I made this light bulb ornament the same year I made the angel, snowman, and penguin , in December of 2000.
However, I never wrote a tutorial on this version. In fact, I made several of these, gave a couple as gifts and sold the rest in the craft store I used to own.
I’ll do my best to give you some general instructions in case you want to make one, but it’s been a while, so bear with me!
I’m not going to write the instructions out formally as I usually do, only because I might miss a step as it’s been 9 years since I made it.
So here goes.
I usually prepare my light bulbs by making sure they are free of dust, rinsing in water, wiping off, then giving them a rinse in white vinegar. Usually I paint them with a brush, but this particular one I used spray cans. The reason I did that, and you can hopefully see in the photo below, was the create a sunset effect that would be more difficult with a brush (not impossible, just more difficult).
I sprayed the bulb with a mauve first. Most of it won’t show in the finished product, but it’s still an important factor. After that was dry, I sprayed the top half with a dusty country blue, putting a thicker layer toward the top and just a dusting near the middle. The idea was to blend the blue into the mauve.
Note: You have to be careful with spray paint as it will run if you have a heavy trigger finger. Better to err on the side of caution and use several light sprays, letting them dry in between.
Next I painted the Christmas tree. That seems to be the “wow” factor of this ornament, and people comment on what talent I have, but really, the trees are very, very simple. I could go into how to create trees on this post, but there’s a wonderful step by step tutorial in PDF format right here that you can refer to.
After adding the tree, and then the snow on the branches, I used a small paint brush and dabbed off all the excess paint, then gently dabbed on the “lights”. They blend into the snow and look like they are really glowing. :)
To add the “falling snow” I splattered it with watered down white paint using a tooth brush.
I glued some rick rack around the neck of the bulb, gluing a loop of ribbon underneath the rick rack.
Lastly, I used Sno-Tex snow paint to cover the top of the bulb and to coat the bottom of the bulb as well.
And of course, the finishing touch was 2-3 coats of clear acrylic sealer (I used matte, not gloss).
How’s that for a tutorial? I feel like I could go make another one now! ;)
I'm impressed Amanda! The ornament is lovely! Its also blue which I love for Christmas. My tree is blue/white/silver/gold!
I love how the tree looks!
What a fantastic use for these old lightbulbs now that we're all converting to the energy-efficient cfl bulbs. Very cool!
these bulbs are fab-i was sent here by janice (farmersgirl) LOL
Thanks for stopping by my blogs today!! This is simply beautiful!!! I love the snowman and the penguin too. So cute!
Thank you Shelby, it's one of my favorites! :)
Thank you for the compliments everyone :)
This one is sure to be an heirloom one day! Beautiful!
Thank you Kathi! :)
Amanda, I am far from a painter, actually I am NOT a painter, but man when I finished a few of your chirstmas tree bulbs I stepped back and said " AWESOME" and I will be giving sets as christmas gifts. Thanks for your wonderful art, Judy
Judy that is so wonderful! I wish I could see them, thanks so much for telling me. The trees are really easy to do aren't they? And they produce spectacular results :)
Wow! This looks fabulous. I'm not a painter myself, but my stepmom is. I'll have to tell her about this idea.
Thanks for linking up at the Holly Bloggy. I'm featuring several ideas from each of last week's events. I'll have to add this to the craft list tomorrow.
I love this. You are a fabulous painter..the colors here look so awesome, and snow so realistic; I felt like you really preserved some real snow on it…lucky me that I stumbled across your blog!!
Thank you Jerri and Sonia! I really appreciate your kind words :) I love that SnoTex paint!
That is so beautiful! I love the sunset look. You have a wonderful talent for painting.
I love it! This is the first time I have seen your blog, just love everything!
Fun ideas!!
Come enter my linky party as well as the current giveaways!!
http://gigglesglitzandglam.blogspot.com/2010/12/glam-party-6-gifts-that-give-back.html
Thanks ladies!
This is beautiful. I am so making this next year (I am already way too behind for this year!)
YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE /LIGHT BULB ORNAMENT IS JUST FABULOUS! APPRECIATE YOUR SHARING THESE INSTRUCTIONS WITH ALL OF US! RESPECTFULLY,
JEAN
Thank you jean, how nice of you to say!
amazing love it you did a beautiful job. thanks for the project
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i saw your grinch gord. do you make and sell them? PLEASE
Hi Karen! No I’m sorry, i don’t sell them. I never made a grinch ornament though. So not sure’s whose you saw there :)