THINGS YOU WILL NEED
- Pebbles and stones (large pebbles or small stones) look for ones that are smooth
- Paint (Most acrylic paints will work really well but I stumbled across special paint markers in Mrs. Claus's Christmas craft shop that create amazing results. They're called “uni posca paint markers”)
- Paint brushes (a wide one and a narrow one ideally)
- Colouring pencils (for drawing ideas)
- Paper (for drawing ideas)
- Newspaper (for protecting the table)
PREPARATION
Now that you've gathered everything it's time to begin. It's important to clear some space at the table to give yourself some room. Use old newspaper on the table to protect it from accidental spills. This is going to be so much fun!
HOW DO I BEGIN MY CHRISTMAS PEBBLE PAINTING
The first step will be to make sure the pebbles and stones are clean.
Give them a gentle wash and scrub off any dirt. If you use any soap be sure to rinse them well. Allow the pebbles/stones to dry completely before applying any paint.
The second step can be done while you wait for your pebbles/stones to dry. You can use your colouring pencils to draw some Christmas pictures. My favourite pictures to draw at Christmas time are what I see around me up here in the North Pole. I put some examples further down to help spark your Christmas imagination! The reason we like to draw our Christmas pictures on paper first is to make the painting easier to do.
For step 3 we choose our pebble/stone. Look through them to find one that is a good size for a little picture to be painted on it. If the pebble/stone looks like it might be the right size, think about it's smoothness -if it's about the right size to paint a little picture on and feels nice and smooth then it's a winner.
Step four is the really fun part. We like to start off painting the pebbles with a background paint colour. White paint is often the best choice. We start by taking our wide brush and dipping it in the white paint. Carefully paint the smoothest side of the pebble. It's better to use a little amount of paint and spread it around than to apply lots of paint and watch it drip off and make a mess. Before you use another colour on top you will need to allow the first colour to dry completely.
Step five. Now we begin the painting of our little picture onto the pebble. We use the picture we drew with our colouring pencils as a guide to help us paint on the pebble/stone. Choose the part of picture you want to paint first and dip the narrow brush into that colour's paint. The more slowly you paint the more control you have of the paint brush.
Once you finish painting the first part of your little picture on top of the white background you will need to let it dry.
Step six. If you have any other parts of the little picture to paint do them one by one until the little picture is finished. Remember to let the paint dry each time before you do the next colour. If you don't let the paint dry properly then your little Christmas picture will turn very messy very quickly.
When you have finished painting all your Christmas pebbles it's time to clean up.
Make sure to check that the paint lids are on tight and wash and dry your brushes. Tidy up everything else and put the table back to the way it was before you started.
DOUBLE THE FUN!
This is great fun to do by yourself when it's too cold and rainy to play outside. Another idea is, you could invite your friends over for a super fun Christmas pebble/stone painting party. I went over to my friends at the North Pole Mapping Agency this week and we had a painting party ourselves. It was so much fun, I can confirm, there was a paint spillage, Elf Coco got excited and splat, paint everywhere. We all cleaned it up whilst singing Jingle Bells – obviously my favourite song.
MORE IDEAS!
The festive stones would make a great Christmas gift for mammies and daddies, siblings, friends, teachers and so on.
You could leave them around the house as decorations.
You could even surprise a neighbour by leaving one by their door.
Below are some ideas of things you could paint
Happy Crafting
Love Elf Jingles
