My New Handmade Mixed Media Snow Fairies Art Dolls - Meet Pixie, Dixie, and Mixie

Back in 2014 I decided to take Julie Haymaker's "Let's Go For A Ride" class at Artful Gathering. The project called for making an adorable little mixed media shadow box scene with 3 pets sticking their heads out the window of a car that was driving over a hill. The class looked like it would be a lot of fun to take so I decided to take it.

A kit was available for purchase from Julie's Etsy shop so I ordered one as it's a lot easier to do that than run around to get supplies. The kit came with everything you needed to create the project including thread and needle. It was fabulous.

Well, in looking at Julie's kits for sale she had some unusual unfinished wood pieces for making several different types of mixed media dolls.  Julie is a remarkable mixed media artist who has an eye for unusual art doll creations and her unfinished wood kits were available as a tool to help you with this. 

So, of course I bought a few and decided to make mixed media snow faeries.

Pixie, Dixie, and Mixie are 13" tall winter mixed media snow faeries. All three have been basically made the same except for different embellishments or scrapbook collage papers I used.

The doll kit contained an already built unfinished art doll with a white paper-clay face attached to a white painted wood finial piece which was affixed atop a papier-mâché round box with covered top.  Everything was painted white.

Pixie is the faerie doll shown in the photo collage above.

Mixie is the faerie doll shown in the photo collage above.

Dixie is the faerie doll shown in the photo collage above

 

 

I painted their faces with a combination of acrylic paint and watercolor paints.  Modeling paste was used to add texture to their snow hair.

Their arms were already fashioned out of wire so I just added Alene's True Snow accents to them as well as throughout their bodies.  Mixed media fibers have been used around their necks as a decoration.

 

 

They already had unfinished wood finial bodies which I sponge painted with winter metallic paint colors.  Unfinished wood snowflakes were embossed with metallic powders and glued to the and/or back of their wood finial bodies.  Scrapbook paper embellishments were also added to the front and/or back of their wood finial bodies as well as glitter ribbons tied in bows.  Puffy metallic paint was used to embellish the embossed snowflake decorations.

Decorative mixed media fibers were tied around the bottom of the wood finial bodies as well as scrapbook paper word phrases.

The wood finial piece for their bodies was affixed to white painted papier-mâché round boxes with covered tops.  I used different scrapbook collage papers to decorate the boxes and added word stickers or winter image stickers for embellishments.  Mixed media fibers were wrapped around the top rim of the round boxes and Alene's True Snow was added throughout as decorative winter accents.

Several years ago I had bought some adorable and colorful teal blue glitter silk floral stems and have been wanting to use them ever since.  Finally, the right application came along.  I thought they would be perfect in the backs of the faeries to make it seem like the faeries were among the reeds of a winter forest.

I was really pleased with the way all three of the mixed media winter snow faeries came out.  

They are cheery and will make a great winter season decoration.   

Now where should I put them........

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed By Linda Walsh

How I Made My Handmade Mixed Media Sponge Painted Papier-Mâché Christmas Trees

For quite awhile now I've had two papier-mâché tree cones in my crafts supply stash.  I've been wanting to use them for a long time but just never seemed to have the time.  Well, with all the Christmas mixed media decorations I was making what's two more....lol

You know me I never do anything in moderation.

So I decided to create two identical mixed media Christmas trees.

I wanted to use them on my kitchen table to surround my new mixed media Santa and Mrs. Claus art dolls I was making.  Their post is here.

I thought they would be perfect for the center area of my kitchen table as it is long in length but only about 8" wide for the depth.  So I need long, skinny decorations here and my Santa and Mrs. Claus surrounded by these two trees would be perfect.

I also made some real pine tree log circles about 1 1/2" tall that my brother had cut from trees in his year several years ago.  Like everything else I've been holding on to these for a long time.

My brother had cut a lot of these for me to use and I had only used three so far for my trio of needle felted Santa's to sit on when I made them back in 2013.

I thought two more might be terrific for the base of these trees and was so pleased that they fit the bottom of the cones perfectly.

