Best/Worse/What did I learn...Sleigh workshop

Welcome to I hope our 1st craft venture together..keep in mind that it's a fun day, it's the memories of sharing and not the actual piece..it will be a 'treasure' that over the years when you take out your Christmas decorations that you will remember us, your Dave Garden friends who have over this past year shared dreams, laughs,tears...each and every one of you have offered support, compasion with love in your hearts...regardless of the outcome of this project, what you will have gained is being in each others lives however far apart we are..

This being said, get comfy, make sure you are wearing glad rags, you've a coffee/tea in hand, I've made us muffins (can you smell them)..hmmm..they were made just for you...

Before we start we'll prepare our craft table ...

Do you have something old covering your work space?

You need 3 or 4 meat trays or paper plates or anything similar to put your paint on...

If you've a hairdryer, get it out...

I put my piece on something to raise it (I used kleenex box) but anything will do..makes it easier to do the edges...

Now, if doing 1 sleigh, I cut out about 8 pieces of your plastic wrap - maybe 2' long and set each one nearby..I usually put them on chairs, table etc. trick is...don't let them glue themselves together..lol..because they must be easily accessed...

Did you decide to wear gloves??? if so we're ready!!!!

This is what your palette should somewhat look like..

Ok..I'm hoping those of you who are joining us have now found us...

I'll be off to do my 1st step and will post photo...now I think for this to work effectively, I'll be sitting at computer..you do the steps/ask questions and when done the 1st step post and we'll continue..we'll not rush through as to miss anyone or pressure anyone...

Have fun

Carol, looks like it's just you and me...Liz must have gone to sleep..so early for her and not sure where Judy is..anyway..let me know by posting if you are ready and I'll send you 1st set of photo's...

Ywan, Stretch, blink, blink...Good Morning!
LOL, you are so cute...Yep I am ready, starting to wake the kids. it 8:18 and they are starting to stir...got 2 extra girls!

Getting my cup of coffee...woohoo Jacob up.

Oh Carol, What a greeat idea with the Tomatoe cage tree! So pretty.

gathering last few supplies, now.

Hey Seed!..great to see you here..

I'm ready when everyone else is..no rush..
Betty I'll be improvising with the supplies I have....so my colours will be a bit different

Ok...I'll post 1st photo.

First you must remember that we are now in UGLY stage and also you don't want background to overpower your sleigh..santa is the FOCUS...

You must work fairly quick, do not skimp on paint because it has to be able to move around on sleigh and into each other..I'll post a series of photo's, look at them carefully, ask questions then off you go up to this point...here I go..

im here, the saran wrap made me madder than a hornet lol im good now getting the pallet ready what is that green lime green?

One sec. must download photo's

Great to be here...so excited...Wakey wakey...everyone, it's time!

Giving two of mine as gifts. One of theem will keep!

hello i`m jacob i`m waiting for my sisters to wake up ther teenager`s

...Oh no, my friend just called all ready to come and guess what? left her Santa at work...runnning to get it so sh'ell be here a bit late!

mmmmm, thanks for muffins Betty! goes great with my coffee.

Don't freak..it's ok..let the kid in you come out to play...

This will be an evening scene

This will be a 'day' scene

I've covered the entire top with plastic wrap/saran wrap, overlapping..remember your paint has to be somewhat thick so it can move around..if it's not add more paint and re-saran wrap

Your aim for this step is take your hands and in ciruclar motion move the paint around where you originally put it, but trying to work each color edge into the next color edge...

took the saran wrap off, didn't totally like that I had no clouds so seeing it is still wet I dabbed more white, put new saran on and worked it in again till I had the color soften

DO NOT WORK SO THAT YOU MIX ALL THE COLORS TOGETHER..ONLY THE STRONG EDGES...

Didn't at this point dislike what I had so I'll leave it alone..
Now also when you are putting in clouds I also think near 3/4 of the bottom I put white on each side kind of to represent snow banks..I sometimes life the saran and add more white..then if still not enough I wait to take my saran formed into ball and dab a bit of white texture...remember..soft is what we are looking for..to bright and loud will take away from Santa...

See the brightness of the snowbanks, put saran wrap and soften...

This message was edited Nov 18, 2007 10:56 AM

Now your sleigh top is not 100% dry and that's good..I get into my greens..dark green and med. green..if you don't have a dark green then I add just a titch of black...

