttons

in the following order:

snowman bead, two buttons, snowman bead ...

alternating until you have an ornament

with three (or more) snowman beads

and a red and a white button

on the bottom.

Twist the ends of the wire to secure

the buttons and beads;

use the paintbrush handle to curl

each end of the wire into

a spiral curly cue.

Hang ... and Enjoy!!!

(NOTE: I used a small dot of

hot glue to attach each red button to

the snowman bead so the

heads wouldn't spin around).

On my old ornament, I painted a face

on both sides of the bead so

the extra glue wasn't necessary.

Peace and Beaded Snowmen!!!