Pallet Porch Signs

I’ve admired all of the porch signs that I see everyone placing on their front porch made out of repurposed old pallets and was dying to make one for myself but since Christmas is a time for giving it wouldn’t have been right.  

My parents wedding anniversary is December 21st and I thought it would be a nice surprise gift for them to make one that commemorated their special day. Recently one of my coworkers called me about some pallets and had one that was the perfect size for my project!

This was just red spray paint, white acrylic paint and clear spray varnish in a matte finish. My parents really loved it and have it prominently displayed in their living room until spring.

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Jack Skellington and Sally Christmas Ornaments – Simply Meant to Be

OMy sister in-law is as crazed about the Nightmare Before Christmas as I am and loves Jack and Sally, So this year I made her a couple of ornaments for her tree.  These were particularly fun to make and I think really turned out cute.  I’m hoping they can brighten her spirits this year since she recently experienced the loss of her mother and is having a hard time year.
MATERIAL NEEDED:

• Blue and champagne colored glitter
• Black, white, and red acrylic paint
• Red yarn
• Clear jewelery making plastic string
• Sculpey
• Sculpey Bake and Bond
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Sculpting tools 
• Plastic ornament bulbs

Follow the instructions from my article for the Grinch Glitter Ornament.

Sally:

1. Paint almond shaped eyes horizontally using the white paint. Painting 2-3 coats until you can no longer see the blue coming through.
2. Trace the eyes in black paint and draw a small arch over each eye making her eye lids, then carefully add her eyelashes and under eye circles.
3. Add the black pupils to her eyes and once dry add a few white dots of paint for a sparkle in the eyes.
4. Add a round up turned half circle for her nose in black paint.
5. Draw her small heart shaped lips mixing a little red and black together for her lips.
6. Draw aine going over her left eye and the add horizontal lines running through it to make her stitches. 
7. Run a second line underneath that same eye running towards the back of the ornament adding stitch lines horizontally.
8. Add a line through her mouth running through the one under her eye and add the horizontal stitch marks.
9. Cut yarn to desired length and hot glue to the top of the ornament using a low temperature glue gun.
10. Put the ornament cap back on and hang up to enjoy!

Jack:

1. Paint his face in your desired look using black paint.
2. Using sculpey modeling clay, smooth out the shape of his bow tie on a flat surface adding each branch and smoothing it out. Add a small hole with the needle tool to the top of the head to run the string through.
3. Shape a small pointy heart for the bat head and using a ball tip tool press into the head to create eye sockets secure to the tie with sculpey Bake and bond and bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.
4. While baking, use your needle tip sculpting tool to poke a hole in the bottom of the ornament to run the string through.
5. Paint the bow tie black front to back and then add white lines.
6. Once dry, tie an end of the plastic string through the tie and knot it 2-3 times cutting off the extra end.  Run other end through the hole pushing it as far up as desired and then add a bit of hot glue to keep it in place.

These are fun and easy to make and are sure to be enjoyed by any Nightmare Before Christmas fan! I hope they’ve inspired you to make your very own!  Happy crafting and merry Christmas!

DIY Glitter Ornaments: The Grinch and Believe

Have you ever wondered if making those ornaments using glitter and Mop and Glow really work?  Well thanks to finding glitter in various colors I decided to give it a try and to my surprise in really does!

I purchased some clear plastic bulbs from Michael’s in a big pack with DIY in mind and once I found the green glitter at the dollar store it was decided how I was going to use them!  It really is easy and once you fill them you can decorate them in various ways!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Clear bulb ornament
• Glitter green and red
• Mop and Glow
• Acrylic paint – black and yellow
• Elmer’s glue
• Fine tip art
• Optional* silver plastic glue on jewel
• Wire red and green ribbon

GRINCH:

1. Fill ornament with Mop and Glow and swirl around the inside, pouring out excess.
2. Fill with glitter and plug the end with your finger tip and shake until glitter covers the inside completely.  Add more if needed.
3. Paint oval shaped yellow eyes.
4. Once dried trace the eyes in black adding lashes and under eye bags.
5. Add half open circles for his pupils.
6. Draw his mouth, nose and wrinkles.
7. Tie a bow with the green ribbon around the ornament caps loop.

BELIEVE:

1. Complete steps 1 and 2 from the Grinch ornament using red glitter.
2. Using Elmer’s glue write the word believe on the ornament and cover with glitter.
3. Glue optional star as the dot over the i.
4. Tie a bow with red ribbon around the ornament caps.

These are so cute and easy! I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial! Happy crafting and merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Creation Showdown: Gum Paste Sculpting and Color Mixing

So as it turns out, I am not the Cake Boss! 😉  They’re having a gingerbread house competition at my son’s school and since I have gotten better at sculpting miniatures I had Cake Boss dreams of sweeping the floor with my competition after winning the pumpkin decorating contest in October! 😂😂  So I decided that I would make a Grinch Who Stole Christmas entry and sculp him with gum paste (modeling chocolate).

