Mums Monkey Seasonal Offering 2023

For Christmas 2023 I decided to make some tree decorations instead of my usual Monkey cards, something a bit more lasting.

I started off with a photoshoot with The Boyz, creating a sheet of the chosen photo, specifically sized to fit the baubles, using my ancient copy of Publisher 2003.

The pictures were then cut out and laminated to help give them extra durability.

The large, wooden baubles came from Temu (diameter 3.5ins, overall height approx. 4ins), which cost £4.98 for 20 (25p each).

I painted the body of the baubles on both sides using a red Wilko emulsion match pot, before varnishing both sides again with Wilko clear, gloss, fast drying varnish (both now sadly unavailable due to the recent demise of Wilko.

I originally coloured the caps with a gold marker pen, but for some reason, best known to myself, I then covered over with Dovecraft gold, pearl effects paint instead, probably to add extra texture (?) ……. hmmmmmm.

Then, the pictures didn’t look quite right cut in a circle ………

…….. so I cut out the background and then mat and layered the resulting pieces on gold mirror card to help them stand out a bit more, that looked much better.

I then got a little involved in the rest of “the doings” and forgot to take many more photos! However, the fur on the hats was given the Dovecraft’s 3D Enamel Effect treatment, with a generous sprinkling of ultra fine, translucent glitter for good measure.

To fill in the space at the top of the bauble I painted some wooden sentiments (The Works) before sticking them down securely with E6000 glue.

Around the edges of the front and back I added faux stitching using a white acrylic pen.

With all this done, it was time to finally add the pictures, using foam pads on the back to add a little more dimension.

It still looked a little flat, so I added tiny gold stars and clusters of three white dots ……..

……… which really lifted and bought everything together, especially after adding a small white pom-pom on the end of each monkey’s hat.

I’m pretty pleased with them, but, if I could change anything, it would be the caps, I should have left them as they were with the gold pen and simply adding glossy accents over the top for a smoother, more professional finish, oh well, a lesson for next time I guess!