How-To Make A Mixed Media Sponge Painted Papier-Mâché Christmas Tree

Supplies needed:

10.6" Papier-Mâché Tree Cone - 1
12" by 12" Scrapbook Paper - 1 to 3 pieces depending on the size of the cone.
Metallic Green Paints - 3-4 colors
Acrylic Paint - Brown (If using unfinished wood for the base.)
Natural Sea Sponges
Low Temperature Hot Glue and Hot Glue Gun
1" Thick Natural Pine Tree Wood Circle (With Bark) or Unfinished Pine Wood Circle (Width to fit inside bottom of Papier-Mâché Tree Cone.)
Saw (To cut the wood.)
Miniature Tree Star - 1 Red Glitter
Miniature Beaded Garland
Metallic Gold Elastic
Miniature Tree Bulbs

1.  Measure the width of the bottom of the papier-mâché tree cone and cut a round piece of pine tree wood or pine wood 1" thick to fit inside the circumference of the papier-mâché tree cone.

2.  If using the unfinished pine wood circle for the base paint it with the brown acrylic paint. Do not paint the natural pine tree wood circle with bark.

3.  Cut a piece of the 12" by 12" scrapbook paper to fit around the papier-mâché tree cone so it is completely covered and will wrap around the bottom of the papier-mâché tree cone.  If necessary use more than one piece of paper.

4.  Glue the scrapbook paper to the outside and inside of the papier-mâché tree cone with the hot glue.

5.  Sponge paint the outside of the papier-mâché tree cone with the green metallic paints until it is completely covered and you are pleased with the effect.

6.  Insert the tree circles for the tree base into the bottom of the papier-mâché cone and glue them with hot glue where necessary to hold them in place.

7.  Add the red glitter star decoration to the top of the tree and glue if necessary with the hot glue.

8. Wrap the green beaded garland around the cone and glue it in place in several spots with the hot glue.

9. Wrap the gold metallic elastic ribbon around the cone and glue it in place in several spots with the hot glue.

10.  Tie the miniature tree bulb decorations to the garland.

Ta-da! You're done.

Copyright © 2019 - 2023 All Rights Reserved - Designed By Linda Walsh

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Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.

Santa Sam - My New Handmade Mixed Media Santa Art Doll

As you're well aware from my previous posts I've been creating three mixed media Santa art dolls.

Here's what I've told you so far:

Years ago my mother was replacing her living room coffee table and end tables and throwing her old ones away.  They had a lot of lovely spindles on them and I thought it would be a waste to throw them away as they would make good pedestals for doll bases. Why throw something useful away when it can be re-purposed -  especially for dolls.

So, I asked my brother if he would take the tables apart and save the spindles, which he did.  I also asked him if her could add round wood bases to the spindles to create doll pedestals which he also did.

I also wanted him to drill holes in the tops so I could insert dowels to attach my doll bodies or heads.  Unfortunately the original spindles had metal pieces in the tops of some of them which made drilling new holes a little difficult.  He had to remove the metals first,

The base of the pedestal my brother made had 3"round wood circles that were 1" high.  I wanted to create a basket of sorts on the bottom of the Santa's to add potpourri and other Christmas decorations so I decided to use some thick scrapbook paper strips to do this.  After painting the pedestal bases and inserting the dolls heads and bodies I figured I would double the strips and glue them together so each side was finished and then glue them around the circle.  They would be perfect for what I wanted to do with these Santa's.

I also love combining dried floral potpourri with some of my creations as I'm  always looking for ways to salvage dried potpourri so it doesn't go to waste once it's lost its' smell.

Five years ago I wrote a Linda's Blog post entitled "A Great Way To Use Up Old Potpourri" outlining my attempts to do so.

I had been saving the unfinished wood pedestals for several years now and thought this might be a good time to put my mother's old coffee table spindle pedestals to good use for the three mixed media Santa art dolls I had wanted to make now.

Meet Santa Sam who stands 13" tall.

He a little different for a jolly old Santa.  He's extremely organized, punctual, and when it comes to the elves can be a bit demanding.  After all he has a lot to do and has to be sure it all gets done.  So, if he has to be a little less jolly and stricter with the elves so be it.  There was work to be done and toys to deliver to all the good girls and boys.