Since I like to try new things, but am always trying to lower my cost I tried to substitute powdered food coloring with Jell-O – BAD IDEA!  Definitely just use gel food coloring.  I am lucky I had some on hand.  The Jell-O concoction is grainy and pale.  I’m not sure what the trick to this stuff is, but my four and a half years old was impressed and since the judges are his peers my fingers are crossed that I have a shot at winning.

Did the decorating of the house with my son and made Max the dog to sit on the roof.  We used a premade gingerbread kit since these are not my forte and it’s not a rule violator.   The icing bag broke and made a huge mess.  I guess I will have to make my own later on, oh well.  Happy crafting and Merry Grinchmas! 😉

Mini Sculpting: Yukon Cornelius

When I think of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie, it’s not just the iconic Rudolph that is important to my family.  My favorite is the Bumble and my husband’s is Yukon Cornelius, so of course for my festive Christmas display that I am creating I just had to sculpt him.  This has been a project that I have thought about doing for such a long time and now that I have a dedicated crafting space to work on  each piece in my spare time it has been a delight to watch them come to life.

I always make rough forms of my characters with aluminum foil after seeing this tip on Pinterest a while back – it helps the sculpture keep it’s form while your shaping it and it also doubles your supply of modeling clay!  If the clay gets too soft you should put into the freezer for 10-15 minutes to allow it to harden a bit for easier sculpting.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Sculpey modeling clay
• Aluminum foil
• Azure blue acrylic paint
• White acrylic paint
• Brown acrylic paint
• Light pink acrylic paint
• Golden Brown acrylic paint
• Black acrylic paint
• Red acrylic paint
• Light yellow acrylic paint
• Gray acrylic paint

TOOLS NEEDED:

• Sculpting tools (Darice 11-Piece Clay Cleaning Tool )
• Sculpey ABB02 Bake and Bond Sculpey Oven Bake Clay (Sculpey Artist Set: 2-Ounce Bake & Bond Bakeable Adhesive for Oven-Bake Clay, 1-Ounce Clay Softener, 1-Ounce Gloss Glaze)
• X-acto knife

1. Start by making a stump shaped torso and a oval ball of aluminum foil for his head and body.  Cover each piece with modeling clay and then add bake and bond to secure the head to the torso, smoothing the seems out with the side of the needle sculpting tool and your finger tips.
2. To form the bearded chin on the face, add a layer of bake and bond to the indented area between the torso and the head and then add a thick layer of clay smoothing it out with your finger tips and side of the needle tool.
3. Add a a flattened ball of clay to the top of his head and create a seem using arrow tip tool for his hat.  Scoop out the slightly flat shape with the scraping tool for the top of the hat creating the brim and then add a ball of clay for the pom pom.
4. Form the base of the arms and legs with aluminum foil and then add clay over the top; leave a small balls of foil to make feet on the legs.  For the legs add a generous amount of clay and use the scraping tool to separate the pants legs from the boots.
5. Add bake and bond to the area where each arm and leg is to be attached before each application of appendige.  Push into place and then use the side of the needle tip tool and finger tips to smooth and attach the arms/legs without seems.
6.  Roll out a string of clay for his belt and apply after adding bake and bond.  Then make a flat square and add to the front for his belt buckle.
7.  Roll out two more strings of clay thinner than the belt for his backpack straps and secure around his arms with bake and bond.
8. Make a ball of foil and cover with clay for his backpack and attach the same way as the head, but no smoothing out of the seems needed here.
9. Roll out some aluminum foil and cover with clay for the handle of his pick axe. Roll out more clay keeping the center wider and create points on each end.  Secure to the handle with bake and bond and smooth the edges with the side of the needle tip tool and your fingers.  Add a square of clay to the top using the same technique.
10. Roll out two balls of clay and flatten for his ear muffs, roll out a small string of clay to attach the muffs on the back of the head and attach with bake and bond.
11. Roll out two small balls of clay and flatten on a table, using the straight tip tool create a flat line and apply to his chest with bake and bond for his shirt pockets.
12. Make a small circle for his nose and cut in half, add bake and bond and smooth on the nose with the needle tool and the flat side of scoop tool.
13. Roll out two stings of clay to twist in place on his face for his mustache and attach with bake and bond.
14. Roll out a ball for his free hand and cut four fingers spreading them slightly.  Add bake and bond to the wrist and smooth out with the needle tool and finger tips.  Add a small stub for his them attaching it the same way.
15. Roll four rolls for fingers for the other hand and attach the same as the other hand, wrapping the fingers around the pick axe handle and then add a thumb. 
16. Use the metal brush to tap the beard and hair on his head to make the curly textured look.
17. Use the needle tool to make round dots for his eyes.
18. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
19. While baking, mix golden brown, light pink, and white paint together to make his skin color.
20. If you have color left over from the bumble, add a little dark blue paint (I mixed azule blue and white together), otherwise just mix white blue together for his coat.
21. Mix red and brown for his beard and hair.
22. Mix brown and black for the pick axe handle.
23. Once out of the oven and cooled, paint him according to the picture below.