my own bit of martha

I don't always make ornaments to give at Christmas, but this year I did.  My sister asked me to find a cute ornament for her to make as small gifts, and I found one so cute that I couldn't resist.  Denise made different ones, so I made these:

Isn't that Santa just too cute??  His body (head and legs) are a clothespin and his legs and boots are painted.  Then his beard, hat trim, mustache, arms, and coat are felt.  The belt is some black ribbon and the buckle is a silver sequin.  His eyes are drawn on with a marker.  They also had a Mrs. Claus to make but she didn't look as cute.

This is one of the few crafts that came out exactly like the picture!

The worst part for me was the color of his "pants" that I painted didn't match his coat.  The paint I bought at the craft store based on the paper square in front of it was just all wrong.  The paper square matched the felt, but the paint did not.  I didn't want to go back to the store, so I used some ink I had for stamping, and just stamped the legs so to speak.  The color still isn't perfect, but it's better than the paint!

So here is the link to the craft: http://www.marthastewart.com/269511/clothespin-doll-ornaments.  The templates are there as well as instructions.  The instructions are very loose, but the picture is enough to duplicate the Santa.  The template is for all the different clothespin dolls, so you only need page 1 for the Santa.  I got lots of compliments because they turned out great!