I get a clean piece of saran wrap..dab it in the 2 green..now what you want is that saran wrap to have lots of textures, don't pack it into a ball , you put the saran into the paint, dab it on a piece of saran or plate to take some off..then barely..barely is the key word think of a tree overlapping the scene..I just use the edge and dab..then I pick up white and barely touch so it looks like snow...remember, this is NOT SOLID, you want to see the sky, then I look at my piece and form just a thin slice of saran, the uttermost edge of your ball and dab a little using same method making it look like pine trees...

Remember to do your sides as you are doing it..

Ok, any questions..if not, go have fun .. I'll sit here and eat my muffin, have my coffee and enjoy your company..I'm looking at all our messes...but it's fun to spend a Sunday morning, thinking of Christmas, you are all a great bunch of ladies...proud to know you..you've all become so dear to me...stop your blabbing Betty..we're painting..having fun...lol..or are we having fun yet...looks awful doesn't it..remember work your hands into the surface softening the edges..ever so lightly...

ok..I remembered the sides..

My Santa will take up most of the plaque..I did a base coat of burgundy..I'm using the white and gold Santa.
Smooshed a bit of white around..

have you got yours done Carol??? If so dry it well with hairdryer..has to be totally dry for next step...

Carol...you need paint that is wet all over the wood piece..if not it won't blend properly..so if it's not soft/soft then do it again..do you have any blue for sky as well as the white???

I'm going to dry it now..no blue on mine..going to be green trees in the bits of space I have left around the santa..and some gold accents..

that's ok..as long as everything is blended in..will match your decor to a 't' I'm sure..

I'm laughing Carol, Judy and Liz are awfully quiet aren't they...

is this what it is suppose to look like? lol concentrating thats why im as quiet as a mouse lol
bet judy is doing the same going for more coffee lol

They must be smooshing.LOL
This will give you an idea of how santa fits on my plaque.

no, I am here...quiet cuz i am trying to figure out how to start! LOL...
Then had to send Julia for batteries, @##$#$&*%^ DANG THINGS DIED AND WON'T TAKE A CHARGE.

So I want to do the day time one...ahhhh how to start just pick a color slather on?

That's nice Carol..will look pretty...Liz..yep, could have been a little softer where you red color is, but most likely by the time you add your santa, you'll not see it..

Liz, I'd take the saran wrap and do a little more tree coming over the top..think that I've got it what the middle hump trailing downwards into the 2nd last hump (top of the cutout sleigh)..

Be brave Judy...look how ugly mine is in photo 1..lots of paint..that's the trick..you need to be able to move it around..

Ok ...well, I see white, light blue a little drker blue and is what is that in the middle behind snowbanks?

...Liz yours looks great so far! Carol, yours sounds like it will be pretty!

Judy, you could have added a bit of red/yellow but not necesssary..mostly all covered with santa...

Let me know when you've all accomplished this step and we'll move on..no hurry

but, I don't see any red/yellow on yours...i am doing the day scene.

...Please don't wait for me, still waiting on my friend...just contemplating how to do it.
plus still not back from store with batteries...
Geesh, and i thought i was ready!

Judy, nope didn't put the red/orange in the day santa...don't fret .. you are okay..will continue to post when the other say they are ready..then I'll be home till around 2 so will continue checking on computer to help you out...no panic girl..it's Christmas...these things happen..usually to me..lol

Don't fret, I'm not just sitting at computer..I've got the next step done, am getting all my containers, sleighs together for me to do live greenery in tonight..I hope..have some of the greenery to work with..only a bit..need about 10 times more..lol

my sleigh is dry so im working on something else to so whenever everyone is ready

We can move on, then they can continue reading the posts and I'll keep checking in..kept myself busy getting my floral arrangement containers out..

OK, if your piece is completely dry, get something to put a lot of your podgie in...I used sponge brush but you can use any clean brush you have that won't be leaving 1,000 streaks...

prior to doing this though you should have placed your santa on the sleigh to get an idea which one or where you want it...then I lay the santa down into the podgy making sure that there are no air bubbles in the materials, take your fingers and softly make sure it's into the podgy so that it's nice and flat..for those with the beige santa, make sure your lantern in hanging properly and sleigh rungs where they should be..once a friend put hers on and didn't notice the lantern was sideways..actually it worked out ok made it look like he was walking in a blizzard...lol