Beyond The Picket Fence: 12 Days of Christmas, Day 9, Easy, Outdoorsy Ornaments

Friday, December 4, 2015

12 Days of Christmas, Day 9, Easy, Outdoorsy Ornaments

Christmas ideas, DIY, budget decor, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/12/12-days-of-christmas-day-9-easy.html

I needed a little more woodsy, a little more nature on my tree so I got crafty. I love being able to create what I want--so much easier than searching stores for the perfect item and MUCH cheaper!!

When I was a kid one of my favorite Christmas activities was making salt dough ornaments. Mom would make the dough from flour and salt and we would roll it out, use the Tupperware red cookie cutters, pray the dough would not stick, cut them out, bake them and then paint them. I wanted to make them year after year, and did.

model magic, ornaments, animal prints, fusion mineral paint, Christmas, DIY, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/12/12-days-of-christmas-day-9-easy.html

These ornaments are reminiscent of those salt dough days--except easier and not as fragile because they are made with Model Magic.

I rolled the dough out and used a small paring knife to cut animal footprints out--deer, bears, fox (?) prints.

animal footprint, ornament, Christmas decor, DIY, clay, copper paint, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/12/12-days-of-christmas-day-9-easy.html

It works best to first cut the footprint and then cut the ornament out--I used a quart jar lid. You can smooth the edges with a little water on your fingertip.

ornament, DIY, animal footprint, clay, Christmas ornament, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/12/12-days-of-christmas-day-9-easy.html

After the clay was dry I painted the ornaments copper using Matthew Mead's copper paint from Fusion Mineral Paint.

deer, ornament, woodland, Christmas, DIY, model magic, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/12/12-days-of-christmas-day-9-easy.html

I also used the copper paint on pinecones that I hot glued some jute to to hang them.

pinecone, ornament, fusion mineral paint, copper paint, DIY, http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2015/12/12-days-of-christmas-day-9-easy.html

And I painted some feathers with the copper as well. I love these--they add a lot to the tree. They were very quick and look like something from a high end boutique.