Fan Blade Santa

 This completes the six fan blade projects I launched after replacing a fan in my house...and saving the blades.  I've got turkeys, snowmen, gingerbread, pumpkins, and now Santa.  My friend Terry did up a few Santa's a few years ago and so I gave it a go with some old fabric sitting around my house.

I painted Santa's face a sand color (and white below the beard).  I cut some old sheets into strips and glued it on to make his beard.  I glued fabric on in a long tube on top for the hat, but tied the end with a bell to give it a point.  I added some scrap minky and facial features. Hoarders unite.

Turkey Fan Blade

 Last spring I replaced one of my fans.  When I say I-I mean, my brother.  I mostly watched and held screws. I'm pretty sure Frankenstein wired my house, so even if I had the arm strength to hold the fan up long enough to get it screwed in, the wiring doesn't exactly follow normal package instructions.  All this to say, I'm grateful my house hasn't burnt down b/c 'we' did something wrong, and...I pulled the old fan blades off of my old fan before tossing it.  The saddest part is...I only have six and I can't quit painting them.

I've already shared a pumpkin, and I have another one I'm about to post, but now...my turkey-by far the easiest.  You can use the round foam brushes to make eyes, but I wanted mine larger than the brushes I had.  I used the bottom of a coke can to make the circle and then painted the inside.  I free handed the nose etc...nothing too fancy and then flicked a bunch of black and white paint across the whole thing with a toothbrush.  I added a bunch of colorful ribbon for the 'tail' and some wire through the holes the manufacturer drilled into this blade years ago.  In other news-this is where hoarders learn to justify their keepings.

Pumpkin Fan Blade

 I have a friend (Terry) who literally will paint on anything.  I went to one of her shows recently and she had painted a snowman face on old toilet bowl ball (you know that thing that floats up with the water to trigger the 'stop' on the water?).  I digress, but....she's another story.  ;o)  Anyway, fan blades are one of the things I've seen her use for her Santa's and Elves.  This summer I asked her for a painting tutorial and I decided to try my hand at something fall....something simple on some fan blades I'd recently yanked off a fan I replaced in my house.

I've seen these for sale at thrift stores before and I probably would have wondered about the kind of person that would buy these but now I've met her!  I did not use the spray can of white to give this a primer (that comes with another project).  I just used some Americana paint called Paprika.  I gave my blade two coats.  When that dried I painted a face.  I went back and added some white lines to make it pop, and then I took a tooth brush and flicked a bunch of white and black paint all over the blade.  I added some wire and raffia.  Simple, fun...and definitely different.

Gingerbread Fan Blade

 It's August.  I'm back at work.  I'm trying to look at my glass as half full.  Sure...I'm working again, but this means that cool weather is on it's way.  Fun holidays.  Good food.  So...in honor of that...here's a little Christmas craft I did this summer.  I have a ton of fan blades I've painting I'll be posting soon...one for each season it seems.

I replaced a fan in my house and took a feather from my friend, Terry, and repurposed them.  I've been working on my painting skillz....once I get down some good techniques I'll do a video...I think the key is...I need more brushes!  I'm also learning...less is more on the paint....I used to have huge globs..not in that Starry Night way..more in the...where is the closest trash can sort of way.  I originally saw some gingerbread men like this painting on a rolling pin...I've added it to my list, but since it's fan blades and not rolling pins I had on hand....that's what got painted.