My Paper Mache Nativity and thoughts on the Savior

Several years back, I realized that everything I made, and nearly everything I decorated with during this holiday season were based on the commercial side of Christmas. Now, don't get me long, I still adore Santa Claus, but I wanted my children to see that celebrating the birth of our Savior was what mattered most to me. I knew that I had to throw my heart into a project that would reflect that so I nervously started a nativity scene out of air drying clay and paper mache. Little by little it came to life until it now is my very favorite sculpted project yet. Even though it still isn't finished, whenever I take the time to stop and look at it, I am reminded of all of the feelings that I felt while I worked on it several years ago and the stress of the day melts away.

While I sculpted, I listened to one of my favorite Christmas songs, Mary's Boy Child (a song by Jester Hairston but performed by The Brothers Four). The lyrics, "Trumpets sound and angels sing, listen to what they say, That man will live forever more, Because of Christmas day" were so powerful to me while I worked on my little version of the Christ Child. How grateful I am to him for coming to earth in that humble setting so that someday he could redeem us all and give us reason to hope. Because of him, we have someone to turn to when we are hurting physically or emotionally and can be healed. And only because of him we can pick ourselves up from our mistakes and experience joy in this life and in the next. What a beautiful peace that brings to me! That peace, I imagine, was felt by all who witnessed that little baby in that stable setting on that sacred night of his birth.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

~Isaiah 9: 6

I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season and that you feel that same peace and joy that our Savior offers to all who will listen.

Love, Malinda

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I think I am going to do some sort of gold trip on some of the edges of their clothing, but should I change the colors?

As a mother of three sons, Christmas has taken an even deeper meaning to me and an even greater respect for that strong and trusting mother, Mary. This time of year reminds me that I want to be more like her as I mother my little men. 

****Here and here are links to what this project looked like when I was first starting on it.

Linked to: Skip to My Lou, Sew Much Ado, Southern Lovely

How to make a Giant Pumpkin

 Several years ago, I found a tutorial on how to make giant-sized jack-o-lanterns on a website called, Stolloween. Since I was enchanted with the huge pumpkins outside of Hagrid's cottage on Harry Potter, I knew that I had to try my hand at making my own jumbo pumpkin at some point. This October, I spotted a large fake pumpkin at Hobby Lobby for about $140.00 and was so shocked at the steep price that I went straight home and started figuring my own out. In the end, my pumpkin did not end up being as big as I wanted (which is probably a good thing since I really don't know how I am going to store it) but I still got a kick out of making something this large. Whether you are wanting to make a lasting decoration or a seasonal photo prop, hopefully this tutorial helps!

This is how I made it:

 I got the largest trash bag I could find and stuffed it full with newspaper, plastic bags and pages from magazines.

Then I knotted it up:

Next I used masking tape around the sides to create the ridges:

Once the general shape I wanted was formed, I used my paper mache paste recipe and added several layers of newspaper strips over the form. After I had as many layers as I wanted, I let it dry in the sun with a heavy can set in the center to help it keep its pumpkin form:

 (And I might add, what a fitting can to use for this project)

After it dried, I decided the ridges on my pumpkin were not as big as I wanted, so I crumpled up more newspaper and magazine pages, covered them with paste, and added them to the pumpkin:

After each crumpled up pasty piece was added, I glued it down with a strip of pasty newspaper so that it would hold in place. I did this until the entire pumpkin looked the way I liked.

Once all of my additions had dried, I mixed up paper clay and applied it in a thick layer over the top 3/4ths of the form:

Once it was hard/dry enough (several days later), I tipped it upside down on an empty bucket (so the stem wouldn't break) and cut a hole at the bottom...

...and took out all of the newspaper stuffing. This way it would be lighter and also would be able to dry at a faster rate:

Since all of the paper clay was so heavy, it sort of flattened the bottom of my pumpkin. To fix this, I cris-crossed the opening with more tape (so that my additions wouldn't fall inside) and added more crumpled pieces of newspaper and put more paper mache over them. After that, I added more paper clay to the bottom half of the pumpkin:

 Once that all dried fully, I sanded down my pumpkin and then painted it orange. I decided to use a sample-sized can of Gliddens Pumpkin Patch Orange from The Home Depot (since it is so inexpensive).  I finished by  using brown and green craft paint for the stem:

After my paint dried, I covered it with a marine/indoor/outdoor varnish like Jackie Hall suggested on The Paper Mache Recourse so that it would be able to withstand the elements on my front porch.

Now that it is starting to frost outside, many of our pumpkins have already turned to mush. However, our great big paper mache pumpkin is holding it's own and keeping our front porch festive despite the November chill! It was well worth the adventure.

