Painted Angel Ornament

Christmas in February!  Don't you love it?

I used to do a lot of tole and wood painting.  In fact, the walls in the spare bedroom/office/storage room are painted burgundy and have shelves filled with Santa Clauses I have painted, crafted and collected over the years. Yep, it's the Santa Claus room for sure.  I like to be in this room.  It's cozy and happy.

I have been missing the paint and brushes and the satisfaction of completing a project.   Then I discovered Megpie Designs on the internet.  She has a couple of very cute Christmas ornaments that I fell in love with. Here is my version of her wonderful Painted Baby Jesus Ornament.  Click here:  Megpie Designs  to view her complete tutorial.

Wooden Christmas Angel

The Finished Product

Here is the supply list:
2 1/2 " x 3/8"  egg cutout
3/4" round head plug
1" wood circle
1/4" eye screw
fine point permanent marker (Sharpie)
acrylic paints:
White
Flesh
Green
Red
Metallic Gold  (I used DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Glorious Gold)
Wood Sealer (I like spray sealer so I used Krylom UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Coating)

Start with these wood shapes.  I could not find what I needed at my local craft store so I ordered these from craftparts.com.  Click here:  craftparts.com to go directly to their website.  I had the order in about a week. 

Paint the shapes accordingly.  I used both Americana and Ceramcoat paint, since that is what I had, but any brand of craft paint will work.  After the pieces dried, I smoothed the surface with a piece of brown paper grocery bag (if you can still find one) or even a paper towel, to remove the little "fuzzies" that appear when the grain is raised on the wood.

Next, drill a small hole in the top of each egg with an electric drill and a small drill bit.  Insert a small eye screw in the top.  *Make sure your hole is deep enough, almost the length of the screw or your egg will crack when you try to screw in the eye screw.  I learned this the hard way.

Here is a close-up of the faces.  I dipped the end of a brush in the black paint for the eyes.  After the black paint is dry, do the same with white or you can just leave black if you like that look better.  Blush the cheeks with some powdered blush and a Q-Tip.  I spray sealed the faces at this point because I didn't want the blush to rub off in the construction process.

When I painted the halos, I left a portion unpainted so the halos would adhere better to the egg body.  Sometimes glue will dissolve the paint.  This way I know I will have good adhesion.

Using a flat brush, shade the folds of the angel's robe.  Make a little puddle of gold paint on a piece of waxed paper. Wet your brush, dab off on a paper towel, then dip the tip of your brush in the gold paint.  Stroke the brush back and forth several times on the waxed paper to distribute the paint, then shade the folds.  Rinse your brush after each application then repeat the steps.  To shade the outside edges of the egg, I did one half at a time and reloaded the brush after each half.

I used a brass stencil and a piece of graphite paper to trace the holly.  You can free hand this easily, as well.  Paint the holly leaves with green paint.  When the green has dried, add the berries using the same method as you used for the eyes - dip dots.

Glue the head to the front of the egg with a good glue.  I used Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac glue.  Even though it is made to glue fabric pieces together, I have used it a lot to glue wood and it always makes a strong bond.  I got mine at Michael's Crafts & Floral.  Wait a few minutes for the head to set, then tie about a 7"- 8" length of ribbon through the eye screw for hanging.  Glue on the halo and you've got yourself a sweet little angle for the Christmas tree.

Have fun making some of these for your Christmas Tree or to give as gifts.  And thanks again to Megpie Design for her step by step instructions.  Check out her blog.  She had a lot of really cute stuff.

Please leave a comment. I enjoy hearing from you. 

Until next time...