Hand painted striped baubles
Mix up your festive look with this exclusive bauble upcycle from Annie Sloan
YOU WILL NEED
Emperor’s Silk Chalk Paint Aubusson Blue Chalk Paint Antoinette Chalk Paint Detail Brushes Small Flat Brush Clear Chalk Paint Wax plain baubles water containers
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Paint your bauble all over in Antoinette Chalk Paint. This may need two coats to create an even colour. Leave to dry.
2 Mix one part of Emperor’s Silk to one part Aubusson Blue for a deep aubergine purple result.
3 Using the Large Round Detail Brush, paint a line over the pink of Antoinette with the purple mix. Use your finger to steady your hand on the bauble to create a neat line, but don’t worry about the line being perfect as you want a painterly, handmade feel to the overall look.
4 Leave to dry and add Clear Chalk Paint Wax to deepen the colour, seal in your design and prevent it from smudging so you can use your baubles for Christmases to comefl
YOU WILL NEED
wooden wreath ornaments white acrylic paint paint brush pot of water 3mm Posca Pens in Navy, Sky Blue, Green, Red, White, Silver, Black
INSTRUCTIONS
1 To begin you’ll need to apply a base coat to ensure your paint pens don’t bleed into the wood. Mix 3 parts acrylic to 1 part water and apply a thin layer to the ornaments.
Berry design
1 Use the green paint pen to draw four curved lines, these will be your main stems. Draw teardrop shapes along the stems and at the ends, to create the foliage. Now add four more curved stems between your first foliage shapes, then draw on pine needles using short single strokes. Fill in your design by drawing small, grass-like, sprigs. Start with a v shape then add a line curving up through the middle to finish.
2 Take the red paint pen to add small circles to the sprigs. Then draw circular berries around the wreath by drawing a small circle leaving a smaller circle unpainted in the middle. This creates a highlight on each of the berries, which will make them look shiny and realistic.
3 Draw on your lettering, choose short festive words or names. While writing, elongate your handwriting slightly to give room to add the thicker lines in. Thicken up a line on each of the letters to create the faux calligraphy look, ensure each letter has a mix of thin and thick strokes.
House design
1 Use the sky blue pen to draw four house shapes at the bottom of the ornament. To draw the houses, start with a square then add a rectangle on top. Use the navy pen to add roofs by drawing two lines in navy on the top of the houses. Then add roof décor with mini heart shapes, foliage, and dots. Add the doors and the windows to the houses with navy.
2 Use the green paint pen to add grass motifs around the collection of houses. Begin adding foliage by painting curved stems with teardrop shapes along the stem. Add more foliage using the techniques from the berry design. Add berry shapes, dots and more foliage motifs to fill out the design.
3 Add dots to the houses using the white paint pen. Then add your lettering, thicken a line on each of the letters to create the faux calligraphy look.
Snowflake design
1 Use the blue pen to create a cross shape with two diagonal lines crossing through the centre to create a star shape; keep the lengths equal. Add small v shapes to the end of alternate lengths on the star shape to turn them into snowflakes.
2 Add smaller star shapes in the sky blue and navy paint pens. Create a balanced design by alternating between the colours. Then use the silver pen to add small dots to give the impression of snow around the snowflakes and stars. Then it’s time to add your lettering. Follow step three of the Berry design tutorial to do this.