How to Create Stunning Vintage Paper Christmas Angels with Perfect Paints
Hi, friends - it's Walter here on the blog with you today! If you're anything like me then you're likely in full blown Christmas crafting mode right now. I'm spending time making Christmas cards, ornaments, other decor items, and lots of Christmas-themed design team projects. Believe me - I love every minute of it! I have Holiday Traditions on Sirius XM playing the background as I fold, cut, color, blend, and create for a few hours most nights. When not crafting, I like to check out various sources for creative inspiration. One such source is A Somerset Holiday, a holiday themed issue from the Somerset Studio publication. Inspiration for today's project struck as I came across Diane Adams' fantastic article on angelic paper dolls. She included a pattern for the angel and wings in her article and so I decided to give it a go! I did a little research of my own to read about the history of Victorian paper dolls and angels. It was common to use paper scraps in those days to create paper dolls, in general, and angels, at Christmas. This influenced my decision to cut ovals from paper scraps to incorporate onto the sleeves of my angels' gowns and as adornments on the front of the gowns. Let's start to get into how I made these beautiful angels using Perfect Paints and texture mediums!
Vintage Paper Christmas Angels using Perfect Paints Pearl Plaster, Riverstone, Glass Bead Gel, and Shimmering Matte Acrylics
I used the following Perfect Paints Products in making them!
49 and Market Christmas Spectacular 2023 6x8 Paper Collection
Stacked Oval Die Set
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Tea Dye and Vintage Photo
Small Pearl Gems
20 Gauge Stainless Steel Wire
Nuvo Gold Metallic Marker
Mini Crafting Bows
Letter Tiles
Prima Flowers Candy Cane Lane Flower Collection
Faux Winter Branches
Medium weight chipboard sheets
65 lb white cardstock
Ohuhu Honolulu Alcohol Markers
Craft Glue (Mod Podge or your favorite brand)
Super Glue
Double Sided Foam Tape Squares
Directions
I started by scanning the angel template and printing it out twice onto 65 lb white cardstock so that I had a sturdy template to reuse. I cut the angel wings out of one sheet and the angel body out of the other sheet. Note that you don't need to have this particular template to make a similar paper angel. A quick search of "angel templates" on google results in multiple free templates that may be used for your project.
Cutout of templates
I was now ready to trace three sets of templates onto white cardstock. These white cutouts will serve as the base that I use to color the angels.
Traced images of the templates
I used my trusty detail scissors to cut out each angel and set of wings. Once cut, I used a paint brush to apply Mod Podge to the back of each white cutout and then adhered each one to a piece of chipboard. This will ensure that your angel is very sturdy and not as easy to tear. Here's a crafty tip for you: for an even sturdier angel, glue two pieces of chipboard together and then adhere your cutout to it.
Angel adhered onto chipboard to make it more durable
I cut the pieces out with scissors. You may wish to use an exacto knife to cut them out if you stacked two pieces of chipboard as it may be difficult to cut through that thickness with scissors. Now that the pieces were cutout, I started to work on each component of the angel. I began with the wings as I knew that they would need time to dry. I applied a coat of Iridescent Gold Pearl Plaster to two sets of wings and a coat of Riverstone Texture Medium to the third set. I did this because I wanted two sets to have a light gold color to them and the third set to have a white finish with some texture.
Pearl Plaster and Riverstone Texture Medium on the angel wings
I originally thought that my wings were complete. However, my eyes fell upon my jar of X-Small Glass Bead Gel and I knew that I had to put a coat of it onto the wings. So, I did just that using a palette knife. Once it was dry, it was clear that I made the right decision. Look at the pic below to see a closeup of the brilliance of this product!
Adding a coat of X-Small Bead Gel
Look at the texture from the Glass Bead Gel - and it shimmers when the light hits it!
I next started to work on the angel bodies. I chose sheets of paper from the 49 and Market Christmas Spectacular 2023 paper collection that I wanted to use for the gowns. I traced the pattern onto each sheet and then fussy cut them out. I was careful to not cut the arms out and also cut a neckline instead of the head. The dresses were then glued down to each angel. Next up was coloring the face and arms of the angels, which I did using skin tone colored alcohol markers. With the heads colored, I went back with colors for their hair and colored it in. You may choose to not color your angels, or perhaps you may choose to use some colored paper. Do whatever speaks to you!
It was now time to add some additional design elements to each of the angels. As a nod to the using of scraps for Victorian dolls, I found an oval die that was the perfect size to add a puffy sleeve to the gowns and cut them out of the leftover paper scraps. I also cut out other pieces to use to decorate the front of the gowns. With everything cut out, I glued it all down. I wanted to add a little shimmer to each of the angels so I mixed some Halo Shimmering Matte Acrylic with a small touch of Vintage Patina Shimmering Matte Acrylic and some Perfect Clear Texture Gel. I added the Clear Texture Gel because I wanted a glossy look in addition the shimmer. I used a paint brush to apply a coat over each of the angels from head to toe. It helps with ageing them, which I added to by also lightly blending some Tim Holtz Distress Tea Dye and Vintage Photo inks over them. A bow was glued at the waist of each angel to make it look like each gown as a bow.
Look at the shimmer and gloss on each of angel!
I wanted to add a little nature to each angel in addition to having a place to hold a word associated with Christmas. I used some faux winter branches and cut them down to fit from one hand to the other hand of the angel. I had some of the Halo/Vintage Patina/Clear Texture Gel mix (discussed above) leftover and brushed it onto each branch to add a wintery aesthetic to each. While they dried, I took out letter tiles to spell the words love, joy, and peace. I used some Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Inks to add some vintage grunge to them.
Adding some vintage grunge!
Once the branches were dry, I used super glue to glue each letter to a branch so that I had three branches with three different words. I then glued a branch to each angel using superglue and then glued two white poinsettia flowers to each branch.
I created the halo for each angel using some 20 gauge stainless steel wire. I formed a circle and then bent the remaining wire down so that I would have a way to attach it to the angel. A gold metallic marker was used to color the halo gold.
Making halos!
I attached the halo to the back of each angel using superglue and a foam tape square. This will keep the wire in place.
Attaching the halo
The wings were attached to the back of the angel using the double sided foam tape squares and super glue. I used the foam tape squares to help add some dimension. The final step was to glue down three small pearl gems at the neckline of each angel's gown. The angels were now complete and I was so happy with how they turned out. Here are some pics of each individual angel.
Thanks for spending some time here with me on the blog today. Until next time . . . be well!
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