One of my favorite parts of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade is the parade of Toy Soldiers. I love all the vintage vibes he brings to the parade!

I loved them so much that I created my own solider ornament a few years back. I’m no expert, but I want to share the instructions with you so you can enjoy a piece of magic too. You can use this Toy Soldier as an ornament or attach him a wreath, place setting, etc.

**Hot glue is required, use with caution**

You will need:

Hat Stencil (click here for the FREE printable)

Red Glitter Foam Sheet

Yellow Foam Sheet

Orange or Pink Foam Sheet for nose

Acrylic Paint – Cream, Black, and Pink

Small white feather

4″ Gold Pipe Cleaner

6 to 8 inch ribbon

Clear Plastic Craft Ornament

Hot Glue Gun

Small Paint Brush

Instructions:

Take cap off of ornament and set aside. Pour small amount of cream paint inside ornament and roll around until the whole ornament is covered. If it doesn’t seem to cover all of it, pour in just small amount of paint until fully covered.

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Allow to dry upside down for several hours or until dry. I like to let it dry upside down on an open egg carton, that way the excess paint drips out.

Print out stencil (click here for printable) and cut out shapes. Trace shapes on coordinating foam sheets and set aside.

Now comes for the free hand painting. See picture and video for reference. Paint hair section with black paint on ornament. I paint the outline first, so if I make a mistake, I can wipe it off easier and try again. Once the outline and ears seems to be in a good place, fill in remaining section of hair with black paint. Allow to dry for several minutes.

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Paint the eyes and mouth with black paint in oval shapes on face section of ornament. Paint pink circles for cheeks. Set aside and allow to dry.

While the paint is drying, start working on the foam pieces.

The soldiers nose piece is a bit tricky. *BE CAREFUL using the hot glue gun, it will burn you!* You’ll have to twist it to a point, then when you like how it looks, hot glue the ends in place and cut off excess pieces.

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Add hot glue on larger end of nose (*BE CAREFUL using the hot glue gun, it will burn you!*) and place in center of face. Place aside and start on hat.

Add hot glue to side of yellow strip and place on the lower part of red hat piece, right about the lip. Repeat with second yellow strip and place just above the first one.

Using caution, Hot glue feather to top center area of hat and then add small yellow oval piece on top of feather.

Take the little lip piece and pinch it up a bit in the center. Add a small dab of hot glue in the center to secure it in that position.

Replace cap of ornament and attach ribbon to loop.

Fit hat on top of soldier’s head, it should fall a little bit above his eyes. Then *carefully* hot glue overlapping pieces of hat to stay secure. Place hat back on head and when it’s where you want it, hot glue the front and back of the hat to the ornament.

Place gold pipe cleaner under soldiers nose and *carefully* add dabs of hot glue on ends. Place underneath hat and hold in place until secure.

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There you go! Hope you enjoy this magical DIY and it makes your Christmas tree even more special. And don’t forget to tag @amagicalkingdomcalledhome when you make one, I can’t wait to see it! Here’s the link to a quick little video I made while making this craft.

Esther