RUDOLPH DAY--FEBRUARY 25, 2011

It's Rudolph Day...well, what's left of it anyway! For many of the Rudolph Days this year, I want to share with you a couple of crafts that you can work on every month so they can be ready for Christmas this year, if you're so inclined, that is.

I found this clever Angel craft.  They are SO cute.  Wouldn't they make for a gorgeous themed Christmas tree?

Clothespin Angel Ornament

Difficulty:  Average

What you'll need:

• 1 doll pin clothespin
• 2 basket type coffee filters
• Acrylic craft paint: flesh color (we used peach) and pink
• Red watercolor paint
• Gold glitter glue
• Black fine tip marker
• Approx 2” square scraps of yellow, light blue, and flesh color felt (we used peach)
• ½ of a skinny gold chenille stem
• 40-45 small colorful beads
• 12” gold ribbon for hanger
• White craft glue
• Tape
• Paintbrush

How to make it:

1. Paint the top third of the doll pin with a flesh color of your choice (we used peach). Set aside to dry.
2. Dip one of the coffee filters into a bowl or cup of water. Remove and squeeze out excess water. Coffee filter will look wrinkled. Set aside to dry.
3. Lay second coffee filter on covered work surface and paint with watered down red paint to achieve a pink color. To do this, dip your paintbrush in water, add the water to the red paint, getting it on your brush. Before painting the coffee filter, dip the paintbrush into the water again and then paint the coffee filter. Set filter aside to dry completely.
4. Cut a small hymnal book from a piece of light blue felt. The shape is that of a heart, yet the rounded sides are cut into a straight angle.
5. Cut two small circles (hands) from the flesh colored felt.
6. Glue the felt circles to the sides of the hymnal book.
7. Cut a half oval from the yellow felt for the hair.
8. Dip the tip of your paintbrush into pink paint, and then dab off the excess onto a paper towel, the paintbrush should be almost dry. Dab the dry paint onto the cheeks of your angel’s face.
9. Use a fine tip black marker to draw on eyes and mouth.
10. Glue the yellow felt onto the head of the doll pin. The straight side of the felt should run along the top and sides of the head. You may need to snip the rounded part of the oval to allow the back of the hair to lay flat. Glue in place and allow for it to dry.
11. Take the chenille stem and form a halo at one end. The circle of the halo should not be larger than the head. Line the chenille stem along the back of the doll pin, positioning the halo over the top of the head. Secure the chenille in place by wrapping a piece of tape around the chenille stem and the back of the doll pin.
12. When the coffee filters are dry, paint the plain white one with gold glitter and set aside to dry.
13. Fold the pink filter in half and then in half again. Snip off the center of the coffee filter so that you get a hole big enough to fit the bottom of the doll pin into.
14. Lay the pink filter open on the work surface. Pipe a generous line of glue around the outer edge of the filter. Carefully place the small colorful beads on the glue piping so that the beads go all the way around the filter. Set aside to dry completely.
15. Make a loop hanger from the gold ribbon. You will need excess ribbon past the knot to wrap around the angel, so tie the knot halfway up to allow for the excess.
16. When the glue holding the beads to the pink filter is completely dry, place the bottom of the doll pin into the center hole. Run the filter up to the “neck” area and hold in place with your fingers. Create the dress by gathering the center of the filter around the neck area; place the ribbon hanger along the back of the angel, then wrap the excess ribbon around the “waist”. Tie a knot in the back, leave the excess hanging.
17. Once the glitter glue is dry on the other coffee filter, pinch the filter in the center to create the wings. Place the gathered wings, with glitter side facing toward the front of the angel, and tie the excess ribbon around the gather to secure the wings. Trim excess ribbon and add a dab of glue to reinforce the ends.
18. Glue the hymnal book to the front of the angel, just above the gold ribbon waistband.

Tips:

• To be sure that you get a pink dress and not red, test out the color on a separate coffee filter.
• Doll pins can be purchased at your local craft supply store.
• If you prefer an ethnically diverse angel, use appropriate colors to correspond with race (for an African American doll use brown paint and black felt for hair, for a Latina doll use light brown paint with black felt, etc).

My personal tip:  I would try out other colors such as a blue or green and also maybe leave some white.  Like I said above, if you made a bunch of these, you could have a lovely angel-themed Christmas tree!

This craft was found on KABOOSE.

See you next month!

Always in spirit....