Gotta Learn to Pivot

 The Christmas ornament saga continues. When last we "spoke" I think I said I was shelving the project until I got out to pick up a few more supplies. Those of you who know me well know that that sentiment probably lasted as long as it took me to publish that blog. My brain started going on those "halos" and I realized that maybe if I first drew them with a white colored pencil I would have enough of an image that I could simply trace the shape with a very think brush and paint as opposed to doing it all with just a brush. And, that would have been a really good idea except that even when I tried it, the halo just wasn't going to show up white on white. Again, if I had used one of these painted rounds as my prototype, I would have known that but I guess I was wishful thinking.

And so, of course, I next thought of silver because I was planning on keeping these angels kind of neutral colored except for their gowns. But, alas, no silver paint pen was to be found. And, of course now I was way beyond waiting to get out to buy anything so I found the next best idea-a gold paint pen-which I had and even better, it worked! And so, I tried it and I was OK with how it looked.

Once I got this far, I was ready to finish the back. I have a small pad of Victorian Christmas prints that I love to use so that was my plan. Of course, that paper is 4"x6" and these rounds are so large that I could only run them in the opposite direction of most of the patterns that I love without having to piece the paper so the papers I could use are not my favorite but, again, the word of the day is now PIVOT! And so I did-once again!

That left me with the really ugly edges of these rounds. They are literally 1/4" think. And so, on to the glitter. My original plan had been to use a clear, shimmery glitter but, I was bothered with the only gold on these things being the halo and I felt like I might balance them a bit if I used gold glitter for the edges.

Now, usually, glittering is a no-brainer job...but, as you might expect with this project, that didn't turn out to be the case. I normally use Elmer's glue for glittering but in this case, because there was such a large surface to cover, it just kept running either to the back or the front. So, I switched to Tacky glue which is a favorite of mine for most things because it is a bit thicker and holds its place. But, it is not as easy to apply and I had to be really careful applying the glue so the edge was covered front and back. And let me just say, my sunroom will "glitter" for quite some time to come as this stuff is everywhere!

And then I was still wanting some embellishment on the front so I headed to my stash. This is all that I have left over from past projects.

The little sprigs of holly look cute but I don't have enough so, once again, I guess I am at my "will have to wait" spot. I also still want to come up with a way to add the date that might be just a bit cuter than just writing it on the back...we shall see.

So here is where we are...just realized that maybe I can write the date on the "hanger part of the round at the top.

Here is what the holly might look like-if HL even has any of these this year??? I will say that I would like it more if it was a darker green but I do like the holly. I might even try to paint one to see if I could possibly pull that off. Lol

But then again, when I look at the colors in that poinsettia-the dark green is what I am craving, the red matches perfectly and I just noticed that gold in the center. Now I might just be leaning in this direction!??! I don't know. We shall see!!!

I'm off to do a tiny bit of weeding-I'm trying to keep up with all of the gardens that I got done last week so I don't have as much to take care of as the weeds continue to return. Then, I am going to get ready for my dinner date. Daughter #3 and grandson #2 are taking me to dinner at Bonefish. It is truly one of my favorites so I am excited to get going! Stay safe and stay tuned.