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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Mod Podge Gingerbread Man Wreath


I've been under the weather for what feels like months, with every case of sniffles that wafts by. So when I had the chance to craft up some holiday goodness using the whopping batch of Mod Podge & Plaid Crafts supplies I recently received, I knew I wanted to make something bright & cheery to greet me when I got home. 
No joke about the "whopping batch" of Mod Podge, right? I'm in crafty heaven right about now... 
 
Full disclosure: When I set out crafting up (what would become my gingerbread man wreath) I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted the finished project to be. I toyed with the idea of wall hangings, wreaths, Advent Calendar, bound book, ornaments... but I had to start somewhere, and gathered the following:

- A cereal box (for cardboard)
- My gingerbread man cookie cutter (other shapes were considered as well)
- A Sharpie Marker
- Scissors
- An ancient box of Christmas Origami Papers
- Whopping batch o' Plaid Products (see above)

I traced out 24 gingerbread men on the inside of my cereal box and cut them all out. 

Note - If anyone has a better way to cut out 24 gingerbread men (that doesn't involve scissors and painfully dented hands) let me know!
Not knowing where my gingerbread journey was taking me, I painted all of my men with two coats of gold on the front, and two coats of red on the back. A touch of gold may have gotten on my hands during this process. 
I liked the look of the golden gingerbread men, but wanted more color and cheer, so I Mod Podged my Christmas Origami papers onto all of the red sides, and most of the gold sides of my little cardboard army.
I also used one of the Podgable shapes and ripped the pre-made Origami bow off of the packaging that came with my decorative papers. (I don't claim to be a master of paper folding, folks). At this point I was weighing the options of an Advent calendar against wreath pretty heavily. I arranged and re-arranged my colorful little men about 20 times before deciding on a wreath for our front door. 
After putting down some wax paper to work on, I laid out the Mod Podged cardboard pieces and used a healthy amount of the Satin Finish to attach the men at their feet and arms. I then added a second row of gingerbread and smothered the whole wreath in Mod Podge to dry overnight. 

In the morning, I cut out a few bows and buttons from my Podgable Papers, and added touches of Folk Arts Chunky Glitter to the gingerbread men who were originally painted with the Folk Art Metallic Gold paint. 
 
In the morning, I used a wire hanger from the Dry Cleaners to add a touch of reinforcement to the back of my wreath, as well as a quick hook. I attached the wire hanger to the back of the wreath using heavy duty tape. 
When the entire wreath was complete, I hung it on our front door. If you live somewhere extremely wet, and want to protect your wreath from the elements, you could use the Outdoor Mod Podge to give it a good seal, but since I live in an especially dry climate, the Satin finish was perfect for my needs! 

For more holiday craft ideas, Follow Plaid Crafts here:

NOTE: This is a sponsor post and I received free product as compensation for this post from Plaid Crafts and Blueprint Social. I believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity and even though I was compensated for this post, I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on products.

More Mod Podge Holiday Project can be found here:

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