Coastal Christmas Ornaments Hand Painted and Mosaic Beach Style Ornaments

Holiday Coastal Ornaments for 2017 are available now.

A sampling of the hand painted coastal ornaments in white.

Sold separately, free shipping.

I also created sea life mosaic ornaments, sold separately.

Discount pricing when purchasing 4 or more and free shipping.

And lastly, more hand painted coastal beach theme ornaments

on glass aqua ball style ornaments. Sold in sets of 4, free shipping.

Limited quantities.

Visit my new online store to see all the ornaments and mosaics. 

Find me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube

Cheers!

~Lucy

Santa Hat Decor DIY Tall Whimsical Santa Hats

This little project all started when one of my sweet nieces mentioned that she was looking

 for tall Santa Hats that she had seen at a store years ago and wanted to find them again.

They looked like this, whimsical Santa hats from Cracker Barrel but no longer available.

I was inspired to create something similar for her, about 24" tall and and narrow

enough to fit on a mantel.

I stopped at Lowe's and bought a roll of aluminum window screen

48" x 84" for $10 and a roll of duct tape. I wasn't exactly sure of my process 

at this point but thought I may need duct tape for it.

Next stop was the fabric store and purchased 1 yard of beautiful stretchy red velvet.

I also spotted curly white fur fabric that I thought would look great for the hat trim so 

I  bought 1/8 yard of the curly fur.

I drew an 8" diameter circle on scrap plywood and cut out with jigsaw.

I used a gallon paint can as my template.

I used a staple gun to attach the screen to the wood circle.

Use the smooth machine edge of the screen at the bottom, no need to cut the 

screen at this point, just start stapling around the wood circle.

Since I was stapling into plywood, I tried to place my staples

on an angle so they will be less likely to wiggle out.

You will end up with a 48" tall tube of wire on a wood circle base.

I realized the aluminum wire was not quite as substantial

as I envisioned so I used crumpled up pieces of newspaper end rolls

to beef it up. I glued the first bit down with the glue gun,

probably not necessary but it's what I did.

Since I do a lot of shipping with my Online Store, I had these paper rolls handy.

I get them from my local newspaper office for $1 each.

To secure the screen together, I wove small pieces of 20 gauge

wire through both screen pieces and folded the ends of 

the wire back into the hat shape using needle nose pliers.

This is what I used, I happened to have it on hand.

As you go along, stuffing paper, and "sewing" your screen together with the 

wire pieces, you will want to keep standing it up on it's base  to make sure you 

are liking the shape it is taking and that it is standing straight.

As you get closer to the top, you have to put your hand inside the cone

shape to really start twisting it tighter and smaller.

I ended up cutting some of the bulk of the screen off when I was

getting to the end to be able to make it small enough.

I saved this chunk of screen I cut from each hat to create the 

pom pom ball for the tip of the hat.

In addition to "sewing" the screen with the wire pieces, I also used duct tape

as I got closer to the top to help get that pointy shape.

I used duct tape on a couple of other areas that were kind of "pokey" 

from the cut edges of the aluminum . Just use it as necessary and you

 may even be able to use duct tape for the whole piece without the wire "sewing" part.

To give a smoother finish to apply my fabric on, I used Mod Podge and more

of the newspaper end rolls to decoupage a final layer on the hat forms.

I only used one layer of paper. I left them to dry in my heated room 

for about an hour and they were dry and ready to go.

I used hot glue to secure the red fabric at the base and worked my

way around the form. I only used the glue at the bottom, the very top

point of the hat and at the seam I created.

The glue did seep through and leave a mark on my fabric at

the bottom but it will be covered with the white fur trim.

I made a seam using hot glue along the side of the hat to secure the ends together.

I know I took a photo of the ball making process but they weren't in

my photos...not sure what happened!

To create the pom pom, I shaped the scrap screen pieces into a ball shape, "sewed" the 

ball top closed with wire and left the end of the wire exposed. They looked

like metal lollipops if you can't visualize what I mean.

I used hot glue to cover the balls with the white trim and stuck the 

exposed wire end into the hat tip and secured with more hot glue.

I think they turned out pretty cute and will get these in the mail to her.

They are about 27" tall, 8" diameter and are lightweight but stand sturdily.

I spend under $20 to make 2 hats and it took just a few hours.

Here they are in her home on her fireplace mantel.

Thanks for reading about my Santa hats!

visit my new online store featuring my mosaic art and coastal ornaments or

Find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,Youtube 

Recycled Wood Reindeer, Large Repurposed Christmas Sculptures

I can't take credit for this adorable idea.

I saw something similar in a catalog once where they used spindles as 

reindeer legs and filed that memory in my head for later. 

This year I decided to create reindeer and put my own spin on them.

