Christmas DIY: “Let’s Get Blitzen” Reindeer Art

Remember how I said I wanted to create something this week? Well, thanks to misplacing all my craft stuff and giving myself a kink in my neck after moving some furniture around, I figured out exactly the way to cure that.

Ow. But despite the pain (which unfortunately creeped down to my upper back after sleeping on it last night… guess I’m buying a new pillow for 2015!), I still managed to get a little Christmas crafting done:

When I was in college and before I bought the house, I did a lot of crafts. Embossing, polymer clay, jewelry making, etc; small-scale stuff that accumulated a lot of fun little tools and a need for storage in my office. But after switching to mostly power tools and home repair projects these last couple of years, my memory for where everything is stashed in my crafting boxes is a little… off. It took some digging to find a few items that I thought might inspire a new piece of art for the holidays, but here’s what I ultimately picked:

• Wood veneer contact paper (from the dollar store)
• Ultra-fine glitter (I wasn’t sure if I would ultimately choose silver or gold, so I grabbed both)
• Glue pen (I like Martha Stewart pens… they are tightly packaged and don’t dry out)
• Poster board
• Decorative tape (optional, not pictured)

And a few other supplies that were merely functional to complete the project:

• White sheet of paper (for cutting out & using as my outline for the contact paper)
• Pen/pencil
• Scissors
• Old magazine
• Old credit/membership card
• Paint brush (or old makeup brush)

With an 8×10 frame selected, I cut the poster board to size. Since my printer was MIA (aka stashed in the closet & I didn’t feel like getting it out), I used a plain sheet of printer paper (which strangely, I still had accessible) to trace out this reindeer silhouette directly off my computer screen. I then cut it out, flipped it over onto the back of the contact paper, and traced the same image in reverse. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is.

Once the contact paper was cut to the correct shape and size, I peeled off part of the backing and started at the bottom right corner of the poster board. By peeling off the backing a little at a time and using a piece of rigid plastic (credit cards work well, but I use a dingy old Marta card for crafts), it’s easier to prevent air bubbles and wrinkles. The only tricky part was getting the antlers in place, since they’re smaller and wider than the card, so I smoothed out one and then the other.

Once the “reindeer” (reindeer/deer silhouette, Google image search turns up the same results) was on, the only thing left to add was some lettering. Not to knock a good “Noel” or “Merry & Bright”, but I wanted something that made me chuckle.

After lightly drawing on a few letters with a pencil (I tried going with block letters too, but it just didn’t look right), I grabbed the glue pen and filled everything in. Glitter can be ridiculously messy, but it’s hard to beat when it comes to Christmas decor.

I was tempted to pop a bright red nose on the deer, but that kind of killed the whole “Blitzen” thing, so I left it alone.

Tip: When sprinkling on glitter, I find that a magazine works pretty well underneath since you can use the fold to tap the excess glitter down and put back into the container.

Tip #2: When working around lettering like this, you’ll probably still see lots of extra glitter in between and around each letter after a good shake. Let it dry, then use an old, soft paint or makeup brush to remove the rest and keep the lettering intact.

With a little dry time, I popped it into a frame, and it’s done. Suuuuper simple DIY Christmas Reindeer Art, and a happy Friday craft.

I had a little fun arranging things on the mantel (that glass container is just leftover ornaments with a set of lights mixed in).

While I was taking these photos, I also wondered what it might look like with a more colorful frame. I dug out this pink and red-striped tape to see what it would look like to add some color to the mix (the makers of Echotape sent me a huge box of different kinds of tape earlier this year to try out… while most of it was for more heavy-duty stuff, they included a few printed tapes like this one from their Goddess Tape line, but it looks to be discontinued now). The best part about this tape is that it can come right back off with zero residue (I prefer the white version, but it’s fun to play around with it).

I’m thinking of making a few more things to frame over the weekend (“run run reindeer” comes to mind, as well as some ornaments, “get lit”, and maybe a “jingle my bells” thrown in, ha!). Funny how one craft leads to another. Gateway crafts, so-to-speak. This wasn’t really anything special craft-wise, but it did put me in the holiday mood, which was the whole point to begin with.

Now, if only I could find a painkiller and a neck pillow, I’d be all set…

The post Christmas DIY: “Let’s Get Blitzen” Reindeer Art appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.



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