Little Snowman Christmas Parcel Charms

These little snowman “thingies” turned out to be so small I just don’t know what to do with them. They would get lost on the average Christmas tree, a small twig tree perhaps, so at the moment I am thinking of them as charms to put on the handle of a gift bag or attached to a gift tag, on a present?

They started off as a way to use up some of the small craft sticks I have (£1 per pack of 60 from Hobbycraft).

I glued four sticks together and when dry wrote “Let It Snow” to the one side with a white, fine tip Posca Pen while I had the access to do it.………..

…….. before adding the top, bottom and sides to make a small shadow box I guess.

I then painted in the snow, it took three/four applications because the colour from the craft sticks bleed into it. If I ever repeat the idea I would give the back a couple of coatings of a clear satin varnish first.

Adding the snowman and the small sequins with a tiny silver flat back gem in the cente came next.

I varnished the back of the “boxes” just to give them a more “professional” look and finish, before adding a small silver bail which I covered over with another small sequin and gem to keep the theme going, followed by a few clusters of three dots here and there using the white Posca pen again.

From the picture below I think,  next to a 50p piece, you can gauge the size of the project and my quandary.

I wonder if I repeated the exercise I should then stick it onto a larger wooden tag, so it’s either in the centre or at bottom????

I might have another play and come back to you on this one.

My First Foray Into Resin

I think I might have mentioned that Marc treated me to a resin set as part of my Christmas present ……..

I’ll admit I’ve been frightened of it ever since, but after one of our a two hour plus telephone conversation  where we usually put the world to right, he persuaded me to give it a go, otherwise what’s the point of having it, and as he also bought me a couple of pendant trays to go with it, I had no hiding place!

I decided to start VERY simple, with no expectations for this first trial, watching a few videos on YouTube to refresh myself of the process. I’ll be honest, none really stuck out at me as being that brilliant, some just showed the process set to annoying plinky plonky music that got on my nerves, and others, well, I just wanted to say for goodness sake stop the waffle and get on with it!  I am not the most patient of crafters as Marc is oft to tell me.

Anyway, I started by mixing a small amount of resin (one to one - equal parts) to lay in the bottom of the mould compartments I have chosen to use. The mixture was bubbly, which you don’t want, but following the instructions, I held my heat gun about 8 ins above each compartment and the bubbles appeared to pop.

I waited about ten minutes before adding some really basic bits just to see how things worked, this was pure experimentation. I placed those that only had one side (like the snowflake and snowman) front side down, not sure why  and then when I thought the resin had suitably settled, I left my comfort zone totally and sprinkled ultra fine glitter on top to see what effect it would be like behind the embellishments.

Then followed a long 24 hour waiting game, not an easy task for someone as impatient  as me to see how an idea has turned out.  I wasn’t sure of timing, but thought 24 hours with absolutely no fiddling would be enough before attempting to remove anything from the moulds.

I’ll be honest I was expecting the worse but praying for the best, because if they came out pants I knew it would put me off trying again for a long while.

I was quite impressed, a couple of disasters like the snowflake that disappeared in the glitter, the cloudy letter B in a circle and the wrong choice of glitter with the pumpkins, all easily sorted the next time round. The best ones, in my opinion are the Christmas tree and snowman …….  I just need to take my time, and wait until the resin is set enough to take the glitter without it sinking to the bottom. I also need to take my time making sure embellishments are standing straight and that stars etc. are distributed more evenly (with the aid of a cocktail stick), again, while the resin is a little less runny.

As I write this I have another set “curing”, having learned an awful lot from this first lesson. I have two ideas in particular that I want to hone, one using a metal Christmas tree embellishment and the other a short string of tiny metallic Christmas lights, which I plan, if they work, to use as parcel or tag charms (?????)

I also need a couple more trays with same shapes i.e. squares and oblongs, that are also the same size, so that I can make more than one of the same idea at a time.  My trays of choice are currently sat sitting in my Amazon basket, I hope to press the “buy now” button after I see how this next batch turn out, fingers crossed!

Mini Easter Egg Hunt Easel Decorations.

I guess it was pretty obvious, as I am on a bit of an Easter roll, that I would make a few Easter easels this year  ………

…….. but don’t worry ……….

……. I’m not going to bore you with all the grisly details all over again ………

……. as I think the two posts and these photos will be enough to get an idea of how they are put together.

