Doctor Who Christmas Tree - New Ornaments!

This year our tree got some new handpainted Doctor Who inspired ornaments with some very unique personalizations & mash-ups, one for each of my 5 little Whovians - Christmas gifts from my childhood bestie Kathy! They are the wee balls on ribbon loops below 

I'm really touched by these beautiful gifts! She did her research; she tailored them to each sproutlet's interests and looked up elements from the shows and even watched some to get the details right - and she did!  So thoughtful & talented* ♥

On the left, for my biggest boy Beanstalk, she painted a Zombie Doctor! And on the right, for my middle girl Sydney Bean, Hello Kitty Doctor, ha!  

Another turn of the Zombie ball shows the Zombie TARDIS,  and this time, on the right, an Angry Birds Red Bird Dalek for my 9 year old Pickle :)  

On the bottom of the Zombie Who ornament, one of Dr. Simeon's Snowmen! At first I thought it was Jack Skellington, because Beanstalk's name is Jack, & I love the Nightmare Before Christmas - but on second look I recognized it :)  Then on the right is the flip side of Pickle's Angry Bird ornament, with a White Bird Doctor!  

Next, she painted K-9 for my youngest, Birdie, and the Berserker pendant from the Sarah Jane Adventures for 11 year old Bella. The detail is perfect, I'm so impressed!  

Another angle of K-9, and Sprout's Hello Kitty Doctor again, with his (her?) TARDIS  

They're personalized too! Birdie's K-9 has her name, Kate, in the Zodiac Wheel from the Sarah Jane Adventures. Jack the Beanstalk has a bloody name above his Snowman, Sydney Bean has hearts on the flip side of her Hello Kitty ball, and Angus (Pickle) has a wee green pig evading the Angry Bird Dalek. And Mia Bella has the pretty purple Sarah Jane Adventures logo & jumbled numbers & letters from the title sequence.

These are all the pics I took this year - between the blur that was Christmas morning with 5 little ones, having company for the Doctor Who Christmas Special, then leaving for Christmas part 2 with the family in Canada the next day, I didn't think to take any until I was un-decorating! We didn't Who-ify the whole tree this year anyways, just the section in the photo. The sproutlets wanted some other characters & Christmassy stuff on there - kids! ;)

Oh, I did get this cute snapshot of my Sydney Bean playing with the Weeping Angel tree topper when we were decorating. She just loves that thing! She's a big fan of the sinister statues - she even requested an Angel themed school lunch (see it on my bento blog).

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! 

Now, only 9 months to wait for a new Who episode...

* My talented friend Kathy also painted a gorgeous Van Gogh-style TARDIS in the starry sky ornament that she gave us last year.

DIY Weeping Angel Tree Topper

Happy Christmas in July! Thanks to a nudge from a reader, I'm finally getting around to sharing how I made my Weeping Angel tree topper. It's not a true replica of the sinister statues from Doctor Who, but there's no question what it is...

I've wanted a Weeping Angel statue ever since I first saw Blink. I'd really love a life size one made of stone for my front garden, but as that's not realistic, I decided to settle for a small one to put on top of our Christmas tree. Having neither the sculpting talent nor the desire to create one from scratch, I set out to repurpose a lovely (& inexpensive) non-threatening angel tree topper I bought from a department store.

You will need:

• An angel tree topper. Make sure the arms and hands are poseable!  
• Stone textured spray paint. I used 2 cans of Krylon Make It Stone!
• Clear sealer. I used Krylon Make It Last Spray Sealer
• Paper or drop sheet for spraying against - it's messy stuff!
• A ventilated but not windy place to spray, and leave to dry for hours

Since it was actually nearing Christmas when I started my project, there were many angel tree toppers in the department store. I chose one of the plainest, since I'd be cutting all her ribbons and beads off anyways. I bought Krylon Make It Stone! Black Granite textured spray paint because that was the closest to gray the store had.

I also looked for an angel with sculpted rather than real hair, thinking it might be easier to cover with the spray. And I tried to find one with solid wings but they were all feathered. Solid would have made much less mess - when I cut that fluff off it flew everywhere! Like the down of a thistle ;)

 

STEP 1: Remove and cut off all the angel's embellishments, including tinsel & wing fluff. Trim the dress sleeves to the shoulders if possible. 

Poor trimmed angel. I bent her arms into the weeping position.

STEP 2: Place trimmed angel on covered work surface and follow paint directions to give it a light even coating of textured paint. I used my driveway covered with paper, but underestimated how far the mist would fly, and now have a lighter stone outline of the paper. I'm sure it will fade eventually...

I realized I'd need to bend the angel's arms back out to be able to paint them. So... 

Step 3. Give arms an all-over coat before carefully bending them into "weeping" position while paint is still tacky. Continue spraying until completely covered.

Step 4: Allow to dry in a well-ventilated but not windy place, for about 4 hours. I set mine on my covered porch. 

Step 5. Once the paint has dried, trim any straggly feathers from the wings. Give it another coat and allow to dry another 4 hours.

Step 6. Set angel atop something to allow you to spray right to the bottom and in the folds of the skirt. I used an empty coffee can. Give it another good layer of spray paint and allow to dry. Continue until you are happy with the coverage.

Step 7: After the final coat has dried, give it a light coating of clear sealer if you wish.

All done! Now don't take your eyes off it!

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Click the pic to see how my Angel looked atop my Doctor Who Christmas Tree:

First World Problems

I made this:

I know.  *sniff* It's the worst.