6thAnnual DG Christmas Craft/creating treasures with friends

It was great to talk with you last night Judy. And I'm really happy that Joyce may be out of rehab soon... I know that cervical collar is going to drive her crazy but she really needs tow ear it as long as they say.....
Glad you had fun shopping and I hope Jake does well in his match....

Has anyone seen any directions for the skates at all? I have some ideas and I may have missed a post somewhere. Not doing them until tomorrow.....

I have not seen the instructions yet Barb, Betty may get to it when she is done playing Mrs. Clause?

Betty said do the little snow faces for now, and she will get to the skates later...

[quote="Bettypauze"]Glad to see parcels are arriving

Yes Barb, sent you 2 pairs of skates..need sanding as you can see

upper part of the skate to be painted..I did mine in black but you can paint them color of choice..blades I base coated with grey, mix white with touch of black..doing them in grey first gives you less hassles and better coverage when you paint them with silver..

Morning all,

Went back and time and found the post above..not a whole lot to the skates, time to use your creativity..but, I will follow through this morning and paint a pair..ooops not sure I have the blades cut, must go cut

Going to have a coffee and toast and a sit down and will be back to play along with you..

for the snowmen we are a the decorating stage right??
do you have buttons? glue, glue gun/glue sticks on your work table???

I will start painting tomorrow!! and sew in between :) I love the flakes on the face ^_^

Betty, I think I want to do a green jacket, but with some of the stripes red, should I still add a touch of black? to the red? I will try to remember to pick up a new liner brush after work.....

Y'all have a great day !!!!

Yes I would add a touch of black just gives depth to the plaid..liner always helps..

I've just added Welcome to the welcome sign, drats, having to charge my batteries in the camera but won't take long to get enough juice for photo..

just cut a set of blades, had extra skates but no blades so I'm up to playing with the skates today, besides, I can always find someone to give them to!!

Should be ready to roll in a bit..

for those with skates, do you have them sanded..

basecoat your blades with medium grey, you can achieve that by simply adding a titch of black to white paint

Missy says she'll keep the 'kiddies' company while we work..

OH darn, I need to re pain one of my pieces, I just realized I painted them all off white, so off to paint, and let him dry, then sand again!

OH Betty, I love those babies! Where did you find them?

Sean is coming to paint!!!! He said he didn't want to do it this year but when the skates came, he sure changed his mind in a hurry!!!! Norm is drilling small holes in the boot so we can lace them up and tie them together as a pair after they are dry. He won't get here until around 11 AM and we will start then....I'm so glad you sent two pair Betty. In any case, I would have given him the pair if you had only sent one......Now to hide them-Mom is dropping him off and we can't let her see them!

LindaKay think they were from CrackerBarrel many/many years ago..

ooops, am sure they can be repainted

Photo 1: I believe I put transfer paper and wording for the Welcome

***this will only work if you banner is completely DRY

make sure the graphite side is facing on your banner (to check
what side is graphite take a piece of paper, put graphite down and
with a pencil make a mark on the graphite..if it shows on your paper
then you have the right side for marking Welcome..

you might want to cut paper surrounding the welcome 'off' so it makes
it easier for you to position...then with pencil or a pen mark Welcome..IF
it doesn't work or is not clear enough for you to read I'd fake it..lol

Fake it: put the gloves where you want them to be at edge of banner and with pencil write 'WELCOME' then with black ink consistency and liner paint Welcome in black..with end of your brush, touch black paint and then the ends of your letter..would add a bit of dimension to the lettering

Now what I did and I'm not sure you have a drill available if you do, I eyed where my banner is to be and marked a dot on each side of the body in the back of the body (they none painted side) and drilled a hole..later I can screw from the back the banner to the back
if you do NOT have a drill available either wood glue or glue gun will do when it's time to put it together

So far it's coming together right?? are you shaking your head 'yes' or 'no'

You know, before I glue my pieces I'm looking at the plaid piece which has part of the coat (v shaped part) and thinking the border of the coat is missing something, so before we finish off and put it together, best we do something about it

I AM thrilled that Sean has decided to continue this tradition..I think once you explain to him just how much it means NOT just to craft, but to sit and talk and reflect the meaning of Christmas and giving and it's YOUR time together..that above all is special..

This is the first year so far I've not seen Kyle/Noah for their craft day..my thoughts is to have them make earings/broches out of glass..doesn't take long for the jewelery kiln to do it's thing..would hate after all these years NOT to do it with them..actually their mother/grandmothers (bio and adoptive) love to sew, might be a quick lesson to do those pin cushion totes..I'll give them the option

Sanding my pieces Barb, be back in a bit..

Barb, before I get much further, what color are you painting the skate boot????

Here's how mine were done

Drilled upper hole in both boots, thought I'd add raffia for hanging them..

Skates...

Photo: boot
basecoat color of choice..if not black then give a basecoat of med. grey

blade
basecoat med. grey color

will let the pieces dry then give another light sanding to get rid of burrs

I want to hang mine on my front door which is Hunter Green so I will paint mine white. They will hang between the inside door and the outside one which is glass. That way they are protected. Sean can decide which color he wants his but I will make sure he uses two coats. I think I have some raffia around here too!!!!

