The Little Blue House 12 Days of Ornaments: Day #8

Hello and Welcome to Day #8 of the Little Blue House feature...

Rhonda Merry here to tell you about my ornament.

 Bell Jars are fun way to make your collectibles and special items
stand out when decorating for the holidays.  I used a beautiful glass bell
ornament from Melissa Frances to display a cute little paper snowman.

Snowman Bell Ornament By: Rhonda Merry

Supplies:

One Bell Jar Ornament by Melissa Frances.

White Cardstock, 

Christmas Greens Pipe Cleaner, 

Bakers Twine

Tiny Jingle Bells, 

Pruners, Small twigs for arms

Gold Metallic Paint(Dazzling Metallic Champagne Gold)

Artificial Snow, 

Perfect Pearls Mist

Gold cording, 

Hot Glue gun, Hot Glue sticks, 

Glossy Accents, 

E6000

Wire cutters, 

¾” circle Punch 

1-1/4” Circle Punch

First, paint the base of your ornament.  I used
Dazzling Metallics Champagne Gold.  Set aside to dry.


Then, dry brush a 3” section of the Christmas Greens Pipe Cleaner with

 the gold paint. We want to add the gold highlights to soften the green color.
Allow to dry. We will use this to make a small wreath.

Next, punch TEN 1-1/4” circles. One circle will
be a base for the snowman to stand level,  the rest are folded
 in half to make lower part of  body. 

And NINE 3/4" circles for the head.

Using Glossy Accents, glue circles together keeping
the fold to the inside middle as shown.

Glue body to base with the hot glue and hold level until glue hardens.
 Repeat step for head  and  adhere to body using hot glue.

Next, cut the painted 3 inch piece of the Christmas Greens Pipe cleaner
 and form into circle for a  wreath. Bend to make ends meet and secure
 with hot glue. Make a bow with the twine. (I used a Pinterest trick using a fork
 to make this tiny bow.  Worked like a charm). Top the bow with the tiny jingle bell.

HINT: I turned my jingle bells red, using Red Pepper Alcohol Ink,
by placing bells in a zip top with a few drops of the alcohol ink. Shake,
remove and let dry. But a silver or gold jingle bell will work beautifully here too.

Cut about a 6” length of twine for scarf.  Wrap around neck twice and
 tie to hide glue. Leave ends loose until we get the arms on and situated. 

Use pruners to cut two twigs for arms.  Twigs should be about 1” long.
We may need to trim more to fit in bell glass.

Once arms are in place, see how the scarf falls. If it will drape naturally
 in a place touching the snowman or the twig, place a dot of glue
 there to hold for when we add the snow. Trim ends of scarf.

Once the arms are secure, position wreath on arm opposite

 of your scarf tails and secure with a small dot of hot glue.

Now to test before sealing!

Before securing Snowman to bell base, check to make sure
arms are short enough for bell to cover. Prune as needed.
Center Bell on base and see where snowman sets. Glue
snowman in that spot for best fit using the E6000.

Using about a tablespoon of snow, place in top of bell. 

Check to see if level is right by placing
snowman base over bell and...


 flip right side up.

Remember, this is not yet glued down.

Add or remove snow if the amount doesn't look right.
But, if all looks good...

flip bell again and add a line of E6000
 around the bottom of glass bell.

HINT: Have a rag or paper towel handy in case the E6000 wants
to blob out of tube. Mine usually does.  I did not have my rag handy
so my blobs went onto the back of my hand until I was done.
That's the Rhonda Merry way!

Now to cover snowman with the bell, this is not a test.
Position the snowman over bell as in test and center.
Close and Flip right side up, give a slow twist of the bell to have the
loop hanger at top of bell positioned in a way that our hanger will allow
snowman to face forward when hanging on the tree.

Remember, do not lift bell from base. You can
 turn slowly and still have a good adhesion.  The E6000 takes
few hours to dry so you have time to position glass.

Once the glass is in place, run your finger around the glass bottom
to smooth out any bubbles of glue that are on the outside of bell.


Add a hanger and let dry completely
before hanging on your tree.

Playing with the Faux Snow is more my speed. But Snow Days
can be so beautiful. It's always fun to see the kids building snowman during a
snow day.  Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite snow day game?
You will have a chance to win my Bell Jar Snowman.

Thank you for following along.

Rhonda Merry

CONGRATULATIONS to the DAY #7 WINNER:

BlessedinTexas

Please contact the LBH to claim your ornament