Christmas Cupcakes in 10 easy steps

What you need: 

Card/envelope/mountboard (or bauble mount board) 

Tracing paper & transfer paper*

Flat Brush, Medium Liner Brush and Dotting tool* 

You Can Folk It Cupcakes painting kit 

DecoArt Americana acrylics in Razzle Berry, Holly Green, Lamp Black and Titanium (Snow) White 

Drying Time extender*

Crystal Glamour Dust 

*All included in our Flat Brush Starter Kit

Step 1: transfer our Snowman cupcake pattern to your surface. This will fit perfectly on one of our square mount boards or baubles. 

Step 2: To help the colours on your final piece pop, base coat the entire area of your design with white using your flat brush.  

Step 3: Transfer the lines you need back onto the painted area.  

 Step 4: Using your flat brush again, base coat the cupcake wrapper in red and the top of the snowman's hat using Green.  Before base coating the rim of the hat and the scarf, add a little white to make it just slightly lighter.

Step 5: Using the Razzle Berry, float colour onto the cupcake to add texture, just as you would in our cupcakes kit.  Don't forget to add rosy cheeks too! 

Step 6: Using white, float colour around the base of his hat to highlight it. 

Step 7: Using your liner brush, add a pattern to his scarf and hat.  Begin with Razzle Berry and Black before adding white lines, edging and tassels. (Don't forget to add a little bobble on his hat too!)   

Step 8: Using the large end of the dotty tool, add his eyes and mouth.  Using the small end, add two dots of white to each eye.  Add his carrot nose using the liner brush (or you can apply it using the dotting tool) 

Step 9: Float white lines on the cupcake (as shown in our kit) and add berries to the area using the dotting tool. 

Step 10: Apply Crystal Glamour Dust to the design as you paint to create that all important sparkle at winter time.  

Don't fancy making a card? Why not try adding it to one of our baubles?

Paint your own folky Polar Bear

Following the success of our Folky Fox recently, we have gone from Autumn to Winter with this brand new tutorial.  

To complete this level 2 tutorial, you will need: 

A rectangular plaque (portrait) 

DecoArt Chalky Finish paint in Honor 

Sandpaper, tracing paper* and transfer paper* 

Sponge*

Dotting tool*, Flat Brush* & Liner brush*

DecoArt Titanium (Snow) white* (or any white you have), Lamp Black and Antique Rose* 

DecoArt Dazzling Metallics in Shimmering Silver 

Sakura Gelly Roll pen in White 

Practice paper*

Flat Brush Rosebuds kit 

DecoArt Metallic lustre in Silver Spark

*All included in our Flat Brush Starter kit 

 Preparing your plaque: 

 Using the sponge, base coat the plaque using the Honor chalky finish paint.  You can speed this process up with a hair dryer if you like. 

After applying a couple of coats, lightly sand the MDF plaque before transferring your design on to the surface.  

Practicing your brushstrokes: 

For the Polar Bear you will need to practice the C stroke taught in the Rosebuds kit.  When you are confident painting single ones, practice painting each one side by side in rows.  

Painting your polar bear:

Using the warm white and flat brush, base coat the whole of the polar bear.  Using the Antique Rose, paint the inner part of the bears ears.  When this is dry, paint rows of c strokes over the whole of the bears body starting at the top and working down, leave to dry. Take care to try to overlap the rows a little to create your fur pattern.  

Next, using your liner brush and the black paint, add his eyes and nose. 

Final touches: 

Using the silver paint and Dotting tool, add dotty snowflakes on the plaque. Leave to dry.  If you wish to add the lettering, use the Gelly Roll pen (or a fine Uni Posca paint pen) to copy over the transferred lettering.  You may need to keep wiping the tip of the pen with a tissue to make sure the tip does not get clogged with paint.  Finally, using the sponge, add the Metallic lustre around the edges of the plaque and add some ribbon to hang.  

If you did not wish to add the writing we have provided why not stamp a name on to personalise or just add more dotty snowflakes.  

Happy Folking x 

How to paint Snowdrops

For this project you will need: 

DecoArt Americana Acrylic in Green Tree and Snow White (also known as Titanium White)

DecoArt Chalky Finish in Relic 

Medium Brush liner, No 3 Round Brush and Dotting tool (available separately or as part of our Round Brush Starter kit) 

Comma stroke lesson (available within our Round brush add on kits) 

Chalk pen (optional) 

Using the medium liner brush and DecoArt Americana Acrylic in Green Tree, add a little water to your paint to make your strokes go further and start by practicing the stems.  Imagine you are painting walking sticks and paint the hook to the left and right, trying to keep the stems as straight as possible.  Don't worry if your paint runs out a little at the end, you can always mask this when you add the comma stroke leaves

Next practice adding the petals using the No. 3 Round Brush and comma stroke leaves using the liner brush as shown above.  Play around with using just white and try using Green Tree tipped with white.

Paint your Terracotta pot using the Relic Chalky Finish.  (If you wish to use this pot outdoors once it is completed, make sure you cover every inch of the pot including the hole at the bottom to prevent the pot absorbing water).  The Snowdrops are placed approximately 3cm apart, alternating 1 long and 1 short.  The Daisies are 2cm apart 1 high and 1 low.  You can use a chalk pencil to mark the design, but you may find it easier to paint the design straight onto the pot without the constraints of having to follow a line.

Paint the stems.  Working on surfaces that are not flat is always going to be more challenging, so try practicing on inexpensive items like recycled packaging first, the more practice you do, the easier it becomes.

Complete the rest of the Snowdrops

Next, add the daisies along the top lip of the pot.  

Finish with a coat of wax or varnish to preserve the design.

As we mentioned earlier, it is possible to use hand painted terracotta pots outside, but if they are going to come in to contact with water it is very important that you prepare the pot correctly.  There are two ways to do this

1. Make sure every inch of the pot is completely sealed with the Relic chalky finish paint (including the hole in the bottom) so that the terracotta cannot absorb any water.  Once you have completed the pot, finish it with a couple of coats of weatherproof varnish.

2. Add equal amounts of DecoArt Multi Purpose Sealer to your Chalky Finish and Acrylic paint.  By doing this, it means that no varnishing is necessary but as before, ensure that every inch of the surface is coated with the paint and sealer.

Once you have completed your project, remember to wash your brushes ready for next time - look after your brushes and they will look after you.