Craft: Making Christmas Angel Ornaments

Click here to view the angel ornament tutorial.

This little angel is quite easy to make.  She is made from an old t-shirt, a wood ball, wire , yarn and an old sheer curtain.  I embellished her with two buttons for her shoes and a sparkly butterfly and those are optional.  The dress flares out because I used a piece of the t-shirt with the hem in it.  There is nothing under her dress to make it stand out more.

Here are some ways to decorate these simple angels.

Make one using peacock feathers and wire ribbon for wings.

Make one using white fabric (this was made from an old blouse) and decorative ribbon.

Make one for a Thanksgiving decoration using silk leaves.

This little angel only takes about 20 minutes to make, if that long.  If you are interested in making some angel Christmas ornaments just click here to go to the tutorial.  Angel ornament tutorial

Craft: Decorating Stars for Christmas

 

 

Been dying to try painting on screen wire.  It’s great!  I tried scratching it off and it didn’t move.  Yay!

 

This is the basic star made from paint sticks.

All you need is:

Five 12” long paint sticks

Wood buttons (as many or as few as you desire)

Glue

Screen wire

Acrylic paint (cobalt blue and white or colors of your choice)

Paper doily for stencil (one large for outer circle and one medium for inner circle)

Staples and staple gun (tacks or small nails will also work)

 

This is all you have to do:

Build your star………………

1.  Saw the five 12” paint sticks in half = Ten 6” paint sticks.

2.  Design the star and glue each touching point together.

3.  When dry, staple from the top side.  I only stapled on the outside star points.

Prepare the screen wire…………..

1.  Lay the screen wire underneath your star and trace around the outside of the shape.

2.  Paint the star being careful to get the outside edges too.

3.  While your star is drying, cut out your star shape from the screen wire.

4.  Lay the medium size paper doily on top of your wire, lay the paint stick star on top of doily.  Make sure you have the doily positioned on the area you want to paint.  I just tried to center mine.  Once you are sure where you want it, remove the paint stick star.

5.  With the color of your choice blot paint around the holes in the doily and the outer edge.

6.  Remove the doily from the screen wire.

7.  Repeat the painting process with the smaller doily.

Buttons and finishing touches……………………..

1.  In a small bowl mix up the color of acrylic paint with water you are going to paint the buttons. Drop the buttons in the paint and stir with a brush.  Let them sit in the paint.

2.  Lay the paint stick star on top of the screen wire, position to your liking, reach around the back keeping the screen positioned and poke the wire over the staple ends.  Once the screen wire is stretched over the top of the staples and the doily design is still like you want it, turn the star over with the screen wire attached.

3.  Bend staple ends toward each other with wire pliers, then hammer down gently.  Once every staple is closed on top of the screen wire, turn the star over.  Raise the star up a bit with some extra paint sticks so the screen wire is not laying directly against the table avoiding the area where you are going to place your buttons.

4.  With tweezers or wire pliers , pick buttons up one at a time out of the bowl of paint, place a small dot of glue on the back of the button and lay gently on the screen wire.  (I put mine in a circle along the border of the painted doily design.)

5.  Put glue on top of staples on front of the star and place the remaining painted buttons on top of them.  Glue buttons on in a few more areas on the star if you like.

6.  Once everything is dry, turn the star over and glue the loose edges on the screen wire to the paint stick.

I just thought it was really neat how we can paint on screen wire.  I’ll be trying some more things with this idea.

Hope you enjoyed making this star.  Happy Crafting.

Crazy Easy Christmas Stars with Paint Sticks

 

I’ve gone mad with these paint sticks.  I’m making everything from A to Z.  I like that I can saw them to the size I want easily.  The way the paint reacts to the raw wood is very pleasing to the eye.  The grain of the wood shows through.  They are extremely economical to use, because I bought quite a few at one time, they came out to be around 12 cents per stick.

Here’s a star you can make for Christmas or other star related holidays that is easy.

All you need is:

Five 12” long paint sticks

staples and staple gun or strong craft glue

Acrylic paint (the color used here is Chromium Oxide Green)

Wood buttons (optional)

Screen wire (optional)

 

All you have to do is:

1.  Lay  out your paint sticks in this order:

     

 

 

 

 

2.  Staple the paint sticks together at the points and at the areas where the sticks overlap each other.  Staple from the front side of the star.

3.  Paint the star being careful to coat the edges as you go.  Wash with a watered down acrylic mixture until you have created the depth you desire.

4.  Lay the star face down on the screen wire.  Trace around the star with a sharpie or chalk and cut the star pattern out of the wire.

5.  Lay the back side of the star face down. (ends of the staples will be facing up)  Lay the screen wire on the paint stick star and push down on to the staple ends.  Pull the screen wire snug.

6.  With a wire tool, bend the staple ends down, then hammer lightly. (So no one will rip a finger open)  Trim the screen wire close to the edges of the star.

 

 

7.  Paint the wood buttons any color you like or keep them natural.  Glue on to the front of the star over the staples.

                                                                           

 

8.  Run a wire, string or ribbon through the screen wire from the point you want to hang your star.  Twist wire ends together and hang.

 

Hope you enjoyed making this star.  Happy crafting!