Decorate with Tip and More ‣ Decorating, crafting and Inspiration

Welcome back to my life size nutcracker project – part 2. Last week I shared how I built a life size nutcracker, today, I decorate it!

If you missed the tutorial on how I built mine, you can view it here. How to make a life size nutcracker.

I am sharing another look of where we left off last Friday. My nutcracker form.

I’m joining in the Creative Craft hop, I want to mention, Sara Birdz of a Feather and Donna Modern on Monticello. They both are the master minds for the monthly blog hop, they do a fantastic job gathering up talented crafters to provide inspiration. This month we have 9 crafters sharing step by step creative crafts with you, at the bottom of my page, I will share each participant’s link to their craft.

To view all of my creative crafts you can view it here CREATIVE CRAFT.

For my craft I am sharing the step by steps of how I made the staff for my nutcracker.

To make the nutcrackers staff I took two Dollar Tree items, a Christmas ornament and a toy football. I also used an old flagpole we had in the shed.

First, I cleaned the pole from all the cobwebs and then gave it two coats of metallic gold spray paint.

My flagpole has a ring that once had a hook to hold the flag in place. This will work great for support for the top decorations. I removed it from the pole and gave it a coat of gold spray paint as well.

Next was preparing the football. I pulled out the black foam wingy thing.

Using the ring from the flagpole, I drew around the ring to give me the size of a hole I should cut. I used a serrated knife to cut a hole straight through the football.

Wrapped the football with material, I used red crush velvet material.

I started in a corner of the fabric
add a dab of power grab adhesive to the corner of the fabric
rolled the football until the football is entirely covered
seal the material with another dab of power grab.

Cut the material at each end leaving one inch. Add glue around the cut holes and tuck the material into the holes.

Time to make it look like a beautiful jewel.

The items I used to decorate the velvet oval:

With the diamond wrap ribbon, I cut pieces to form an upside-down V, one in the back and one in the front. Gluing it down with tacky glue.

In order for the two Vs to connect, I singly added the diamond pieces to fill in the gap.

Giving it some type of design, I cut the diamond ribbon into a single strip, I made three strips at the top of the point.

Giving it more sparkle, I added a gold snowflake with a diamond gem in the center to the top of each strip.

I wanted to give it a layer effect, so I added a Dollar Tree ornament on top by adding power grab into the top hole and placing the bottom of the ornament inside the glued hole.

I applied the power grab to the top of the flagpole, placed the pole into the bottom hole of the football. I pushed the pole up into the football almost at the top of the football.

With the ring I removed earlier, I placed it back on the pole right underneath the football, attached it to the pole with the screw. This will keep the top jewel securely in place.

I couldn’t stop there; I wanted more bling. I filled in the bottom with more of the diamond wrap ribbon.

By the way, the tacky glue will dry clear. 🙂

I slipped the pole through the nutcracker’s hand and added a red bow to the bottom of the jewel.

NOW! Let’s take a closer look at my DECORATED NUTCRACKER!!!

Nutcracker’s Hat

I used three different materials. Black faux leather for the very top, red crushed velvet over all the center and red plaid material for the bill.

I also used a Dollar Tree wooden snowflake ornament, painted it gold and added more of the diamond gems to each point and in the center a miniature snowflake with a gem in the center.

Nutcracker’s Head

I printed out a nutcracker’s face printable, I copied it onto the face of my nutcracker and painted it with craft paint.

For the beard, I used 1 of the 3 Dollar Tree Dust pads. It was the best size for a beard, don’t you think?

For his hair, I used 3 ½ Dollar Tree Mop pads.

Nutcracker’s Coat

I used several materials to create his clothing. Black sequence for his shirt, red crush velvet for his coat with a pretty gold trim. The shoulders I covered the boxes with Dollar Tree’s gold glitter vinyl, added a fringe and more of the diamond wrap ribbon. I create a ruffle cuff out of the plaid material and gold trim detail with Dollar Tree gold glitter ribbon. For his belt, I used the black faux leather and a garment from a curtain I had, spray painted it gold.

Nutcracker’s Pants and Boots

I love how the legs look with the plaid pants and his cute boots. To hide the seam of the two materials I placed a piece of the gold ribbon for a blingy detail.

For the boots, I spray painted 16 buttons gold, placing 4 on each side, crisscrossing a metallic gold thin rope to each button.

The Base

For the base, I painted the edges red and used the Dollar Tree gold glitter vinyl. To hid the edges of the vinyl, I added a gold braded trim.

After the glue was dry, all the gold and diamond shined when the light hit it. I used a lot of glue, so it took a full 24 hours for it to become translucent.

I have to say, he is the best Christmas DIY I have made! I just love him and am very proud of myself in making him.

That’s it, I say that now! It wasn’t a quick project, but so worth it! Best of luck on your DIY nutcrackers. Comment below with any questions you might have.

You can view how I creating his clothing in a video on my Facebook page and my YouTube channel. Also, if you hadn’t watch me build my nutcracker, you can view that video also on my two social pages.