His body is comprised of a sponge painted wood pedestal, Styrofoam oval belly covered with scrapbook collage papers painted with metallic Christmas color paints and paper-clay sculpted and painted head.

I sculptured his head out of paper-clay and painted his face with a combination of acrylic paints and watercolor paints.  I sculpted his eyebrows, beard and mustache out of modeling paste and then painted each.

I used wire to form his eyeglasses and glued these to the sides of his head before adding his hair, which is made of alpaca roving from my sister's Rock Garden Alpacas Farm.

His hat is sewed with red wool felt.  A green pompom and white fur trim was added around the edge of his Santa hat as well.

His body is made from a Styrofoam oval ball that I added scrapbook collage papers to and then sponge painted them with Christmas metallic paint colors.

His arms are made of wire with red felt shirt sleeves, black felt gloves, and modeling paste fur on the tips of his shirt sleeves.

I cut a vest out of green felt and put it on him so the front had two lapels and there were two miniature buttons to fasten it.  The two red buttons were embellished with white metallic puffy paint.

Ruffled red hard lace trim and mixed media fibers were wrapped around the bottom of his belly.

I'm always looking for different media that can be used to embellish my doll and craft creations. Well, close to ten years while shopping at BJ's I found a set of adorable 3D type paper Christmas gift tags.  One of those was a Christmas "Naughty or Nice" chalkboard tag.

Instead of using this set as gift tags I had decided to save them and use them for my craft purposes.  They were really adorable and you just never know what you are going to use when crafting.  So, I've been holding on to them and the gift tag seemed perfect for my Santa to hold in his arms.

Luckily there were three of the Christmas "Naughty or Nice" chalkboard tags in the box set.  I wanted to use two tags turned right side out and glued together so they would appear finished when looking at the front of the Santa and when looking at the back of the Santa. Before gluing them to his hands I added Christmas braided trim around the edge of the glued tags and then glued red ribbon bows to the front and back top center of the tags.

As mentioned above the base of the pedestal my brother made had 3"round wood circles that were 1" high.  I wanted to create a basket of sorts on the bottom of the Santa's to add potpourri and other Christmas decorations so I decided to use some thick scrapbook paper strips about 3" tall to do this.

I painted the unfinished wood pedestal my brother had made with Christmas metallic paints.  Then I doubled  the scrapbook paper strips I had cut,  turned them right sides out and glued them to each other, then wrapped them around the bottom of the base and glued the ends.  They were perfect to hold the potpourri I wanted to use on the bottom of the Santa.

I glued gold mixed media fiber tree trim around the the bottom of the base and a scrapbook paper Christmas saying strip along the top of the base.  Then I glued braided Christmas trim on the top edge of the base as well as under the scrapbook paper Christmas saying strip.  Everything was now sturdy enough to hold the potpourri like in a basket.

I added the Christmas potpourri and Christmas floral decorations to the basket around his pedestal and glued them to hold them in place.

The picture above is a close-up of his back embellishments.

The picture above is a close-up of his right side and bottom.

The picture above is a close-up of his left side and bottom.

I was really pleased with the way my Santa Sam came out.  He might be demanding but he has good reason for being so.  There's a lot to do - toys to be made and presents to deliver and his good name is on the line.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed By Linda Walsh

Santa Leo - My New Handmade Mixed Media Santa Art Doll

As you're well aware from my previous posts I've been creating three mixed media Santa art dolls and have already finished two of them.

As you also know years ago my mother was replacing her living room coffee table and end tables and throwing her old ones away.  They had a lot of lovely spindles on them and I thought it would be a waste to throw them away as they would make good pedestals for doll bases. Why throw something useful away when it can be re-purposed -  especially for dolls.

So, I asked my brother if he would take the tables apart and save the spindles, which he did.  I also asked him if her could add round wood bases to the spindles to create doll pedestals which he also did.

I also wanted him to drill holes in the tops so I could insert dowels to attach my doll bodies or heads.  Unfortunately the original spindles had metal pieces in the tops of some of them which made drilling new holes a little difficult.  He had to remove the metals first,

The base of the pedestal my brother made had 3"round wood circles that were 1" high.  I wanted to create a basket of sorts on the bottom of the Santa's to add Christmas miniature trees and decorations so I decided to use some thick scrapbook paper strips to do this.  After painting the pedestal bases and inserting the dolls heads and bodies I figured I would double the strips and glue them together so each side was finished and then glue them around the circle.  They would be perfect for what I wanted to do with these Santa's.

