3 Winter DIY Crafts with a Peace on Earth theme

Hello crafty tribe, this is Artsy Maddie and let's get creative. So I just want to show you that I'm starting off with this old beat-up globe that's been mistreated and missing the equator and some of the high points have rubbed off but I'm going to give it a whole new life. So I start by making some textured paint, so like a snow texture. I start off with some just white acrylic paint and just quite a bit, I want to have enough to do the whole globe. So a few good squirts, I'd say like maybe a third of the bottle and then I'm just going to add some white sand, this is from Dollar Tree. So again I'm not really measuring things, just it's going to be like a good pour of sand. You'll see me do it here in a second. So I'd say the mixture is about half and half almost, half sand, half white acrylic paint and then I just add a big dollop of glue just to work as a binder to hold the sand and paint together. And then I'm going to add some shaving cream. I had a little bit of trouble with it because it was cold from my vehicle, being in my vehicle, so I just added like a good dollop of shaving cream just to give it that fluffy texture. And I'm just stirring it all together so you can see it kind of has that sand texture in there which is going to make it look kind of fluffy and like paint and snow. And then I didn't prime the globe, I just started working directly on it because you need to be able to see the shapes of everything so you can't really prime it before you start. So I'm just kind of dabbing it on. It goes on really thick, so not like a normal paint. You almost have to spread it out. It would almost be like a watered down spackle if that's kind of a better way to describe it. So I'm just getting it on here. I am going to be giving it another coat after just to touch up where it hasn't quite covered properly, but I'm just going on with kind of this rough brush that I have. It would almost be equivalent to like a stencil brush I would say, like just kind of rough bristles that hold this paint texture in it. And then just spreading it out. I'll work with a smaller brush when I get to the detailed areas, but I just want to get it covered mostly. And I've already gone in with a blue acrylic to start over the water, and a green acrylic over the land, and then that'll need a second coat as well. That was a blue that I had mixed up. I kind of call it like a peacock blue, so it's a mixture of a couple different blues with a bit of yellow in it. Like a dark blue, a light blue, and then a little bit of yellow. If anyone is interested, I can show a video on how I make that peacock blue color too. It's kind of my favorite color. So again, here just going in with a detailed brush and just getting those smaller areas that are too hard to get with that big brush. So again, this is kind of a stiff bristled kind of beat up brush too. It just holds that texture better. And just kind of doing like a dabbing motion. And you do, you kind of have to spread it out more than paint it. So just kind of spreading it carefully into those little areas and little islands. So I didn't show you the whole thing, but I just want to show you. So I love things to be handcrafted and look hand painted. I don't mind that at all. So I kind of did like a scumbling effect because I knew that it was going to have brush strokes no matter what, because there's not really another way of doing this unless you maybe spray the globe and figured out how to do a cry cut of the world's shapes. But I didn't have any of that. It's just going to be handcrafted, hand painted. So I'm just doing this scumbling effect to kind of make the brush strokes look even. Just as an all over pattern sort of thing. So just doing that scumbling motion. And then I just went back over the white once it dried. So funny thing, the blue kind of bled through a little bit where there was blue underneath the snow texture paint. I can't quite figure out why if it was the glue or the shaving cream, but yeah, just this blue seemed to come through through the snow paint a little bit. So I actually liked it. It turned out to be kind of a happy accident, so I didn't really change it. And then I'm just going to show you. So I did some doodling and like some word art on the globe as long and as well as some snowflakes. So I'm just showing you how I did that. So I cut out some printouts just, you know, did a Google search for words that I wanted on the globe and then printed them out. And I cut closely around the words so that they'd be a little bit flexible, like just more flexible than a sheet of paper so that I could kind of lay it across the globe, around the globe the way I wanted. And then just using carbon paper to trace it. So I don't have a Cricut or any of those things, so I'm just doing this. I don't know that that would work with a rounded surface, but maybe it would. Maybe they sell kind of flexible Cricut. I'm not sure about those things, but I would love it if anyone else does a project like that, if you would share it with me. So I just chose the words love and hope and then let it snow. And the let it snow I had to cut into three sections, so just trying to make them really small and flexible around the globe. So I'm just showing you here. I started off with a CraftSmart water-based marker because that was what I had on hand. It did not work very well. You can see on the globe there it's not very clear at all. So I just went out reluctantly. You know we're all trying not to go out more than necessary, but I did go out and get an oil-based one instead. And you can see right away it just works so much better. And I also sealed this blue because I was worried about it