Holiday Home Decor - Wooden Moose

Holiday Home Decor - Wooden Moose

Here is a sweet piece of home decor that I made.  It's got a fun rustic crackle finish and  a woodsy outdoor feel. 

You can find all the easy step-by-step also right here at Blitsy.

Create an adorable rustic wood moose for the holiday season. This is great to give as a gift or keep for yourself and it adds that rustic homey feel to your holiday decor.

Products Used:

Darice Unfinished Wood Table Top Moose Antlers - 6.3" x 1.57" x 6.3"

Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Vintage Photo

Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Walnut Stain

Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Black Soot or Hickory Smoke

Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Pinecones

Martha Stewart Pine Branch Punch

Foam Brushes

Raffia

Crackle Paste

Sequins

Green Mist

Burlap

Beacons Glue - 3-in-1

Prima Flowers Poinsettia Kiss

Green and Brown Cardstock

Hemp twine

Here are some close ups of the finished moose

Here's How To Make This

1.

Start with the adorable Darice Unfinished Wood Moose. This is a sweet table top Moose with a base that stands securely at 6.3" x 1.57" x 6.3". ADORABLE!

I painted it with a few different colored paints, base layer being dark or chocolate brown. For the base layer, I used a foam brush to cover all the nooks and edges. This was important since I didn't want a naked moose.

2.

Once the base layer was painted, I added some accent colors - black and a lighter brown. I used Tim Holtz Distress Paints in Black Soot and Vintage Photo. Make sure your paint layers are dry if you want to use the dauber that comes on top of the Distress Paints.

Is it necessary to add accent colors on the moose? No. Absolutely not. BUT as you scroll down to the next step, you'll see more clearly why I chose to add the accent colors. They really make my moose pop and "come to life", especially when crackle medium is added.

3.

Once all paint is dry, it's time to add a cool rustic twist to the moose. I did this using clear crackle medium/Crackle Paste. This is the coolest stuff for creating rustic looks and interesting texture to projects. I used clear Crackle Paste. It has a gorgeous glossy crackle finish when totally dry and makes the colors on the moose blend in nicely with the crackle finish.

The crackling doesn't happen immediately. It really needs to dry in order for the crackles to start appearing. You also need a bit of patience.

The key to using a crackle medium is to add a thick layer to your project and then let dry. You may need to let dry overnight. That's what I did. In fact I had to let this project dry over the course of a few evenings because I applied crackle paste to both sides of the moose as well as the base. That meant a lot of flipping over and letting dry - flipping back over and letting a different side dry. I painted the moose body first then moved to the base.

Ahhhhh but just look at the results!

4.

Embellishment Time!

I grabbed out some dies that would add more rustic appeal to my project. The Tim Holtz Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Pinecones 657492 is perfect. Once I punched out my shapes, I enhanced them with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. This little subtle step of inking the edges may be a small step but adds such a wonderful big impact to the overall finished look of a project.

5.

Here's how my Tattered Pinecones look after they have been rolled. I punched out some additional smaller pine branches using Martha Stewart's Pine punch. I love this punch - one of my favorite punches in fact. I'm going to layer the smaller pine branches right over the larger ones for a nice effect.

6.

I wanted to create a wreath-like effect around his neck so I wrapped some hemp twine around his neck and topped it with some red floral berries and red sequins. I also tucked some punched pine branches into the cluster. I wanted to bring some green up to the top of my project because there is so much green at the base. This is a technique that helps provide balance to a project .

Now for the finishing touches at the base.

I glued a layer of burlap to the base, added my Tattered Pinecones and started creating the cluster outward from there. This included adding bits of red floral berries and sequins, punched pine branches and a tiny bit of raffia.

 

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