An Early Christmas Present...A Pixie Tutorial~

I have had so many requests for a Pixie Tutorial that I decided it was high time I did one... Here it goes...

You will need:

• A black and white or sepia toned photo of a baby or small child. You will want a full body not just a head shot.
• A page from an old book, newsprint, or music
• Light weight cardboard or cardstock
• Scissors (you can also use an Xacto knife)
• Stick glue
• Distressing ink
• Glitter glue (optional)
• Any other embellishments you may want to add

1. Begin by gluing the photo and the book page to the cardboard or cardstock. REMEMBER...the glue stick is your friend...every square inch of the photo should be affixed to cardstock...and a good 6" square of the book page (or music or newsprint) also.

2. After the glue has dried, cut out around the baby image. I use scissors for this step, but you may wish to use an Xacto - whatever you find easier.

3. I then freehand a wing pattern out of a bit of the cardstock. Just make one...you can reverse it for each wing.

4. Trace the image onto the glued book page.

5. Cut out the wings.

6. Take your distressing ink and smudge it on each wing. I like to use a tissue and then blend it with my fingers, but you can follow the directions on the package if you want ;-) I always make the wings darker on the edges and lighter in the center.

7. This next step is optional - edge the wings with the glitter glue. I may choose to omit this step depending on what sort of pixie I'm making...is it for Christmas or Halloween? etc.

8. After the wings dry, glue them to the back of the cut-out baby image.

9. You can create a little stand by gluing a small piece of cardstock folded into a "V" onto the back of the pixie at the bottom...or you may not need to do this depending on how you would like to display them.

This is the basic pixie...now you can do a couple of different things...you can leave it as is...or you can embellish it. (I, of course, think you should embellish it!)






For my Halloween pixies, I added little witch hats made from black construction paper...for my Christmas pixie I added some more glitter glue and a banner that says "Happy Holidays"...for this New Years' Pixie I added a cute little banner flag that says 2009. The possibilities are endless.

Good luck with your pixies! If you make some, make sure to post them and let me see how they turn out!

Happy Crafting~