I’ve been working on a pretty big project this past year. The exterior of my house needed a makeover, so after a little debate, we opted to vinyl-side the house. It looks great, and now I finally feel like decorating the outside of my house for the holidays. Enter two very large wooden nutcrackers.
As I usually do, I went to Michael’s Craft Store in search of some Christmas clearance crafts just after holidays. When I found these two guys hanging by the 70% off clearance sign, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
First up was paint. I used inexpensive craft paint in basic holiday colors. I wanted the nutcrackers to be coordinated since I am planning on hanging them on either side of my front door. Once I was done painting, I decided to name my new guys Mario and Luigi after their likeness to Super Mario Bros.
When it came to the scepter they both hold, I decided to paint them to look like cherry candy canes. They’re my favorite type of candy cane, and I thought it would add some fun color to my nutcrackers. I even kept the colors in the same order as the candy canes.
After I was finished painting, I went in with a white paint pen and outlined the details of the nutcracker to give the project some definition.
Since the nutcrackers will be hung outside, I wanted to make sure I protected them from the elements. To ensure the wood doesn’t bow, I bought white exterior paint at Home Depot for the backside of the nutcrackers and a sealing spray for the front. I sprayed two coats of the sealer on the front of the nutcrackers.
I painted two coats of the exterior white paint on the backside of the nutcrackers. I will do a polyurethane seal on the backs of the nutcrackers, but for the front I sprayed them with two coats of waterproofer. I didn’t want the wood too glossy for the next step in this project.
With the nutcrackers painted and sealed, it’s time to start the really fun part: the sparkle. Yes, I plan to cover these two guys with thousands of tiny flatback rhinestones. So far, I’ve had a lot of fun painting these guys, but I’m hoping adding the rhinestones is going to elevate this craft to the next level. Stay tuned for part two and keep crafting!
The Quaint Crafter 