Calico Christmas Robins - festive decorations by Julie Ann

Hello, it's great to be at Calico Craft Parts blog as we approach the Festive Season! Do you have your tree resplendent with lights and baubles yet? Have you a collection of much loved heirloom decorations that make an appearance every year and that have special memories for you or do you prefer to create new ones each year? 

This Christmas my daughter and her partner will be making memories with their very first tree and they asked me if I could make them some decorations for it. They gave me plenty of time, so I have been busy creating baubles and miniature houses; but just to add the finishing touch, I set myself  the challenge of creating some 'last minute' quick and easy decorations, using Calico Craft Parts robins from the Garden Birds sheet of mini shapes.

This project is quick, easy and inexpensive! All you will need are some empty wooden spools, a broken necklace, some copper craft wire, a Christmas napkin, some acrylics, gel medium and glitter.

There is something so magical about the presence of garden birds in winter. Even in the frost and snow, they carry the hope of spring in their winter songs and in the sunlight glancing off their wings. Robins particularly remind me of stories like 'The Secret Garden' in which a friendly robin led the lonely and irritable Mary Lennox to a forgotten rose garden and, within its walls, the joys of friendship and the natural world.

I chose the image of a dove to complement my tiny MDF robin. I've given the spool and the bird shape a thin coat of gesso and I fixed the napkin tissue to the spool with some fluid gel medium.

To add interest and dimension, when I had painted my spool,  I squeezed some 3D modelling paste through a stencil of trailing ivy.

This will become transparent, but raised when it dries and you can add further texture with some distress glitter and a little acrylic paint to create the effect of the frosty ivy.

It's so easy to thread the copper wire through the spool, adding beads from the broken necklace. To add the robin, drill a tiny hole through the eye with a Dremel, thread through the wire, snip and secure with some jewellery pliers.

By curling the wire at the top with the jewellery pliers, you have the perfect hook to fit over the tree branch or twigs in your winter arrangement. Thank You so much to those of you who have stopped by today at this very busy time and to all those regular visitors who leave comments and who take the time to look at our projects here on the Calico Craft Parts Blog. It's 'Goodbye' from me now until next year, but I wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy and Creative New Year!

Calico Craft Parts used in this project
Mini Garden Birds Wood Shapes