I had been saving the unfinished wood pedestals for several years now and thought this might be a good time to put my mother's old coffee table spindle pedestals to good use for the three mixed media Santa art dolls I had wanted to make now.

Santa Leo stands 13" tall. He is the epitome of the jolly old St. Nick. The Christmas holiday season is his favorite time of the year and he looks forward to it every year.  He loves the hustle and bustle of the season and thoroughly enjoys making all the toys for all the good girls and boys.

His body is comprised of a sponge painted wood pedestal, Styrofoam oval belly covered with scrapbook collage papers painted with metallic Christmas color paints and paper-clay sculpted and painted head.

I sculptured his head out of paper-clay and painted his face with a combination of acrylic paints and watercolor paints.  I sculpted his eyebrows, beard and mustache out of modeling paste and then painted each.

I used wire to form his eyeglasses and glued these to the sides of his head before adding his hair, which is made of alpaca roving from my sister's Rock Garden Alpacas Farm.

His hat is sewed with red wool felt.  A white pompom and white fur trim was added around the edge of his Santa hat as well.

His body is made from a Styrofoam oval ball that I added scrapbook collage papers to and then sponge painted them with Christmas metallic paint colors.

His arms are made of wire with red felt shirt sleeves, black felt gloves, and modeling paste fur on the tips of his shirt sleeves.

I cut a vest out of green felt and put it on him so the front had two lapels and there were two miniature buttons to fasten it.  The two red buttons were embellished with white metallic puffy paint.

Ruffled red hard lace trim and mixed media fibers were wrapped around the bottom of his belly.

I wanted this Santa to be a little different than the other two mixed media Santa's I had made.  This Santa was going to have miniature Christmas trees, presents, and toy decorations instead of potpourri.

Also, instead of holding a Christmas gift tag he was going to hold a light bulb ornament garland for decorating the Christmas tree in his hands.

As mentioned above the base of the pedestal my brother made had 3"round wood circles that were 1" high.  I wanted to create a basket of sorts on the bottom of the Santa's to add potpourri and other Christmas decorations so I decided to use some thick scrapbook paper strips about 3" tall to do this.

I painted the unfinished wood pedestal my brother had made with Christmas metallic paints.  Then I doubled  the scrapbook paper strips I had cut,  turned them right sides out and glued them to each other, then wrapped them around the bottom of the base and glued the ends.  They were perfect to hold the potpourri I wanted to use on the bottom of the Santa.

I glued braided Christmas trim around the the bottom of the base and a scrapbook paper Christmas saying strip along the top of the base.  Then I glued braided Christmas trim on the top edge of the base.  Decorative Christmas ribbon was wrapped around the base under the scrapbook paper Christmas saying strip and tied in a bow in the front of the base.

I added the Christmas trees, presents, and toy decorations to the basket around his pedestal and glued them to hold them in place.

I was really pleased with the way my Santa Leo came out.  It's his favorite time of the year and he can hardly wait to get started.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed By Linda Walsh

Santa Joe - My New Handmade Mixed Media Santa Art Doll

As you're well aware by now I've been in Christmas crafting mode all summer long. This summer I decided I needed some new Christmas decorations and felt really inspired to make some.  And make them I did.  At last count I was at 34 different creations so, as you can imagine, I have a lot to show you.

Years ago my mother was replacing her living room coffee table and end tables and throwing her old ones away.  They had a lot of lovely spindles on them and I thought it would be a waste to throw them away as they would make good pedestals for doll bases. Why throw something useful away when it can be re-purposed -  especially for dolls.

So, I asked my brother if he would take the tables apart and save the spindles, which he did.  I also asked him if her could add round wood bases to the spindles to create doll pedestals which he also did.