Before I got started I gave the blackboard part of the easels (ordered on eBay from China) two coats of clear varnish to prevent the yellow acrylic paint pen from bleeding into the wood.

I also swopped the ladybirds, used previously, for little wooden bees instead.

Along with the basket, varnished to helped the colours pop a little more, I also added a touch of faux stitching round the blackboard using a black biro to stop any bleeding, to bring it all together.

I’m really pleased with how these turned out and no doubt, among a few other bits and pieces, Iris and Bertie will get one each for their Easter bedrooms.

Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer Wooden Tags

Another set of reindeer tags/tree ornaments  for you today, using the same basic idea as I have posted before, but these use a square toy domino pieces, which don’t seem to crop up in the charity shops quite as often as the regular oblong ones do.

I have to admit that these tags are quite a fiddle fart, taking quite a while to put together with two coats of paint and then the same in varnish on both sides before you can even start the twiddly bits.  Doing all 20 in one go seemed to be a bit of a production line, not my usual style of working, but I was determined to use all the square domino pieces I had, rather than have them lingering for longer than they ought.

I started by painting the 6cm square pieces twice on both sides with a brown Wilko tester pot paint to ensure all the pictures were covered.

I made the antlers using craft sticks and after the glue on them had dried painted them twice on both sides with a darker brown paint that I mixed myself.

When everything was suitably painted it was easier to put the tiny screw eye hooks at the top of the “head” before adding the antlers.

After gluing the antlers to the back of the heads (yes, I made a bit of a hash with some of them, but I’ve found ways of covering my errors up), I patched up any missed paint spots/scratches before starting the varnishing. 

It was a lot easier and less fiddly to varnish the reindeer heads with the antlers already glued on. I always use Wilko Quick Dry clear glossy varnish, because it really does dry quickly.

In between all the varnishing I made the noses using Fimo oven bake clay.  They are a little too dark red in colour for me but that’s my fault as I may have left them in the oven for a little too long, but if I’m honest it’s only me who would notice anyway.

For the collars I tied a smallish, gold jingle bell onto a short length of red saddle stitch gros grain ribbon.

On my original reindeers I just used brown paper to make the fringes, but this time round I remembered that I had an A4 sheet of backed silk paper that I thought would be much more durable and less likely to tear etc. than simply plain paper. I made a tiny fold across the top of the fringe to stick on the top edge of the reindeers head, if that makes sense?

It was finally time to put all the components together.  I used a glue gun to stick the collar as I needed an instant but secure fix. I also decided to varnish the noses to lift them a little, I am such a glutton for punishment.

Then decided to go the full hog and add Christmas light embellishments to the antlers, I’d bought several packs from One Below (£1) before Christmas and as I keep on saying, what’s the point having them sat in the drawer just looking pretty.

A few clusters of white dots here and there, using a white nail art pen, also helped to make the reindeer’s faces pop. I wasn’t sure about the heads until the white dots went on, then seeing all twenty completed sat on the table, I was thrilled!

I have another 17 oblong shaped reindeers on the go at the moment, which means, finally, that all my large domino pieces are used up ……. I think I’ll stop there …….. I’m all reindeered out!

Slightly Revised Cookie Cutter Christmas Tree Decorations

Following on from last week I've managed to use all twenty cookie cutters from the two packs I found in The Works Sale (£1.50 per pack).

As I'd already put the idea together using them, I knew it would be hard for me to revise the idea later on in the year, as I rarely go back to something once it's done and I always say it, but I really need to use stuff as and when I buy it, otherwise it simply takes up space and often lingers in the drawer when  I go off the boil!

The only thing I added was two layers of translucent, ultra fine glitter around the front of the cutters  ........

........ which gave a lovely extra icy, Christmasy twinkle and feel.

I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

I also neatened up the backs of the decorations, going round the edges with a red felt pen to cover up any ragged, white bits left after I trimmed the backing paper off .........

........ following this up with a little faux stitching using a black biro, used instead of a fine liner pen to avoid smudging.  I am not sure about covering the "flower" up on the bail, perhaps a tiny, white snowflake over it?

Although all the cookie cutters are now used, I still have a lot of small wooden figures left over after I found a big box of new ones in a charity shop recently, which were just too good to pass up on ....... I am now thinking mini altered Christmas tins?