DIY PRIMITIVE GINGER BREAD MEN

Hey ya'll!
Here's some cute hand-made gingerbread men that I've been recently making.

I sell most of these online on ebay rather than in my craft booth at the local co-op.
Not sure why more tend to sell online, but they do.
Guessing more crafters out here, like me, online looking for things to make :-)

And in case ya'll wanna give a batch a try, here's how I make'em.

Okay, you'll wanna gather your supplies.
You can either make this out of a self hardening clay (which is ready to go) or salt dough that you'll have to make and bake.

Here's my cinnamon salt dough recipe if ya'll need it.
NOTE: Not needed if you are using a clay that self hardens.

Cinnamon Salt Dough Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• ½ cup water (sometimes you add a bit more)
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil (this makes it a little more flexible, and is optional)
• half cup cinnamon

I mix it all up in a bowl, adding a bit more of water, if needed. It should be firm but still good and flexible.

Knead it for a bit and get it all mixed good. If you want colored dough, you could easily add food coloring or something natural like coffee or tea. 

When it's ready and easy to manage, I take out a candy mold with the gingerbread men shapes. Keep in mind this craft is endless with shape opportunities! Thankfully, I am a collector of candy and cookie molds.

Just press in the amount of  salt dough or clay needed into your shapes, no coating spray needed inside, by the way. It just makes them sticky.

Press firmly, trying to get out all air pockets and wrinkles in your mix. And then easily pop them back out. 

As seen, I've found that the clear plastic candy molds work best. This way you can see it as you are molding them.

If you used self hardening clay, just sit them aside and let them dry for 24 hours then decorate.

Look close, not all of them come out perfect. But that's okay with primitive crafts.

I like some a bit different and older looking.

If you used the salt dough recipe,

Then it's time to stick them in the preheated oven at 300* for about 45 minutes. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It mostly depends on the thickness of the salt dough. The just take them out and let them cool.

Here's how I finished my batch above off after they dried.

I took some apple barrel paint in burnt umber, a very wet paper towel, and dabbed it on the gingerbread man.

The added water gives it an old appearance when it dries.  Take a closer look at what I mean.
Oh, and I had also taken some burgundy red and dabbed on some cute heart buttons down the front.
And two little dots for eyes.

And to seal them, I used some basic, off brand, elmer's glue. I had to cut a slot in my bottle cause my top was glued shut and would not even twist off for nothing. That's why I have duct tape on it below. To seal up my cut. lol.

Put a good amount on it but don't make it too thick, it will gaum up.

Here they are staring to dry. They will appear a lot darker.

But they lighted up as they dry.

And wa'la~ 

Here's a batch of some cute little gingerbread men ready to go for crafting needs or decorations.

They also look cute sitting around in a bowl as bowl fillers with cinnamon sticks and such.

EACH MEASURE approximately: 1.5  inches in height each x 1.5 inches in width each.

And just think how cute these would be as bigger ones! You can even put a hole in them before they dry to use as hanging Christmas ornaments or tag add-ons to spruce up gifts!

Endless ideas for the little Ginger Bread Men!

And when I can keep them in stock, you can find them here online if ya need some.

Hope ya'll liked this little Ginger Bread man craft!

See ya'll next time,

~Lisa

DIY WAX DIPPED GRUNGY CANDLES

A while back at the auction house, I won four large totes of nothing but candles. I mean little candles, big candles, tea lights and all. I gave $7.00 per tote. Just take a look at these totes below.

Seriously, there's layers of candles in each. So I know I have enough for crafts for a while.

So to get started selling some for profit from my $7.00 totes, I decided to grungy up a batch of them.

I've done it a few different ways before, 

found here with rolling the candles in melted wax,

 and here with the Modge podge method.

  

But this time I wanted a faster way, so I decided to use my candle warmer and an old candle to just dip these in. This will give them a smooth and grungy look.

Oh, I've done this dipping in wax method before with the cinnamon, grungy candy canes too!

But now onto the Wax dipped, grungy candles.

 Just dip the candle down in the melted wax,

 then give it a quick roll in some cinnamon.

And dip it again to set the wax in!

Then just sit it on some wax paper to dry.

I repeated the process on some to give it a more grungy, primitive look. Others I didn't.

And that's it.

How super simple is that?  And I think they look super cute.

Here's a few more pics to see how different the colors turned out.

Oh, the candle in a jar that I melted to dip these in was a Fall scented candle, (I can't remember the name,) but it was a melted dark brown.

 I even dipped these long, skinny ones.  But I had to dip one end at a time to get it all coated by using the dipping wax jar.

Remember, if you're gonna use the jar of melted wax also,

just DIP, ROLL and DIP again to set it in.

That's it!

Sorry, right now I don't have any pics of these packaged up. But I think I'm gonna price the votives a pack of 2 for $1.50 or so.  

The grungy tealights maybe 4 for a $1.50 and the tall skinny ones probably 2 for $1.50.  

However I do it, I'm sure to make tons of profit from my $7.00 totes!

Hope this gives ya some ideas and

SNOWMEN LIGHT UP ORNAMENTS with Names

Here's some cute blinking snowmen ornaments I've made.

I know most people won't have these orange, clip on, safety blinkers on hand for this craft. 

Original before photo

But in case you ever run across them at the Dollar Mart keep this in mind. They are meant to be clipped on to children's backpacks or for runners or walkers for a safety precaution.  But I've made them into blinking snowmen ornaments.

First I strung up a line with twine, as seen above using thumbtacks between my porch posts.

And then I just clipped them on and got ready to spray paint one coat.

I like the Rustoleum brand of spray paint.

I was also spray painting more clothespins for my Snowmen Clothespin magnets also.

And after one coat, (that's why I like the Rustoleum brand,) they were ready to go to the next step.

I took them all in and laid them out on wax paper to protect my table.

And then I Googled "snowmen faces," and looked at the various ones that came up.

I then just sort of mimicked the ones I liked best. I love the ones with the big eyes the best.

Here's how I do it in lots at one time. Don't worry, just go step by step like below and it's not hard at all.

Just dot on some eyes and dots for a beginning. 

Here's a tip. 

I usually dip my end of the brush without bristles into the paint and use that as a great circle for these parts!

And then continue onto more and more.

I had to move into another room, so I moved them onto my big piece of pine work board for easy hauling.

See the one with the mouth open, you can just draw on about anything you want to change up their faces a bit. It gives them their own personality.

And then to the rest of the faces and my favorite parts, the snowmen noses!

I just dip a very long haired brush into the cinnamon orange and let the nose draw out long and taper off. And go back and sometimes make it thicker with another stroke.

Then, you'll just want to remember to add eyeballs and some snow on the noses.

Here's an up close.

Sometimes I add a bit of pink to their cheeks and sometimes I don't. Just if I remember.

I even tried to "grungy up" some of them by adding a layer of Elmers glue over their faces and then sprinkling on cinnamon.  But I didn't like it too much, so I didn't do too many.

Here's a few more shots of a bunch of them.

These are my favorite eyes. I saw them on Pinterest on a lid that was painted and I loved it!

As you see, some of them have names at the top. I had an order for a few so I did them while I was at it.

And here's a few more pics.

And here's what they look like with their light button pushed on. 

They have 3 light settings too. Constant blinking, pulse and a slow glow which is my favorite. 

I tied on some homespun to the top clips after the pics. Just various colors.

I think these will look awesome with the whole families names on a tree all lit up Christmas morning! 

What do you think? 

See ya'll next time,

-Lisa