Days 20 & 21 with A Sweet Suprise!

Hi everyone, sorry so so late with our 20th day of Christmas Blog share post which should have ran yesterday!  Seems like life just got in the way!  My apologies.  Today we are sharing with Allergy Free Vintage Cookery and with It's Not Over Until You Quit! for days 20 & 21 along with a sweet surprise!

Featured Blog Day #20 - Allergy Free Vintage Cookery

One of the best parts of the holiday season is the chance to share special meals with friends and family... but what can you do if some of your loved ones are allergic to your favorite traditional foods? It can be tricky to avoid gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, fish and nuts... the most common food allergens. But take hope! I've searched the Internet to find delicious recipes that are free of the top 8 allergens, and I've collected them here with photos and links to inspire your own holiday feast! (click for more).

 Featured Blog Day #21-  It's Not Over Until You Quit!

Do you have a favorite Christmas book? Has it changed since you were little? The books I read at Christmas have changed but I still love the idea of have specific books for Christmas. Right now my favorite Christmas book to read with my nephews is the Hawaiian version of the night before Christmas. It's nice to bring that piece of my childhood alive when I live so far away and remember reading books about snowy Christmas' on Christmas eve wishing I could experience that!

So come with me and experience Wuz da Nite Befo' A Pidgin Christmas Story in Hawaii, written by Margaret Steele and illustrated by Roy Chang.  {click} here to read more!

What a sweet surprise I received in an email from "Rita", complete with photos!  I am just so excited to see that she used the Snow Babies Tute and converted it to use on some beautiful Christmas Cookies!

 I just love seeing all of those cute little faces!  It's like a snow baby parade!  Thanks so much Rita for sharing!

And, in case you missed the tute which I had shared on Imprintalish {here}.  I'll post it below for you!

This tutes kind of a 2 for 1 because with the same pattern and a color change you can make these adorable little gingerbread ornaments as well!

My ornaments were painted with regular acrylic craft paints, mostly with Plaid products, onto thin circles of balsa wood. 

Don't limit yourself to just wood!

You could paint these on Christmas cookies with edible paints/markers & cupcakes too!

Oh and by the way, my strong suit is not editing or making pdf's so please use the photo below as a guide to making your pattern.  Feel free to right click and save, re size, then print to use as a pattern.

It was meant to be a game for your preschooler but since I am totally not skilled enough to make it a nice PDF for you... a pattern it became!

(sorry)

Snow Baby Faces: Base each circle with white paint.  I add a mother of pearl glaze on top to add shimmer.  (I am a glitz and glitter addict!)

Gingerbread Faces:  Base with brown.  I used a brown called Nutmeg.

1.  Use a scruffy old brush to dry brush pink cheeks onto each.  Wipe almost all of your pink paint off of your brush before brushing onto the faces.

2.  The button noses are a simple oval of red or reddish pink.

3.  Eyes start with a plain circle of black.  I use the wood end of a sponge brush to dot eyes.
4.  Go back with a thin liner brush and pull the circles up into a triangular shape.  The teardrop eyes are so so adorable. 

5.  Using thinned down black paint and your liner brush, draw a squiggly smile.  Another option for the snow babies is to use the opposite end of your brush and dot circles into a smile.
6.  Gently pull out 3 very thin eyelashes from the bottom outside edge of both eyes.

Below you can see what a difference the next few steps make in bringing your little face to life!  Everything is basically done at this point except for the addition of a few white dots and commas. 

7.  Using the end of a thin paintbrush, add a small white dot to the upper outside of the eyeball, then as smaller dot above that one.  Don't dip your brush end back into the paint for the second smaller dot.
8.  Add three white dots to each cheek.  All three dots come from one dip of the end of your brush.

  9.  Using your liner brush, pull a thin comma shaped stroke across the top of the nose for a highlight.  If you're not comfortable making the comma, add two or three dip dots across the top for a similar effect.

10.  You can now add color to the eyes, with another comma stroke and the eye color of your choice.  Below, I've used teal blue... just because!

What a difference the little details make...

Gingerbread Final Step:  Using a liner brush, add your squiggle 'icing' line in a circle around the edge!

I've enjoyed sharing this cute little project with all of you today.

I hope you have fun making some for yourself!

Pick up your paint bush and give this a try, you may feel like a little kid again!

(note:  This project is inspired from the memory of a project I had seen Oh, 10 years ago from a painter named Jamie Mills Price.  My faces are modified to make them my own!)