Handmade Christmas Gifts, part 1

I mentioned earlier that I was going to hand make a lot of my Christmas gifts this year.  As people open their gifts, I'll post them here.

The first one was for my friend Kara.  It's an ornament with a silhouette of her dog, Chip.

I got the idea from blog posts from Our Humble A{Bowe}d and Young House Love.

I started out with a foam paint brush,

 silver acrylic paint,

 

a paper mache flat circle ornament,

 a bottle of glossy Mod Podge,

 a piece of black scrapbooking paper,

and a profile view of Chip.

I first painted the front and back of the ornament silver.  I put two coats on each side.  As the paint dried, I worked on the picture.  I printed out Chip's picture on my printer in a 3x5 size, cut out around his face, and traced it onto the black paper.  I cut out the face from the black paper and glued it onto the dry ornament with some Aileen's Tacky Glue.  Using a clean sponge brush, I brushed on two thin coats of Mod Podge, letting it dry between each layer.

Kara loved having a cute, modern ornament of her beloved dog.  Here it is again.

I can't wait to make more of these for friends and family.  I can use silhouettes of kids, dogs, cats, even a first home.  The possibilities are endless!

Merry Christmas!