seeping through the oil-based marker as well. So I just sealed it up with some spray sealer, like a clear matte sealer spray. So I'm not 100% sure if it was the sealer spray or just the oil pen, but the combination seemed to work much, much better. So then I don't have a lot of gold in my house. I tend to lean more towards silver, so I'm just painting the frame of the globe silver instead of gold. And it was just an old chalk paint that was silver. I don't think they sell it anymore, and it smelled like it had maybe gone past its prime. But I used it anyway, just what I had on hand. And then I'm going back in with a gunmetal folk art metallic and just dry brushing on top to just bring out those details and the equator. So again, just with that folk art gunmetal metallic paint, I'm just going around the base of the globe as well just to give it some depth and texture. I thought just the plain light silver looked a little too flat, so I'm just doing like a pouncing, kind of scumbling motion all over the bottom just to give it some texture and depth too. And it kind of had some neat details up around the top of the base there too that I wanted to highlight. So this is just a stiff bristled brush, almost like a stencil brush, just because it's been used so much, kind of worn and stiff and whatever from years of paint. So it's kind of one of my favorites. Those are always good to have. You don't want to throw out your brushes, just take good care of them. So you can just kind of build up layers of texture, just letting it dry and kind of going over it again a bit the second time. And that was it for that project. So here's a look at it finished. So for the next project, I'm going to make some more kind of snow paint on this green tree that I found. It's a styrofoam tree just from a dollar store in Canada called Dollarama. I only found one of them, so I don't know if it was a leftover from last year or something that just sold really quickly at the Dollarama I go to here, but I just thought it was kind of neat. It reminded me of like a happy cartoon style. I was a little bit worried about the green bleeding through the snow paint again, so I decided just to use some chalk paint first to kind of map out where I wanted the snow to fall and sit on the tree, and then I'll go over it with the snow paint after. But you can see I'm just kind of doing like a heavy snowfall on it, kind of like cartoon style, just that happy, you know, green tree with lots of snow on it and just hitting all those high parts where snow would fall. So just trying to think like snow and where it would settle on the tree. So then I just come in with the snow paint. So this tree was a little bit beat up, like just from the store, I think, just being moved around on the shelf and stuff. It had a couple dents in it, so I was hoping the snow paint would kind of help cover that too, and it worked. It worked out pretty well. So again, with the snow paint, you just kind of have to dab it on and kind of spread it around and just again using that really stiff kind of bristly brush that's already beat up, so I'm not too worried about the sand or anything being too hard on it. And then just, I kind of already mapped out with the chalk paint on where I wanted to put the snow, so all I really have to do is follow along with that. I can't remember, I think I probably had to go in with a smaller brush as well for the smaller ones, but it worked pretty quick with this kind of bigger brush just to get it on there and spread it out. Yeah, so I did go in with the smaller brush for those little smaller areas. And again, just this one's like a stiff bristled brush too. And then that's about it for this one, just kind of a happy little cartoon snow tree. And then the last project today is just the Peace on Earth sign from Dollar Tree. So I was able to score one of those this year, which I was excited about. And then I just had this old atlas, really outdated, so I pulled out kind of one of the early pages with the full map on it of the world. And I'm just going to trace that onto the earth part of the wooden sign. And again, just using carbon paper, doesn't have to be exact, it was just kind of like a quick little sketch of the world, just to give that impression on the earth part of the sign. So then I just painted that out with some green. And again, I love things to look handcrafted and hand painted. So I have no problem with some like brush strokes and that, but I kind of like that stippling kind of scumble effect because it just makes it look really even. And just gives it a lot of kind of like texture, depth, dimension, gives it some interest. So this top part I'm going over again with that silver chalk paint, the one that I don't think they sell anymore. I think it was just a really old one from Michael's, but just any silver paint would work. So this is just a lighter kind of silver color. So this sign is really thin, like just a really, really thin kind of balsa wood. So I was able to just, by doing the kind of pouncing scumbling effect, it kind of got all the edges of the sign, so it worked out pretty good. And then I thought I wanted black on the on part of the sign. I do go back and change that after, but it kind of worked out because it was like a base coat. I go back over it with a darker silver after, but it worked out good. It was like a base coat for that. So again, it was just kind of nice that this sign isn't super thick, so it's super easy to get all the sides and edges. And then that's just that peacock blue again. So I made enough for kind of a bunch of projects. So it's just like a light blue, the dark blue, and then that little bit of yellow to kind of give it kind of that special