Tutorial: Elf House Ornament

This Elf House Ornament was such a fun project!!  What was really nice is that a worker at Joann's helped me come up with the idea!!

Since it's getting so close to Christmas, this is going to be the last Christmas-related tutorial I publish this year. *sob*  However, I have some GREAT year-round tutorials lined up for you!!

Let's get started!!

GATHER SUPPLIES

$1 Wooden birdhouse 

Acrylic craft paints

Gesso (optional)

Epsom salt

Chipboard or cardboard

Tacky glue

White glue

Paintbrushes

Craft knife (X-acto Knife)

Step 1: PREP WOOD PIECES

Birdhouse

Break off the perch from the front of the birdhouse.

Doors & Windows

Using your craft knife, cut out 2 doors and 1 window, making sure they're the appropriate size for the house and that they cover the hole or destruction the perch made.

Note: I added tiny doorknobs to my doors too!! 

Step 2: PAINT HOUSE

Paint the birdhouse the following colors:

Main house=Green

Roof=Brown w/ White "snow"

Hole=Gold outline

Base=White

Doors=Brown w/ Gold doorknobs

Window=Blue w/Brown Frame

Step 3: ADD DOORS & WINDOWS

Front                                      Back

Using your tacky glue, attach the doors and windows to your house.

Step 3: ADD "SNOW"

Gesso

Add a thick layer or multiple layers of gesso to raise the "snow" off the roof a bit.

Note: If you don't have gesso, it's okay, you can skip this step!!

Epsom Salt

Working in small sections, add a layer of white glue to the white parts of the house (roof sections and base).

Sprinkle Epsom salt on the glue as you would glitter or flocking.

You can gently push the salt into the glue if need be.

Note: Adding the Epsom salt is really important because it really does look like snow!!

Step 5: ADD DECORATIONS 

Note: I added a hammer and a rocking horse to really show that this was an Elf house and not just a small green house!!  You can add whatever "elf" decorations you prefer!

Print your images of your decorations in the appropriate size.

Use your preferred transfer technique to transfer the image to your chipboard or cardboard (you could always just sketch your items, like I did).

Cut them out and paint them with your acrylic craft paints.

Once dry, glue them to the house.

FINISHED!!

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...