How To Make Your Own Christmas Holiday Art Tag by Jill Lambert

Have you looked at your calendar lately? We are rapidly coming up on the holidays...rapidly!!

Here's a lovely Snowman project sure to bring a little sweet holiday cheer to your decorations!

I’m a Wisconsin native so I have lots of experience with snow in the winter. Not by choice I will admit though! However, I love snowmen, real ones and painted ones. Not sure why since I’m not a fan of snow or cold weather, other than the first beautiful snowfall or snow at Christmas time. Maybe they remind me of youth, whimsy and just having fun! Here’s one my daughter and I made a few years ago...As you might be able to guess it started melting, then froze again in this crazy yoga backbend.





Today I’m going to show you how to make a little Christmas holiday tag that you can use to give on a gift or as a little piece of handmade art as well. You could even keep it for yourself and hang it on a doorknob during the holidays if you love it so much you just can’t part with it!

Materials needed:

1. Cardboard Piece, cardstock OR pre-cut tag 
2. Scissors (if need to cut down a size) 
3. Hole Punch 
4. Gesso (optional) 
5. Paints of your Choice - maybe 3-5 colors (I use acrylic) 
6. Brushes, Water for Cleaning Brushes 
7. Tools for stamping (stamps, stencil, flat pencil eraser, wine cork, etc.) 
8. Ribbon 

1. Cut your cardboard/cardstock to a size you’d like. I made mine 3.5” by 4.75.”

2. Punch one hole in the top left corner or center. That’s where your ribbon for hanging will go when you’re all done creating.

3. If you want, cover the cardboard with a layer of white gesso or white paint. I only did this so I could start on a white background. You can paint right on the cardboard if you want, but you just may have to do more layers.



4. Using stamps and stencils, randomly create marks on your piece. It really can be in any pattern because much of this will be covered up by more paint. It’s nice to just see a few marks underneath your next layer - this gives your piece texture, interest and depth.

5. Cover your background stamps and marks with a solid color or two if you like. Some of your marks will show through which is what you want. First I used a soft turquoise, then I chose a deep magenta because I’m not much a neutral-color girl. Notice my white circle marks now look a bit red! I can’t really see many of my other marks - that’s okay though! If you want to be sure to see these earlier marks, use a darker paint. Mine clearly wasn't dark enough.

6. Then I hand-painted some white snowflakes - you can do as many or as little as you want.

7. Now dip your brush into the white paint, then your water and splatter all over to get the effect of snow falling. 

8. Now paint the three snowballs of a snowman. I did mine freehand with paint. You can do it in pencil first but I sort of like the look it takes on just doing it freehand first. A funky snowman is a cute snowman I say! I actually did two separate coats of white for the snowman, letting it dry about ten minutes in between.

9. Now it’s time to add some sweet details like eyes, mouth, carrot nose, twig arms and scarf. You can be as detailed or as simple as YOU want! Other ideas to add: a hat, ornaments hanging from the arms, buttons, a bird on its head, etc.

10. Next, either use stickers, stencils or hand-paint a festive word above your cute snowman. I used the word “JOY” from stickers I had. I used Mod Podge to attach them - I put the stickers down and put the Mod Podge ON TOP of them. 

11. Now you can tie your ribbon and call it finished! After the fact I sort of wish I put the hole in the center because it would hang straighter, but I still think its sweet! You could also punch holes on the left and right and thread the ribbon through both of them.

Other ideas/ways to use your sweet snowman tag:

• make a few with your kids and hang them from a tree branch from outside that you have in a vase inside for decorations 
• hang as an ornament 
• give as teacher gifts to your favorite teachers 
• use as a gift tag on a present; you can write “to and from” on the front or the back if you don’t want to cover up your art 
• hang on the corner of a bathroom mirror to add a little holiday decor every time you wash your hands 
• hang on the inside of a window from the lock so you can see it every time you do dishes at the kitchen sink 

You can see more of Jill's art and her process at:

Jill's Dream

or shop for her lovely creations at:

Jill's Etsy shop

And don't forget to come on over and join the cre8ive conversation at our Facebook group:

The Cre8ive Klatch