Otis Brings Home the Tree

No one can say that Otis doesn't have the Christmas spirit! He decorated his truck up big time for the season and has gone out and found the perfect Christmas tree.  I cut the hook off of two Vintage Truck Ornaments from Alpha Stamps, and using a Truck Bed Bagatelle Box, made a Christmas truck. Here's Otis, heading home.

I'm not one to decorate my car in real life, but I enjoyed decorating this car with Otis. He's a fun loving snowman that enjoys peppermint candy and snow, and the hubcaps and the garlands on his car reflect that. Even the door handles look like candy canes! The Hello Christmas Polymer Clay Slice Mix contains lots of fun shapes, including peppermints, snowflakes, and snowmen, all of which I used to decorate the car. 

The front of his car features a wooden bumper and a bright silver snowflake; flat backed crystals made the perfect headlights. The Santa hat is made with red felt and a cotton ball.

I think my favorite part of the car is the back view, from the "ho ho ho!" license plate to the glittery bow on the tree, to the "family stickers". Looks like Otis has a wife and child at home eagerly awaiting this tree. To make the snowman kiddo, I used an x-acto knife to make his hat a little smaller, trim his sides up a little, and make him shorter. The polymer clay is easy to cut.

Here's how this all started: the first step was painting the truck and wooden tires a nice Midnight Blue. It almost reads black, but you can see on the tires where they're sanded down that the blue really comes out. I trimmed the paper to fit the back part of the truck, and then glued it down before trimming the front and windows. Pictured below is the paper in place, ready to be trimmed around the front of the truck.

Once the paper is cut out and ready to go, it's time to assemble. I used tacky glue to put my truck together. Spread out all the glue so the entire surface is covered! Clothespins are great for holding everything together while the glue dries.

Details on the side of the car were made using a Stabilo pencil. I love this pencil so much I included a photo, should you want to get one. It draws a nice dark line, and you can take a brush with water to add a little shading with it. I used it to outline the doors and hood, and to stripe the sides of the car a little.

It appears that Otis has stopped on his way home to admire the starry night. Can't say I blame him. For a list of Alpha Stamps supplies used for this project, click here!