While the holiday season often brings out the natural crafter in many people, the desire to present friends and family members with a homemade Christmas gift can sometimes overwhelm even the most creative person.
I came up with this idea a few years ago when I saw very expensive hand-painted spoons in a quaint local gift store and decided to put my own twist on the idea. If you can wield a paintbrush and assemble a few pieces, this Santa Claus spoon wall plaque is relatively inexpensive and fun to create.
Supplies Required for Santa Claus Spoon Plaque
Before you get started, here are the supplies you will need. Naturally, you can adjust the shape of the plaque and quantity of spoons to fit your particular needs.
- One plain wood plaque
- Four 10” wooden spoons
- Five cup hooks
- Four hook eyes
- Craft paint
- Computer, printer & paper
- Carbon paper
- 12” of ribbon
Type and print the saying in the font style and size you choose. Just make sure it will fit in the space available on your plaque. The saying reads: If “no creature was stirring, not even a mouse,” maybe there weren’t any spoons in the house.
For the heart design, you can choose to draw it (or another design that will fit) onto plain white paper; or you might want to pick something from a coloring book, wrapping paper or off the Internet.
Creating the Santa Claus Spoon Plaque
Begin by making sure the wood plaque is smooth and free of nicks. That may mean you’ll need to sand it first. Give it one coat of primer to seal the wood. Once prepped, paint the face of the plaque white and the edge and back red using acrylic craft paint. Allow to dry completely.
With the carbon side down, trace the saying and heart design onto the white face of the wooden plaque. Use black craft paint on the saying and red and green on the heart design. Allow to dry thoroughly than coat with an acrylic sealer to retain the beauty year after year.
Insert a cup hook, centered, into the top. That is how you will hang the plaque. Insert the remaining cup hooks evenly across the bottom of the plaque (like a key rack). This is where you will hang all your spoons.
Designing Your Santa Claus Spoons
Now it’s time to allow your personal creativity to shine. Each Santa has his own expression, eye color and hair type. They each have different mustaches and skin coloring. One even sports a pair of glasses.
The only things that are consistent are that the spoon handle is red with a band of fur above the face to represent Santa’s hat and each face sits within the spoon bowl, along the edges and around to the back of the spoon as well.
Before you begin painting, draw each Santa face on each spoon with pencil. Acrylic paint is very forgiving, so you can make adjustments or change the look as you go along.
To help give the spoons dimension, I shaded the paint especially around the nose and throughout the hair and fur. Again, how you do it is your choice. That’s why this project is fun.
Take your time with each spoon, allowing the paint to dry before turning it over or moving on to another section. Once done, coat it with an acrylic sealer and let it dry.
Now carefully insert a hook eye into the top of each spoon. The wood is soft so it should be easy to do. However, be careful not to split the wood.
The final step is to add the ribbon. Leaving a large loop, tie the ends into a knot first then a bow. The knot will keep the bow secure. Slip the loop over the top hook, hang each spoon on a lower hook and display where everyone can see.
Merry Christmas!
Deborah S. Hildebrand - Deborah S. Hildebrand is a freelance writer & HR consultant with 20+ years in human resources & a Bachelor's degree in Business.
