19th Century Inspired ornaments

I initially saw these little cuties on Better Homes & Gardens website last year and wanted to try some of my own. (I tried one out last year) The end result is pretty much the same but I used some different materials to make them. I used a glass ball Christmas ornament and paper clay.

Remove the hanger(the silver top) from the glass ball and mold paper clay around the ball. I pushed down gently on the ball at this point so that the bottom is a bit flat and it will sit on a surface too as well as hang. Make a ball for the head and blend in to the neck and body of the ornament. Use two smaller pieces of round clay for the cheeks and blend in. Make a shape for the nose and blend in to the face. I trimmed the bottom of the silver hanger(hat) with wire cutters(just so they weren't so long) and slipped it right in to the top of the head. Let dry.

Once they're dry, it's time to paint! You can sand them a bit if you'd like. I like all the imperfections so I didn't do any sanding. I did mine to resemble the ones on BHG.com, but the possibilities are endless! I used antique white and pink acrylic paint and painted their faces with black. Added a few words to their bellies and let dry.
I grunged these fellows up a bit with some water based Maple Stain. I took a paint brush and wet it with water and then brushed it over the snowmen and then brushed on the stain and dabbed it with a towel until I got the look I wanted. A little brown paint mixed with water will give the same effect. After this dried I took some spray gold glitter and gave them a spritz of gold. I let that dry and sprayed them with a clear acrylic sealer. But wait......!



What snowman doesn't appreciate a nice scarf? I glued some glittery tinsel garland around their necks. I also put two stripes of glue around the stripes on their tummies and added some glitter glass and sparkles. Viola! Again, there are endless possibilities to how these are painted and what you add to them. Such sweet little guys!