Charming DIY Sheep Folk Art How To

Craft your own sheep folk art with simple hand painting and dried pussy willows. Here’s the easy how to.

It can be so satisfying to create your own custom art. Folk art has a simple style and can be made using everyday materials. With a little creativity and craftiness, you can create unique home decor with country cottage style. Here’s a Charming DIY Sheep Folk Art How To that will hopefully inspire your ideas!

This post is part of our bi-monthly Lifestyle of Love series, hosted by my friend, Cindy, from County Road 407. This group of talented bloggers loves everything vintage, antique, repurposed and farmhouse. Today we’re all focusing on dried florals, and I can’t wait to see all the inspiration!

If you’re visiting from Dabbling and Decorating, aren’t you jealous of Ann’s amazing vintage find? I want to find of those, too! Links to all the rest will be at the end.

Charming DIY Sheep Folk Art How To

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Dried Flowers As Inspiration

Bunches of pussy willows can easily be found at Trader Joe’s and other flower markets in early Spring. I love adding their rustic texture to floral bouquets or even my outdoor containers. Pussy willows look the same when they dry, but the little pods fall off more easily than when they’re fresh.

As I looked at the fuzzy little shapes, they reminded me of sheep’s wool. My mom had a sweet folk art sign that said, “Fear not, little flock”, with a couple of sheep below. I don’t know what happened to it, but I decided to recreate it. I’ve been wanting to decorate with more sheep for Easter, since Jesus is our Good Shepherd (and we are as helpless as sheep without Him).

Hopefully this custom folk art will inspire you to get creative, too!

How to Make Sheep Folk Art

Start with a rustic board or any scrap vintage piece. I’ve been squirreling a couple of old door panels for a project like this.

You can’t take yourself too seriously when creating folk art. It should have a simple look. I googled folk art sheep images just to get an idea of how to start.

Pencil draw a couple of sheep. I think it’s easier if you start with the head and ears. Then the chubby body around and behind, and lastly the stubby legs and tail.

How to Hand Paint Words

I wanted to hand paint the words at the top, but I needed a guide. You can choose different fonts in either Pic Monkey or Canva, online photo editing websites. I turned a blank page to landscape version and typed out the words across the top of the page. I printed them off to see if the words were the correct size for the board.

Next, you need carbon tracing paper and a stylus (get them HERE).

Put the carbon tracing paper, dark side down behind the first word, where you want it. Using the stylus tool, trace all around the word. When you take it away, you will see the word outline on your board.

After tracing the first word, I realized I could get better placement if I cut the tracing paper smaller and have it just behind the word.

Hand Paint Sheep Details

Next it’s time to paint! I used watercolor acrylic paints for a soft, more translucent look.

Here are the paints I used: black paint, light blue paint, green paint, white paint.

You’ll also want a brush set like THIS.

With a small brush hand paint words. I turned the board around, so I wouldn’t smudge anything with my hand while I was painting. Once the black words are dry, you can go back and add some brush strokes of the light blue for interest.

Paint the sheep heads, feet and tails with the black also. Paint sheep bodies with white.

Last, Add Dried Pussy Willow Texture

For the big ooh aah of this cute folk art piece, warm up your glue gun (I really liked THIS ONE for this project). Take the fuzzy pods off your dried pussy willows; you’ll need quite a few.

Hot glue the fuzzy pods to create sheep’s wool. I started with the top edge and filled in closely below. Yes, holding the little pods is tricky. Your fingers will get sticky and fuzzy. Don’t glue any on the black face, legs or tail.

Charming DIY Sheep Folk Art Big Reveal

It turned out so cute! It’s so satisfying to create your own art. And being able to just sit and craft for a couple hours, listening to the birds chirp outside the window is so relaxing:)

I got the words smudged a little when I quickly brushed some poly around the wood edge:( But those little dried pussy willow fuzzy pods are perfect to make sheep! You’ll want to “pet” your art!

But here’s my question…should I paint some eyes? Or is it more folk art-ish to not have them? Let me know in the comments.

See more of our Lifestyle of Love series HERE.

I love it when my blogging friends inspire me to be creative! I hope you’re all inspired to get crafty, too; it’s so satisfying. For a pretty dried hydrangea centerpiece idea, visit my super creative friend, Rachel, at The Ponds Farmhouse next!

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