Twelve Days of Christmas 2016 - Day Two

The weather is getting colder now in southern Nevada. I guess I should tell you that we just left Oregon and moved back to southern Nevada so my hubby could be nearer his siblings, two of which live here in the Logandale/Overton area and one who lives in southern California. It was already cold and rainy in Oregon and really cold at night, and when we stopped in Elko for a couple of days at our oldest daughter's home, it was really cold at night but not too bad during the day. At least after 11:00 am or so, so I guess we can't  complain too much when we can still wear short sleeves and sandals.

This was the view from our motorhome in Oregon, one mid-morning in the middle of November.

For day 2 of our 12 Days of Christmas, we have a cute, little angel made from, of all things, a badminton shuttlecock, or as we say, a birdie! She is about as simple as it gets to make and as cute as a bug on a rug. The skirt of the birdie is kind of lacy and makes a perfect dress. 

You'll need some birdies, a can of spray paint, some flesh-colored paint in the hue of your choice and some hair. You'll also need a paint brush, a fine-tip permanent marker, something for her arms and something to go around her neck, because the birdie's head is flat at the bottom--not a very comely shape for the chin of an angel!

First, you want to spray paint the lacy part of the birdie. Spray the inside first, then set it on some cardboard or paper and spray the outside. Try not to get too much on the head. I used a regular spray paint and the paint has come off in a few places as I worked with it, so next time I will definitely use Krylon, the one formulated especially for painting plastic surfaces.

See that flat edge at the bottom of the head? This one will
have to have a bow in the front, too, to hide that masculine chin!

After the spray paint is dry, use a small paint brush and paint the head. When that is dry, use a fine-point, permanent marker and give her a little face. Be really careful when giving her a nose. A teeny, tiny little dot is good, because if you make it too big, it looks like a pig face!

Next, you put lace or trim of some kind right up under the bottom of the head. I used hot glue for this because I didn't have the time to hold it in place to wait for regular glue to set up. I used some cute pink and blue trim I had leftover from another project for the arms. Glue them under the head in the back. I tied a knot in the front to represent her hands before I glued it..

I used a variety of different doll hairs for them. The one on the left is short pieces sewn down the middle and I just glued it around and around until her head was covered. She has a bit of a shaggy look.The one in the middle has two little pom-poms glued next to one another to cover her head, then a piece of trim glued around like a headband. A hair-do kind of like my granddaughter's. The one on the right took a little more time, but was really easy. I braided 15 strands of loopy white yarn, 5 strands in each bunch, and then glued it around and around until her head was covered and then added a few more rounds to make a little bun, which I tied with a ribbon. There is one that isn't shown here that has skinny, loopy yarn hair that I cut long, tied in the middle to make her a part and glued it to her head. Then I twisted it in the back at the bottom and brought it up and glued it in place with a bow, letting the yarn stick up above the bow. She also holds a candy cane in her arms.

This one I left the "natural" color of the shuttlecock. On my camera, it looks the bright yellow-green that it is, but on my computer.....not so much. The birdie is an even brighter color than the lace is, so you can sort of get an idea. Her hair is another bun-do, with lace around it instead of ribbon.

You can see that they all have different trims, decorations, etc. Just have fun! And this would be a great craft to do with the kids! Just be careful with the hot glue, because it really burns.

You can see from the back view how I did the wings. I just drew a shape I liked on a piece of copy paper, folded the paper in half and cut it on the fold, so both sides would be the same. I glued 2 pieces of Christmas cardstock together and cut the wings from that and then hot glued the wings to the back of the angel. I thought it looked a little bare, so I tied some embroidery floss through a button and glued it to the middle of the wings, and !Voila! She's done! Now you may notice some little white dots and some dark, slobbery places and some dents. Needless to say, I have a puppy who wanted to play with these birdies right from the moment I took them out of the can, and she finally got this one!  And, yes, that is a glue string you see in her hair. Eeeeeew! I don't know how I missed that!  The two with plain solid color on the wings are going to get a little sanding done on the edges for a more primitive look.

Well, today's project was very simple, and took less time to make than it did to write this post! But it was fun, and I hope you will make some of these with your young'uns and spread a little holiday cheer. And remember......Christmas decorations CAN be bought from a store, but making them, and making them with loved ones and friends, makes them mean a little bit more. (To wildly paraphrase the Grinch!)  Love to all,