Linked up to: Making Lemonade, Tatertots and Jello, The Girl Creative, Southern Lovely, Sew Much Ado, Passionately Artistic, The Artsy Girl Connection, House of Hepworths

Personalized Halloween figurine

 In 2009 my oldest son was an adorable little clown for Halloween. I was so smitten by him in his clown duds that I decided to try my hand at sculpting an 11-inch figurine in his likeness. For nearly two years it sat on my shelf while I took care of more pressing matters (like having another baby). Last week I put some finishing touches on it and I am so glad to have it be part of our Halloween decor this year!  I like the idea of making personalized figurines of my boys as they grow over the years, but seeing as this one took forever to make, they might have to wait for when I don't have two kids in diapers. 

Linked to: Sew Much Ado, Passionately Artistic, Tatertots and Jello

Candy Corn

I decided that I needed something to place on our table to help celebrate the festive month of Halloween. Since we are all about candy in this home, large candy corn bowl fillers were a logical choice. They are friendly and fun and keep us in the mood for Trick-or-Treating at the end of the month. Thankfully, they are also very easy and inexpensive to make. In fact, since they are made out of paper mache, they make recycling incredibly fun! Here is how I made ours:

First, take a section of your newspaper and fold a corner of the folded edge down into the middle of your newspaper at an angle:

 Fold over (or sorta roll) again while holding on to the top. By doing so, you create your candy corn point. The looser you fold, the more square and plump your candy corn is:

Fold over remaining corner:

Tape in place:

Turn form so that the point is facing down. Fold the raw edges into the cone:

Tape folds down:

Start taping over corners and holes:

Also, cover the base with multiple strips of masking tape until it is covered fully:

You don't have to cover the entire form with masking tape but make sure the holes are covered and the shape looks the way you like:

Cover your entire form with paper clay. I cover mine with about 1/4 an inch of paper clay:

After smoothing, let dry (if you don't have any sunshine, placing them in the oven on warm works like a charm). When they are all dry, paint in your candy corn colors (I forgot to show that part....woops). To get an antiqued look, add a couple drops of black paint to a Tablespoon of water and wipe on your form with a damp rag (I have now also used baby wipes and it worked great). Do sections at a time and blot off with another damp rag (or wipe). Continue to do this until you get the look you like.

After that antiquing drys, spray with a clear coating (like this)and your done!

Linked up to: Tatertots and Jello, Eighteen 25, Tip Junkie, Sew Much Ado, Southern Lovely

Jack-o-Lantern Totes

Picture taken by my talented sister, Aria

Several years ago I was smitten with all things vintage where Halloween is concerned. I found the cutest vintage-looking fabric for my son's clown costume and knew that he needed a tote with the same vintage-charm. I knew that back in the day, jack-o-lanterns were made with paper mache so I figured that I could make some for myself. Thankfully, my planned worked and we have used them ever since. Here is how I make them:

First (and not pictured. Woops), cover a balloon 3/4's of the way up with several layers of strips of newspaper and paper mache paste. Let dry and pop the balloon. Press down your bowl so that the bottom flattens in slightly. Cut top down to the height you want it:

Cover form with about a 1/4 of an inch of paper clay or Celluclay (I like to keep a bowl of water by me so that my hands can stay wet. I find that the clay doesn't stick to me as much like this).

Leave bottom basically uncovered:

Add extra clay around the rim so that it is a little thicker:

Flatten rim with your finger so that it is even:

With your wet fingers, carve out your jack-o-lantern's face features by pushing the clay off to the side or removing it completely.

Carve pumpkin ridge lines every so many inches around your jack-o-lantern by pressing finger down at the forms base and pulling upwards:

If there are any lines or edges that need smoothing, wet your hands and softly smooth the clay out. When done, let dry in the sun (or in your oven on warm).

When dry, paint however you please:

 (I like to use a mix of Americana Tangerine and Jack-o-lantern orange acrylic pain)

When your paint is dry, slightly dilute a small amount of black paint and lightly wipe on your jack-o-lantern (I suggest starting in the back so that you can make any learning mistakes there where it won't be as noticed) in small sections at a time. Then wipe the area down with a damp cloth until you get enough of the antique look that you like:

 After spraying your pumpkin with a finish (like this. I like mine glossy because I think it looks nice) to keep it safe from the elements, drill two holes near the top on opposite edges for the wire. Then decide how long you want your wire chain (I buy my wire at Home Depot in a big roll for about $3) and cut a piece twice that length. Fold in half and twist all the way down.

To attach chain, (1) take sharp end and thread through one whole going from the inside out. (2) Pull chain through until the other end of the chain catches on the inside. (3) Continue to pull chain up and over until you thread it through the opposite hole going from the outside in:

Bend the sharp tip in towards itself so that it creates a loop and holds in place.

Tah-dah! All done! Now you are ready for your trick-or-treater to collect as much loot as they please on Halloween night! I hope this tutorial was helpful! Have a wonderful Halloween!

This post is linked up to: Craftoholics Anonymous, Tatertots and Jello, Naptime Crafters, Tip Junky, Sew can do, One Artsy Mama, Sew Much Ado, Southern Lovely, Eighteen25, The CSI Project, Under the Table and Dreaming