peacock color. I just kind of felt like the black was too stark, like too much of a contrast with the other colors that were going on, because they're not as dark. So I will go back over that after. So I wanted to put some snow on this project as well, but I kind of felt like that textured snow would just be a little bit too much, like a little too heavy for this project, just because that wood is so thin. So I mixed up some other snow paint. So just some white acrylic latex, or just white acrylic again. Big dollop of glue, just to work as the binder to hold everything together. So quite a bit of white paint, a little dollop of glue, and then I'm going to add in some baking soda as well, and some shaving foam. So this is just shaving foam from the Dollar Tree, just to give it kind of a fluffy texture, like to kind of put some air into it and make it look a little bit fluffy. I kind of looked online and saw a whole bunch of different recipes, they were all very different I found, so I thought well I'll just kind of experiment and try and make my own, and it worked out pretty good. So I'm just going to add a bit of baking soda, and then this is my craft flour, so don't worry when I stick the spoon in there, I just have it around for paper mache and stuff like that. So we'll just stir that up, and it kind of went together really well, the glue holds the flour in it really well, and then the shaving cream makes it kind of nice and fluffy. So you can see it kind of went together fairly quickly and easily. So once the sign dried, I realized that that silver was just a little bit flat, and I kind of wanted to, you know, make it sparkle a little bit, so I had that Liquitex iridescent medium, so you can add it to your paint as well to make it a little bit more iridescent or pearlescent, but I thought I would just add some directly over top, and it worked out pretty good. I've had that for a long time, I think they still sell it though, I'm quite certain that they still sell it, just at Michaels or any craft store that sells Liquitex products I think would have that. So again, just trying to pounce and create a little bit of like a texture detail on it, and again that's just that same rough brush, like so if you had like a stencil brush, or you know, just kind of a harder brush, I don't think a soft brush would work for this this type of texture, like kind of a pouncing texture detail. So I'm not too worried about getting it on the black, because I had already decided that was too dark, and I'll go over that again too with something just to make it look a little bit better, and kind of blend in with everything a little bit more than just that stark black. So again, just that gunmetal gray, that's an old bottle, but I did check and they do still sell that exact paint, so it's called gunmetal gray, and it's a metallic. So again, just kind of doing that like pouncing motion, just to kind of build up some texture and detail on it. All right, and then I'd already experimented a little bit with this fluffy snow paint, just to make sure it was going to work, so now I'm just going back over it to do a second coat. So I just want to hit the sign everywhere that snow would fall, so just on any horizontal surface or anywhere where snow would catch, and it worked out pretty well, so I'm happy I did it. I think it was kind of added that little something extra to it. Oh, and there's my blooper that I left in, sorry. So just going back over it, it kind of, you know, that second coat really makes it look like there's kind of been a heavy snowfall on it, and I really love that. So these were kind of great projects. It was almost like a meditation to paint that globe and, you know, see it without any borders, and these are kind of some projects that I've always wanted to do. I have a few globes that I've bought over the years at thrift stores that I've always wanted to fix up and kind of make them like seasonal and decorate them a bit, because they're quite old and quite beat up, and they were even getting overlooked at the thrift store, so it feels kind of good to rescue them and give them a new life. So to display this sign, just because it is so thin, I thought like just so that it'll last a few years and I'll be able to, you know, kind of re-display it every year, I thought I would just put it onto a frame, like to kind of make it sturdier. So I had a frame that I'd picked up at a thrift store quite a while ago. I've had this one for a while, I haven't done anything with it yet, so I had an old piece of wallpaper just from a sample book I think that I'd gotten a long time ago, but really just anything neutral or whatever matches your decor would work, of course, and then I just had my glue gun on low, low temperature, just to kind of tack it onto the glass, because I'm not sure I'll keep it on there forever, but you know, just to secure it for now and kind of protect it, and I just thought that neutral background was kind of nice and it helps that white snow stand out a little bit more, and then these are the finished products. So hopefully it's been inspirational for you and gives you some ideas, like maybe for fixing up an old globe or what to do with those wooden signs from the Dollar Tree, and if you like anything you've seen today, hopefully you guys will want to like the video or subscribe, that would be great. This is my first YouTube video, so it sure would be great to get some likes and subscribers and kind of build out into this community. I've been enjoying so much, I really just found a lot of these YouTube videos and I've really been enjoying them, so I love the DIY community and this craft community. Thank you so much for watching, see you in the next one!