"Walking in a Winter Wonderland..."

For the month of December Signopoly, a company who creates unique hand cut wooden designs offered to sponsor HP Distribution LLC. Each of the Content Creators was given the option to choose one piece each and I chose this 18" x 12" plain front ornament. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. Once it arrived I got to work cleaning the piece. As this is a hand cut design it came with a campfire smell just from the wood burning. I left it in the garage for the day and it went away overnight. I then wiped the edges with a baby wipe to get rid of any residual soot. Then I got to work making it pretty!

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If you wish to do this project yourself you will need the following items:

• Signopoly 18" Ornament

• Paint Brush

• Grace on Design Winter Blue Decoupage Paper

• Eye Love Hue Paint in Bohemian Jewel, Nauti Sailor, Missing Hue, Icy Hue, Vitamin Sea, Mystic Clear Coat

• Smooth Operator Decoupage Applicator

• Buffalo Fake Snow Flurries

• 100 grit Sanding Sponge

• Paint Couture German Glitter Glass

• Epoxy Resin

I started by first laying down the decoupage paper so I knew where I wanted it to fit. Once I knew the general area of what parts would not be covered by the decoupage paper I then painted it in Eye Love Hue Paint's Icy Hue and Missing Hue, a very light blue and white respectfully. I blended the two colors together slightly but made sure to cover the entire piece so none of the natural wood was coming through. This included the sides as well. Once this was completed I applied the Grace on Design Decoupage Paper Winter Blue Truck page with Eye Love Hue's Mystic Shell clear coat. This is a thin coat that is perfect for applying decoupage paper as it doesn't need a large amount to get the paper wet and to help it stick.

I worked in small sections at a time brushing the clear coat on, laying the paper down and then smoothing it out using the Smooth Operator. This plastic tool features felt on one side to safely press the decoupage paper down while the other side is perfect for applying transfers as you need a harder surface to press those down. A 2-for-1 tool is absolutely worth it! I then would continue with the process slightly pulling the paper back into the area I just did so that no area went untouched.

You can catch my YouTube Video showing different options for applying decoupage paper here.

One nice thing about Grace on Design papers is that they are thin enough to cut around edges without actually having to use scissors. A simple 100 grit sanding sponge will do the trick. That's exactly what I used! I do this right after getting the entire paper down so it's still a little bit pliable. Taking the sanding sponge at a vertical angle I scrape it down from top to bottom of the edge. This sands the paper but doesn't effect the design by rubbing the scratchy side over the ink. The paper will loosen up enough that you can simply "peel" it off. So incredibly simple and no need to measure and cut beforehand.

Now that my paper has been completely adhered I am ready to start blending in the top and bottom so that the doesn't show so much. Most important tip is to not add too much paint. Remember you are working on paper and if you add too much paint the paper will wrinkle as obviously paper doesn't like a lot of moisture. For the blending I wanted to pick colors out of the top of the design so that it could continue to flow all the way up. I chose Eye Love Hue Paint's Icy Hue first as it was already painted on the wooden sign.

I started lightest to dark (Icy Hue, Vitamin Sea, Bohemian Jewel and Nauti Sailor) and then applied both Icy Hue and Missing Hue back over the darker colors sparingly. I used a simple scrunched up paper towel to apply the paint. This gives it a textured and spongy look. I continued this with each color until I felt like the design worked, the paper line wasn't quite as noticeable and it looked like snow flurries.

You can see how the paper now blends into the colors and it looks like a sky is continuing up the ornament. I continued to blend the bottom using Missing Hue however I wasn't quite as worried as I knew I was going to add fake snow flurries to the bottom to help cover that area.

I am now ready to start using the Buffalo Snow Powdered Flurries. These are different from the shredded paper versions however you could also use those as well. You would just have a different look. When you are ready to apply the flurries be sure you have placed your ornament where you also plan to apply your epoxy. The flurries easy move around with just the slightest amount of wind, breeze or air so it's best if you aren't moving the ornament any further. I did a thick enough coat that covered the entire area below the paper where it cuts off as well as basically covering the snow under the truck that's already part of the design.

Some parts were slightly thicker. Snow of course never falls at the same thickness in each spot so why should it when we are being creative with it as well. I also sprinkled some over the entire piece. I didn't want it to cover too much of the actual image (other than the snow parts) but I also wanted it to look like flurries in a snow globe throughout the whole piece.

I topped it off using Paint Couture Paint's German Glitter Glass. This is a finely crushed authentic glass that features both glass and glitter. This is not for children to use as the glass pieces, even though they are fine, they are sharp and can cut. I poured a thick layer over the top of the ornament. This is typically the silver piece at the top to close in an ornament so I wanted it to be really shimmery and pretty. The teal was the perfect shade to bring out the beautiful blue in the truck.

Because this was such a large piece it didn't fit on my work area. Therefore my sweet husband built me this makeshift set up in my garage to control the over pour of the resin. Using Marine Epoxy Resin I poured a generous layer over the entire piece allowing the excess to run over the edges. You can catch a video of how to mix and use Epoxy Resin on my YouTube Channel or at this link. I did the exact same process being sure to cover all the faux snow, paper, glitter glass and edges. Be sure to wear gloves and wipe your edges when you are all finished pouring as it helps the excess not build up too terrible.

After drying for about 5 hours I did come out and peel off the overage bubbles that tend to stick to the bottom of the piece as they weren't heavy enough to drip off. I made sure not to touch the actual top of the ornament and to try and not wiggle the ornament too much. You can certainly sand these bubbles off later if you wish however sanding completely cured resin is very time consuming. After 24 hours my ornament was completely cured and ready to go!

How Beautiful does that look?! The resin gave it such a perfect snow globe effect. The snow looks just like slushy snow you would drive your truck through while the flurries at the top look like a peaceful snow shower. That glitter glass is just beautiful with the shimmer it gives off and I feel like I could just shake the whole thing to experience a winter wonderland.

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