Water Bottle Santa Claus

We've been working on Christmas crafts around here for awhile. Some are for Project Penguin that we'll start sharing on the blog next week and some will be gifts that we won't share on the blog until after Christmas. This Water Bottle Santa is neither of those.  

Materials: 8 oz. water bottle, white gesso, paint (red, tan, pink and white), black Sharpie, cotton balls and glue

Start by removing the label from the water bottle. Give the entire bottle, including the cap, a light coat of gesso. Let it dry. Paint the top and bottom sections red and the middle section white. Mix the tan and pink paints to get a skin tone you like, then paint an oval in the center for Santa's face. Let the paint dry.

Use the Sharpie to draw eyes and a nose in the face. Then tear bits from the cotton balls to make a beard and eyebrows and glue them in place. Make a small ball of cotton for the top of Santa's hat and glue it in place.

Finally, stretch out a cotton ball and then roll it like a snake to make a long, even coil. Glue it around the base of the hat, hiding the area where the white and red paint touch. 

I'm rethinking my original statement that this Santa isn't a gift. Someone just might get Santa after all...