Where did Norm drill the holes??

I also thought of getting those little upholstering tack to use as the lace hooks vs just panting them..but I will leave that for another day..

Omg/omg with all the sewing, wood working, I've dust and threads throughout the house..that is a must, right now..

In between waiting for paint to dry I will do dusting then mirrors..can't believe how I've left things go

Well Barb I gave the black skates a coat of hunter green, see what you've done

Have you started yet,

Anyone else out there ready for final snowmen instructions??

Off to coat the blades with silver ..while I wait for paint to dry I will dust and that does the main floor cleaning

Feeling lonely all by myself....

ok here we go..looked at the coat and decided to mix coat color with titch of blank and just run along the edge of the coat on both the pieces..kind of jaggered it so that you didn't see a straight line where I put it..

then with combinations of color, did some dotting along the edge..white seems bright and if I find it still too bright I'll do a wash of color over it before saying project is complete..

you can now glue your heart/start and buttons..you will see I found a few wood trees I had in my stash so I painted them and added them to the piece..buttons would I think have looked better, more antique looking but heck it's my snowman right???

As for the SKATES, I need another couple of coats for the blades done in silver and seeing I painted skates green and the black is under it, think I might sand when dry till some of the black shows through, make them look warn

Barb, how are you and Sean making out???

Oh Barbara...Im so thrilled that decided to come to do Christmas workshop! Just love seeing what you too create!

Ok everything painted and ready to be glued into place..

Also paintedthe faces on tiny snowheads, noses glued and readyto move tonext step when you are.

Glad your getting the housestraightened up Betty...everything gets put onhold while Im crafting, so glad i did it all before

Ok im off to joanns...need skulpy clay so I canfinish thedeorations for Julias Peace sign..oh and im searchiing for my buttons!

I like it alot with the dots at the bottom of the kjacket...will go do the same beforeheading out to Js

Think it's about time to put our snowman together..
you could have put the decorations on him after you put him together..either way would have been fine..

The wire I provided is extra long, likely you could cut in half...

to make it more secure we will in the holes that you have 2 side by side make an 'X'..you can make this 'x' in the front of the snowman or in the back..wither way will be fine...

I like to play plyers to twist the wire, so much easier on the fingers but if you don't have them then just be careful you don't twist too hard and break the wire or gouge your fingers

after I've twisted, cut off excess I press down on the wire so it won't scratch you

photo 1: this 'x' can be in the front or the back as previously noted
photo 2: wires ready to twist
photo 3: don't twist too hard, don't want to break the wood..also, you want a bit of
of movement in the feet and bottom body
photo 4: have the feet to bottom body done

Now ready to add next piece

Are you now up to me Judy, here I thought I was alone..was sad, no happy face..lol

if where the wire goes there is only one hole and you can't make an 'x' either drill another set or put your wire through the hole of both pieces, twist and it should be fine.

SKATES..

Sanded them down, regardless of color (white) you can sand just a bit of the edge to make them look used and lightly on the surface..makes the skates look more natural..

I then put end of brush in silver paint and dabbed dots on both side..matched the top and the bottom dot so they looked the same on both sides of the skates and on both skates..because there is excess paint in the dots, I'll them them to dry a bit longer before going on the next step

Snowman...

Photo 1: drilled hole in back of the banner on each side after I decided where
my gloves would be and screwed gloves/mitts to the banner..made sure
I had screws which weren't too long..been there done that before..lol

Photo 2: mentioned earlier that I felt wood glue would be ok but if you'd rather
be certain (you might have done this earlier) set the banner on the wood
piece, drill 2 holes and screw the welcome sign into the coat piece of
wood

Photo 3: finished body piece

Finding it a little hard today as I'm just a gabbing and not sure you are understanding so far..if anyone is out in cyber paint space please let me know..hate to find out as we are almost done that I've done some glitches in the project..

Had I thought of making the welcome sign more secure I'd have drilled holes but I'm so used to having the brad nailer I just didn't thing!!!

Here I'm doing him and have no idea what I will do with him..normally whatever project I make I give one to Timbrr Mart for all their help with the wood but this year I didn't use them,
but guess I really should drop it off to them..there, found a home for Mr. Snowman

OH No!!! Betty, hands on tge hips here, roflol i painted the head upside down!!
Now i have drill some holes!

How could you paint the heat upside down, I'm sooo laughing..not a problem though, he will have a bit of a square look to him

Kyle just left, came to gab, almost done dusting and main floor clean as can be..

Must go have a look at what he could and will look like.

Judy when you put the brim on, put it on an angle and he'll have his own liveable personality..

Wish you all would post photo's of how your snowman is doing..gives me the incentive to contine

Here you go Betty..

Here are the skates in progress!!! Instead of painting the holes, I had Norm drill some and we are going to use wire to lace them!!!
Betty - how do we apply the snowflakes? Are they adhesive?