Recycled Reindeer by Lucy Designs

One idea I came up with was using metal ceiling fan blade

holders as antlers. 

When I first started using the fan blades for dragonfly wings,

I had an overabundance of these metal fan holders. 

I got rid of so many of them but did save a few and was so 

glad I did because they made great antlers!

I drew a pattern and cut the bodies from plywood.

I added a textured pattern using a stencil and my own texture

compound to create the raised pattern. You could also use 

joint compound to create the texture.

In addition to the fan blade holders, I came up with other ideas for antlers too. 

For this recycled reindeer, the antlers are cut from scrolly sections of a

 wooden picture frame. 

He has wooden coaster ears and a jingle bell nose.

I made two sizes, a large and small. This large size reindeer is 

32" tall. I used more ceiling fan blade holders as antlers, painted in

gold along with recycled tin for the ears and a bottle cap nose.

Most of the small size reindeer stand 24-28" tall and they

look adorable in pairs.

The little reindeer has more scrolled pieces from a wooden

frame as antlers, ears cut from old license plates and a metal nut for his nose.

I painted this set in muted gold.

I guess they are all male deer since they all have antlers but

they look so much cuter with the antlers!

This little gold reindeer has decorative pieces from a clock that I 

cut apart for his antlers. His ears are wooden coasters, already in 

the "ear shape" and a jingle bell nose. 

The majority of the spindles I used matched but this one has 

mismatched spindle legs and I think that just adds to the charm of

this hand made reindeer.

All the tails are made using aluminum flashing that I 

cut into a tail shape and painted.

More fan blade holder antlers and license plate ears

on this large reindeer sculpture.

They are all fairly lightweight but stand very sturdily.

What a unique addition to holiday or Winter decor that 

will last for years to come.

Update December 2016

I am no longer creating the reindeer and remaining deer are sold out

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about my reindeer!

Visit my new online store featuring my mosaic art and coastal ornaments.  You can also find me on Facebook

Pinterest, Instagram and Houzz 

Christmas Ornaments and Kissing Balls, Giant, Black and White Check Ornaments, Angel Ornaments, Bird Ornaments, Leopard Ornaments and Hand Painted Kissing Balls

I've been creating these hand painted ornaments since 2011,

Click on the Christmas Category to see all the posts.

These are my most recent ornaments for Christmas 2015.

Update all ornaments are sold out and 

I am no longer making the hand painted ornaments.

Visit my new online store featuring my mosaic art and coastal ornaments or

Find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,Youtube 

I'm kind of proud of myself for working on them throughout the summer

and have most of them listed in my Etsy shop... yay!

Some of the styles have already sold out but I am sharing them anyway.

This year I painted several sets of these cute shatterproof 

bird ornaments in whimsical leopard print with dotted gold wings.

People seem to love the black and white check ornaments so 

I painted more of those. Painting free hand checks on a round

surface is not the easiest task but once I get going, it starts to flow.

I painted black and white check star ornaments and

gold check star ornaments. They are lightweight paper mache and 

painted on all sides so they look great from any angle.

Large whimsical ornaments with dots, checks and leopard print.

I create these by combining new ornaments to create one of a kind 

large finial ornaments.

They are quite large at up to 15" long and about 6" diameter.

This is the last remaining set in the large finial ornaments.

Lots of hand painted details go into each ornament. No stencils or

patterns are used so they are all unique.

I also had some fun painting these metal angel ornaments

in bright whimsical colors.

Who says angels don't like animal print? ;)

These animal print angel ornaments are large also, about 10" including

the hangers but super lightweight.

This set of black and white check angel ornaments have touches

of leopard on their robes, deep pink tops and metallic wings.

They are all painted in solid metallic gold on the back.

More large painted ornaments... about 10" long.

Last year I added a couple of giant hand painted "kissing balls" to my

ornament selection and decided to add a few this year too.

They are pretty large, about 22" long, and pretty fantastical, which

is the first word that popped into my head, and to my

surprise is a real word because I had to look it up.

This one started with a huge metal jingle bell and I added other ornaments,

flowers, ribbon, beaded fringe and lots and lots of hand painting.

These kissing balls are wonderful ornaments to hang in an archway, entry, or use

for other holidays as a fun party decoration.

A giant red striped kissing ball with feather boa trim, leopard flowers,

jingle bell trim and lots more.

Another large checked kissing ball with a giant metal jingle bell,

touches of leopard print, beaded fringe, acrylic crystal knob and pretty ribbon.

Thanks for taking the time to check out my hand painted ornaments!

Update January 2017 all ornaments are sold out and 

I am no longer making the hand painted ornaments.

Visit my new online store featuring my mosaic art and coastal ornaments or

Find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,Youtube