I also wanted him to drill holes in the tops so I could insert dowels to attach my doll bodies or heads.  Unfortunately the original spindles had metal pieces in the tops of some of them which made drilling new holes a little difficult.  He had to remove the metals first,

The base of the pedestal my brother made had 3"round wood circles that were 1" high.  I wanted to create a basket of sorts on the bottom of the Santa's to add potpourri and other Christmas decorations so I decided to use some thick scrapbook paper strips to do this.  After painting the pedestal bases and inserting the dolls heads and bodies I figured I would double the strips and glue them together so each side was finished and then glue them around the circle.  They would be perfect for what I wanted to do with these Santa's.

I also love combining dried floral potpourri with some of my creations as I'm  always looking for ways to salvage dried potpourri so it doesn't go to waste once it's lost its' smell.

Five years ago I wrote a Linda's Blog post entitled "A Great Way To Use Up Old Potpourri" outlining my attempts to do so.

I had been saving the unfinished wood pedestals for several years now and thought this might be a good time to put my mother's old coffee table spindle pedestals to good use for the three mixed media Santa art dolls I had wanted to make now.

Santa Joe stands 13" tall. While he is a joyful Santa he is a little apprehensive as to whether not not everything he needs to do can be accomplished in the time-frame required.  After all, there were only so many hours in the day and there are a LOT of boys and girls stockings to fill.

His body is comprised of a sponge painted wood pedestal, Styrofoam oval belly covered with scrapbook collage papers painted with metallic Christmas color paints and paper-clay sculpted and painted head.

I sculptured his head out of paper-clay and painted his face with a combination of acrylic paints and watercolor paints.  I sculpted his eyebrows, beard and mustache out of modeling paste and then painted each.

I used wire to form his eyeglasses and glued these to the sides of his head before adding his hair, which is made of alpaca roving from my sister's Rock Garden Alpacas Farm.

His hat is sewed with red wool felt.  A white pompom and white fur trim was added around the edge of his Santa hat as well.

His body is made from a Styrofoam oval ball that I added scrapbook collage papers to and then sponge painted them with Christmas metallic paint colors.

His arms are made of wire with red felt shirt sleeves, black felt gloves, and modeling paste fur on the tips of his shirt sleeves.

I cut a vest out of green felt and put it on him so the front had two lapels and there were two miniature buttons to fasten it.  The two red buttons were embellished with white metallic puffy paint.

Ruffled red hard lace trim and mixed media fibers were wrapped around the bottom of his belly.

I'm always looking for different media that can be used to embellish my doll and craft creations. Well, close to ten years while shopping at BJ's I found a set of adorable 3D type paper Christmas gift tags.  One of those was a Christmas decorated box tag.

Instead of using this set as gift tags I had decided to save them and use them for my craft purposes.  They were really adorable and you just never know what you are going to use when crafting.  So, I've been holding on to them and the gift tag seemed perfect for my Santa to hold in his arms.

Luckily there were three of each of these tags in the box set.  I wanted to use two tags turned right side out and glued together so they would appear finished when looking at the front of the Santa and when looking at the back of the Santa.

As mentioned above the base of the pedestal my brother made had 3"round wood circles that were 1" high.  I wanted to create a basket of sorts on the bottom of the Santa's to add potpourri and other Christmas decorations so I decided to use some thick scrapbook paper strips about 3" tall to do this.

I painted the unfinished wood pedestal my brother had made with Christmas metallic paints.  Then I doubled  the scrapbook paper strips I had cut,  turned them right sides out and glued them to each other, then wrapped them around the bottom of the base and glued the ends.  They were perfect to hold the potpourri I wanted to use on the bottom of the Santa.

I glued gold mixed media fiber tree trim around the the bottom of the base and a scrapbook paper Christmas saying strip along the top of the base.  Then I glued braided Christmas trim on the top edge of the base as well as under the scrapbook paper Christmas saying strip.  Everything was now sturdy enough to hold the potpourri like in a basket.

I added the Christmas potpourri and Christmas floral decorations to the basket around his pedestal and glued them to hold them in place.

The picture above is a close-up of his back embellishments.

The picture above is a close-up of his right side and bottom.

The picture above is a close-up of his left side and bottom.

I was really pleased with the way my Santa Joe came out.  He might be a little apprehensive about getting everything done but I have full confidence in him.  If anyone can do this Santa Joe can.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed By Linda Walsh