This message was edited Dec 9, 2012 2:17 PM

Coming right along..will be interested to see them done up Barb..think Joann's has the teeniest of cords which would cork well also..

Judy, aha see what you've done..could have sanded off the face, repainted white and redone..but he's a cutie!

SKATES:

the stars I sent are iron on..I simply put on the skate (paint must be good and dry)
and I pressed/steamed and it seems to have taken..I am thinking though that I have podgy somewhere and will give the snowflake a coat just to adhere it better..

could also use a brush and brush on glue then set it where you want it..

am sure at the $$$ store I bought a sheet of beads..maybe an odd one might look good..

would if I had smaller ones to go at ends of the snowflake...must hit a $$$ store in the morning

I did sand the skate and the boot a bit..I like it better..don't see brush strokes for one and softens the look

Thanks Betty...also wanted to say you've done
An excellent job in directions!
Hmmm, Im actually thinking about giving him to Julia for her door.

And now that Im watchimg the skates..thinking about doing a pair too...they are really cute!

Barbara love the drilled holes, great idea!

SKATES

Looking for spray sealer..thought I had some, am sure I do but where????

a quick spray and some sparkles and they will be done..

I think if they were added to a wreath they'd look lovely

Thanks Judy, hardest thing is when you know how to do something to get the knowledge to someone who doesn't..the not knowing what brushes/tools you all have comes into play..try to make these projects so that little is needed that didn't come in a box..hard to include all paints/ supplies/wood and posting and still keep it at $20..thus reason asked if you all could supply the paints

Julia will so love him..has she seen him?

Just remembered, brought Chinese food home last night, head wasn't co-operating, had to lay down immediately so it's still in the refrigerator..guess I've got supper..
one more room to dust and I can eat..

want to get the snowman and the skates finished though so we are not leaving to Christmas week to be done

I've attached all the pieces...glued all the decorative pieces
made bows and attached the hat and boots
put on a scarf..used glue gun and carefully, can't stress the carefully pushed the flannel into the glue so it would stay around the neck in folds...cut to length then I made a few cuts at the end portions of both the scarf and bows so it looks like it's frayed..

I have a jar of snow, will add here and there but white paint brushed on might to the same (can do without this step) it's by choice only

Need spray so unless I can find some somewhere (and again you could just touch your piece here and there with a glue that will dry clear (make sure) and once you dry brush here and there add sparkles and glitter snow

It's been fun..

Photo 1: scarf and bow on hat..might add greenery as well..I may have included
some in your box of goodies

Photo 2: bows to boots

Photo 3: snowman put together

Photo 4: wire to hang him

Photo 5: I always add tape to the wire so that it doesn't scratch whatever you
hang him on (wall/door)

The WOW comes after the sparkles and snow has been added..

I've covered all the steps except last one and will post a photo tomorrow...

Hope you've enjoyed doing your project..I'm always around checking on this thread to make sure all projects are done and if questions need answers as the the method..

Hmmmm now what shall it be...any ideas?

In the meantime, God willing, we'll have o ur 7th Christmas DG Workshop next year..hope to see you!!!!

This message was edited Dec 9, 2012 3:29 PM

Doing happy dance..found spray and got to put sparkles..

gave him character though..added few stitches to his gloves..buttons as well..not only on mitts but bows as well...now is the time to make him yours..just remember,

LESS IS BETTER

just remembered the snowman faces...make sure they are done, perhaps tomorrow night I'll cut some twigs and we shall finish them


drats, just cleaned upstairs and I'm sure by nightfall the upstairs will have remnants of the sparkles all over the place...oh well, that's what Christmas is all about.

This afternoon I actually went and put the Christmas quilt on the bed, I'm sure I'll be dreaming of Christmas tonight..

what to heck..skates need sparkles as well..
on a mission, know I've raffia somewhere

Almost done...

hung Mr. Snowman up for a better view..

Almost finished Betty - I am going to iron on the snowflakes. We tied the laces with a fine green ribbon and we will put a red bow at the top of each skate!!! Pictures soon....
Here is Sean's picture. He doesn't want to put red bows on his - he wants Mom to decide if she wants them.....

OMG he looks like he is high as a kite!!!! But that is my Sean..... The ribbons are long enough for the skates to hang nicely. He enjoyed doing them. Now he wants Grammy to make sure they are dry and them wrap them up for Mom's gift from him!!!! I'm going to take my permanent marker and initial and date them between the skate and the blade. That way she won't forget when he did them....

He is so adorable Barb, skates turned out lovely, nice touch with the drilling for laces..yep, he needs date on them so when he looks back through the years he'll remember which are which..

Think I would hace added glue to the snowflake just incase..still time to do so seeng as they are not getting wrapped for a bit..

I'm glad I sent 2 pairs..

I'm thrilled that you sent two pair. The flakes seem to be holding nicely but.... Can I use decoupage (modge podge) to coat and seal the snowflakes? I think I have some here and if I don't Norm can pick some up for me...