Mr. Claus

My first Christmas craft of the season.  I saw this done on another blog (Bower Power Blog - love her!!!) and fell in love.  I wanted to try it last year but ran out of time. So enter this year.  It seriously only took me a couple of hours.  It was so simple.  And I love how it turned out!  So without further ado, I introduce to you..................................................................................Mr. Claus!

And here is how I did it...first, a note: I took this "tutorial" from another blog...so it is not original from me...and, yes, I do copy other peoples crafts.  I am not ashamed to say it.  I feel it is the highest form of flattery :-)


What you will need:
- a square canvas (I used 18" x 18" that I got from Hobby Lobby...cost about $7)
- silver metallic sharpies (you can buy these at any craft store...I got mine at Hobby Lobby, 2 for $4.50)
- a pencil and good eraser
- a ruler


First, I printed out this picture from here on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Super easy step #1 - done.

Next, I copied the grid onto my canvas.  The grid squares on the 18" canvas ended up being about 2 1/4".  It seemed to work pretty well and corresponded with the grid on the paper. 

Next, I started drawing the outline of Mr. Claus square for square.  This was definitely the hardest part.  Mostly hard because I'm not the most patient person...and it was hard to get the idea of the overall concept in the beginning...

But in the end I could see Mr. Claus shining through. 

So I started by drawing the outline again with the silver sharpie...and then coloring it in.  It only took me a little bit to realize that a curving, sweeping motion with the marker was going to look much better then the straight lines. 

 And this is where I forgot to take more pictures.  I ended up watching an old movie (Glass Bottom Boat...for anyone who loves Doris Day)...and obviously got distracted.  But the curvy, sweeping motions worked much, much better.  I went over everything a second time so it was harder to see individual "strokes" of the marker. And it made things look a little more shiny.  Then I erased all of the pencil marks and grids that were still showing through.  This part I was a little afraid of...I thought it might take some of the shininess away or smudge the canvas, but thankfully it didn't.  I did not use the eraser on the end of my pencil.  I used a drawing eraser which is suppose to not smudge on paper, so I'm glad it worked on the canvas :-)


And viola! Here is the final product.  

I will either hang it over our tv or our console table (since we don't have a fireplace...we have to pretend somehow...).  So come Thanksgiving next week I'll have it figured out :-)  And I thought about adding some actual glitter to it to make it even more sparkly...but I haven't decided yet.  We'll see how brave I get.  Have a wonderful day!


Kristin