Steampunk Angel Christmas Tree Topper Project

My mother always topped her Christmas tree with an angel bedecked in all white. It held a candle and she uses it every year. The rest of the year, it is packed away carefully in the original box. One year, we lost an entire box of Christmas decorations with the precious angel tucked inside. While we settled for attaching a Cincinnati Flying Pig doll to the top of the tree, my mother was less than enthusiastic about the alternate. This year, I’ve created a backup plan so that my mother can have an angel on the top of her tree again.

This projects also provides a wonderful alternative use for our caged Santos dolls. Just leave off the base and any Santos doll can be used as a Christmas tree topper!

Steampunk Angel Christmas Tree Topper Project Directions:

Glue a piece of book text to the body and arms of the Steampunk Santos doll kit and trim with scissors.

Cover gears stencil by Tim Holtz with Distress Ink. Press firmly onto the body of the doll to leave an inked impression of the gears.

With a blending tool, distress the edges of the body and arms with brown ink.

Paint wings and crown with gold paint. To make the Dina Wakley Gilt paint less brassy, add some Sterling paint to it. This keeps the metallics shiny, but also mutes the gold color a bit.

Cover the edges of the wings with a thick coat of gel medium and sprinkle with Gold Rush Glass Glitter. Put a paper over top of the wings and press down to allow the glass glitter to adhere well to the gel medium. Shake away excess. Add an accent of glitter to the crown as well.

Assemble the upper body with the provided brads and hot glue the wings and crown in place.

Cover the top of the Santos cage with book text and trim with scissors, cutting out the hole where the torso slot fits together with the cage. Use hot glue to assemble the top of the cage with the slats provided in the kit. Do not use the base if you plan to use the finished angel as a tree topper.

Rip book pages from a music book to be just slightly longer than the cage. Paint along the ripped edge with gold paint.

Pleat the book text at the top and glue the pleats in place. Cut along the top of the pleats to even out the pleats and hot glue around the top of the cage to form the skirt. Repeat until entire cage is covered.

Distress book text skirt with ink pad and blending tool.

Glue top and bottom halves together.

Want to watch the complete process?
Click here to view our time-lapse video for making this steampunk angel.

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