Winter Wonder Santos Doll

Hello!! Jennalee here today. I don't know about you but now that Halloween is done and over I am ready to start Christmas creating!! When I saw the Wings Assortment Mini set (coming soon) I knew they would be perfect on a Santos Doll. I don't have an angel for my tree so I thought I would make one to display on a shelf or tabletop. Plus I love any reason to make another Santos Doll!!

Begin by painting a thin layer of gesso over the Santos doll body. Once dry paint face and hands flesh color. 

Smoosh Iced Spruce Distress Oxide on craft mat using palette knife mix Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Crackle into ink. Use palette knife to apply texture paste to doll body. Set aside to air dry. 

Once dry distress body with Vintage Photo Distress Crayon. Rub crayon on and blend in with paper towel, wipe away excess with baby wipe. 

Paint a base layer of Ground Espresso Distress Paint on wings. Once dry smoosh Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide onto wings and lightly spray. Set aside to air dry. Once dry layer more Frayed Burlap if desired. Using a scrunched up paper towel randomly pounce on Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. Heat set to make sure all layers are dry. Randomly apply Vintage Photo Distress Crayon. Don't blend in the crayon as it leaves a nice texture. Keep building layers until you reach desired look. 

Paint the base of the Santos brown. Paint all pieces front and back. Apply faux cinnamon rust to each piece. Using a cosmetics sponge apply brown paint and then dip directly into cinnamon. Pounce on more brown paint and heat set. If you have a heat gun that runs hot you can burn the cinnamon for that great crusty effect. But be careful!! 

Mix Antique Linen Distress Oxide with the Crackle Texture Paste using the same technique as above. Using a palette knife lightly and randomly apply to the Santos base. Set aside to air dry. Once dry add Pumice Stone Distress Crayon to crackled areas. 

Look at that crusty crackle!! 

Cut a length of Craft Thread and run thru a baby wipe. Lay on craft mat and randomly run Vintage Photo Distress Crayon along thread. Run baby wipe across thread again. Set aside to dry. 

Sew doll body together with distressed thread. 

Using Distress Collage Medium in the cut outs of the cage skirt base and bottom construct skirt. Adhere doll body on top of skirt base. 

Construct a crown using a die cut piece of Dresden. Heat emboss crown with Burnt Copper Leaves. 

Attach a small tree to the top of the cage base and position hands to look like they are holding it. 

Make a small necklace and add charm. 

Are you beginning to think about creating Christmas projects or do you still have a few more Fall ideas? I love creating and decorating for Christmas and always feel like I run out of time so if you need me I'll be in the studio. 

Thanks for stopping by!! Be sure to leave a note and say hi!!
Happy Creating ~ Jennalee 

Lover's Eye Shadow Box

This month for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts I've created something mystical and sort of romantic: a lover's eye shadow box.

I started with Gypsy Soul's Deco Front Shadowbox as the base, and added wings from the Wings Assortment to the top of the framed area.

I've always been fascinated with miniature 'lover's eye' paintings and so, with it being so close to Valentine's Day, decided to add my own to this piece. I painted an eye on a small piece of thick watercolour paper, placed it in a watch hob, then surrounded it with rhinestones.

Lover's eye paintings were popular during the late 1700s and early 1800s. The first such painting was exchanged between the Prince of Wales and a widowed commoner. They were tiny, discreet tokens, intimate portraits to give to ones lover. I won't tell you whose eye this is...

Inside I've placed replicas 15th century Visconti-Sforza tarot cards, The Empress and Death. The Empress is one of my favourite cards, representing not only feminity, but wisdom and creation. And Death isn't such a bad fellow. He might mark some sort of ending or conclusion which makes way for positive change. 

I've added a little number 7 at the bottom. Seven symbolizes perfection and unity... and it's lucky!

Some Victorian Corners painted copper and topped with flat back pearls complete the piece. Pearls represent wisdom and luck... both things we could all do with in matters of love.

If you'd like to make your own, I have a walk through available HERE

Materials:

Deco Front Shadowbox
Wings Assortment
Faux Metal Number Plates
Victorian Corners 2

Watch hob
Acrylic paint
Rhinestones

Mini Floral Dresden BordersGlue

Paper
• Distressed 6x6
• Prima Marketing, Wild & Free - Let's Be Wild

Glitter

Flat back pearls

Brads

Inspire Wall Decor

Hello lovelies. Shanna here and I am sharing a wall decor project I made. I wanted to create something grungy but creative and inspiring for myself.

So I started with some paper that I primed with gesso. The tape helps it stay flat due to the amount of medium I plan on putting on the paper.

I used some Raw Umber mixed with water to create a wash. 

So this is how it looked. Let the wash dry before moving to the next step.

Then I went in around the edges with a rusty looking color and let it dry. 

Then I went over the whole thing with a Crackle Effect and let it dry. This has to air dry. It can mess up the effect if you use a heat tool.

Then I went over with some white gesso and then bam! look at the crackle. While this dries I also painted my wings. 

Then I used a stencil with some texture paste over my paper. 

I spread the texture paste to make it look a little more natural. Let it dry or heat set. Then I combined the two colors I originally painted with and mixed them with a glazing medium. Then paint it over your paper. 

Use a baby wipe to remove after let it sit for just a second. Wipe off as much as you want. 

I used some gelatos over the wings and a little water to mix the colors. 

I used VersaMark watermark ink and a stamp in the wings, then sprinkled with some gold detail embossing powder. 

Then heat set the wings. I love this look. 

I decided to go ahead with a crown and randomly smoothed Watermark ink on the crown and sprinkled Gold detail with it. 

Then I just layered everything how I wanted it on my piece. Check out the close ups of my creation below. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed following along with how I created this piece of wall decor. Make sure you come back daily for more inspiration and how-to posts from the rest of the team. 

Products Used:

Steampunk Shape Set

Wings Assortment - Small (coming soon)

In the mean time you can check out the regular Wing Assortment to see what the rest of the wings look like. They are fabulous and you will love them.