Christmas Cheer

Happy Holidays! As this year comes to an end, there is so much to reflect on, both good and bad. I'm trying to prepare myself for so many changes that I need to make for the next year to improve my health and happiness. Even though there have been rough patches and a little bit of heartache, 2012 proved to be a year I can look back on with a smile. I graduated with my Associates Degree in Liberal Arts. I reconnected with so many great people this year and mended bridges that I thought long ago were burned beyond repair. I have a wonderful family, a job that I love going to everyday, and a roof over my head.  That's a lot to be thankful for.

This year I made a lot of handmade gifts for Christmas. I spent a lot of time on different perler bead magnets, coasters, and painted ornaments. I can't post too much on here until after Christmas so I don't spoil any gifts, but I will post some different ones after the Holiday with some tutorials. I keep getting asked to post some Perler bead tutorials, so I promise I will put them up soon. In the meantime, here are some of the ornaments I painted. If you are looking for a last minute homemade gift, these are perfect to try. The glass ornaments are very inexpensive, so the out of pocket cost is a lot lower than some other options out there.

I got two boxes of twelve ornaments at Hobby Lobby. Each box cost $7.99, but Hobby Lobby has some great in store deals. When I went looking for ideas one day, all the glass items were 50% off. I walked out with two boxes, enough to make an ornament for just about everyone on my Christmas list. I already had some paint from other projects,so the total cost was under $10. I even sold a couple to people who saw them for $3.00 each, which ended up bringing my out of pocket expense to little under $1. They did end up taking a lot more time that I thought they would, I could usually get two done an evening, so if you are going to make multiples, make sure to give yourself plenty of time.

Merry Christmas!

Make Your Own Weeping Angel

While I was in taking classes, it was really hard to keep up with all the craft projects I wanted to do. Awhile back I stumbled upon Wich-Crafting's Don't Blink which has a great tutorial on how to make a Weeping Angel out of a Barbie Doll and textured spray paint. I knew I just had to make my own and I thought I would share it with you.

I picked up a twelve inch Barbie for $12 at Dollar General and got to work. The first thing I did was get crazy with a glue gun. I glued all of her joints in position and attached craft sticks to hold her up on a wooden base. The tutorial I looked at cut Barbie's arms at the joints to cover her eyes. Instead, I bended the arms as far as I could and glued them in position. I think this is way easier and if you get a Barbie with joints in her wrists, you can manipulate the arms enough to forgo having to work with a saw.





As the glue was setting, I worked on the hair. The tutorial I saw put the hair up in a pony tail and cut it off. I bought a barbie that had her hair half up and half down with a hair band. I thought the hairband was perfect for the texture I wanted and started working on an up do in the back. This was the hardest part of the project. I don't know if you have ever tried to style a Barbie's hair into up-do, but it is not an easy task, but eventually I got it the way I wanted and moved onto the clothes. The barbie I chose had a tunic-like top, so I kept it and fashioned a skirt out of muslin. I also used hot glue to add some texture to the skirt because I couldn't get it to sit the way I wanted. Once it is painted, you won't be able to distinguish the hot glue from the skirt, so I thought this was way easier than the other tutorial I saw. Next, I used craft foam and cut out some wings and used my trusty glue gun again to add texture to the wings.

Next up, the textured spray paint. I didn't used any kind of primer, just went straight to the spray paint.

This is a picture of how it looked after the textured spray paint. I didn't like how it came out so silver. I bought the darkest grey I could find, but to me I just kept looking at her and not digging the color at all. So I went back to the store and came back with starry night glitter blast. I figured my Weeping Angel is just for me and I can do what I want. This just makes her one of a kind. I haven't seen any others go a darker color, or glitter blast for that matter, so if you prefer a more true angel, you might want to stop at the textured spray paint, but I love the way the glitter blast looked on the final project.

The project took me about three hours before the spray paint. There is a lot of drying time involved for both the glue and the spray paint. The entire project cost me about $25, but I used a lot of items I had on hand. If you are already a crafter, you won't need to purchase too much except for the doll and spray paint. My final advice, if you attempt your own, make sure to have lots of hot glue on hand and don't be afraid to use heaps. Happy Crafting!