The journey continues on revealing an ornament from my collection (see related post).

Day 11: 2008 Penguin

Materials:

• Sculpey clay in black, orange, white and green
• Black permanent marker
• Paper clips
• Ribbon

Instructions: Start by kneading your clay for a few minutes to make it workable. Prepare for the baking of these ornaments on a metal sheet at 275 degrees.

Start with the body of the penguin and form an egg-shape out of black about 2-inches tall and about 1.5 inches thick at the base. Next, grab a small piece of the white clay, form a small ball and then flatten for the penguin’s stomach. Before attaching it to the body, take a paper clip and rough the body of the penguin and the back of the stomach, which will allow the two surfaces to form a bond. Place the stomach on the body and smooth into place. The stomach is about 1-inch wide.

Next, form two small white balls for the eyes. Follow the same directions above for sticking the two together by roughing the sides with a paper clip. Add two small tiny black dots for the eyes. Next, roll a small piece of orange and form a small beak for the penguin. Add it to the body with the same directions above. Use a paper clip and form a small crease in the beak.

To make the feet, form two balls of orange clay for the feet. Mold into an oblong egg-shape and fix to the body. Use the paper clip to form three small toe creases at the top. Add a small piece of green to the bottom of the feet for the skates, and then insert the paper clips into the feet.

To make the hat, form a ball of green and roll it into a cone shape. Work an indent into the inside so that it can sit on the penguin head. Fold over the top of the hat and place a white clay “pom pom” at the end. It’s important to make sure this fold in the top of the hat folds over and touches the hat, but still has a slit so that you can fit the ribbon through. Use the same directions to rough up the edges of both the hat and body before attaching the hat to form the bond.

Bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Add a ribbon to hang the ornament.

The journey continues on revealing an ornament from my collection (see related post).

Day 10: 2007 Snowman Bell

Materials:

• Large craft bell (I found rusty red bells)
• Paints: white, orange, black, yellow, green
• Paint brushes of varying sizes
• Sponges
• Twine

Instructions: Start with the white paint on a brush and dab out some of the paint on a paper towel. Dab on the paint using soft textured actions to keep the snowman looking like he has rough edges. You may also use a sponge for this action. Using a brush, paint on the snowman’s hat of any color you want, adding fringe details and black edging. Paint the snowman’s eyes and mouth with black, his carrot nose with orange. For extra texture and detail, I used the sponge and added extra paint texture around the bell. Add a piece of twine for the hanger.

The journey continues on revealing an ornament from my collection (see related post).

Day 9: 2006 Reindeer

Materials:

• Glass ornament ball
• Styrofoam ball for head
• 2 sizes of round wood plugs to use as mouth and nose
• Wire
• Small light bulbs (typically can find them by mini tree ornaments)
• Ribbon
• Hot glue
• Paints: brown, white, black, glitter, red

Instructions: Start by painting the glass ornament and Styrofoam ball brown. On the reindeer head, paint the eyes with white and black. Add the wood plug for the mouth and paint the mouth on. Paint the nose red and add to the top of the mouth plug. On the body of the glass ornament, paint a glittery circle. Add hot glue to the top of the ornament and secure the head to the body. Use the ornament top to secure to the top of the head with a bit of glue. Cut a piece of wire to fit around the neck, add the light bulbs and twist the wire to keep each of them in place. Feed the wire through the lower, back part of the head to help keep it in place. Cut wire to feed through the head and come out each side for the reindeer antlers. Add a ribbon to the hanger.

The journey continues on revealing an ornament from my collection (see related post).

Day 8: 2005 Quilted Tree

Materials:

• Leftover quilt scraps (green, cream, red)
• Thread
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Fabric glue
• Sewing machine (or hand sew)

Instructions: Start by cutting a 3.25 inch square of your background fabric for both the front and back (I used green on the back). Cut thing batting to same dimensions. Cut a 3/4-inch wide strip of your border fabric. Layer the background, batting and top together. With right sides together, line the border fabric up at the edge of your stack of fabric and sew ¼-inch from the edge, being careful to adjust for the corners. You will now have a layer of fabrics. Fold the border around the edge and stitch the back in the place by hand using a whip stitch. Cut out tree shape from green fabric and either sew or glue in place (I glued the tree). Then using green thread, stitch around the tree using a running stitch. Add a piece of ribbon for the bow on the top, and as a hanger for the ornament.

The journey continues on revealing an ornament from my collection (see related post).

Day 7: 2004 Snowman

Materials:

• Styrofoam balls (2 sizes for head and body)
• Wood boot cutouts
• Wood mittens cutouts
• Scrap fabric
• Wire
• Paints: Pearly white, black, orange, red
• Hot glue gun
• Small craft drill

Instructions: Start by painting the body and head of the snowman with the pearly white. (I found a paint that has a shimmer to it!) Paint the mittens red and boots black. Let dry and then drill small holes in them all to thread the wire. Paint the face on the snowman, including eyes, a mouth and carrot nose. Add buttons to his body with black paint.

Next, cut a piece of wire that is long enough to have a hanger for the top and go through the head and body. Thread it through the head, then into the body. Have about 2 inches come out the bottom and make a loop, partially starting the loop that will go back into the body. Take a piece of wire for the legs and thread the boots onto the wire, trimming the excess. Thread the leg wire through the loop you formed with the body wire. Push the remaining wire into the snowman body and secure with a dab of hot glue to help hold that in place. Take the wire for the arms and thread the mitten on one side. Push the wire through the body, add the other mitten. Trim excess wire. Twist the wire at the top for a hanger. Add a scrap piece of fabric for the scarf.