Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 23

Today is also known as my first official day of Christmas Holidays. Ahhhh my bed felt so good this morning as we two enjoyed a few quiet moments together without the rude interruption of an alarm telling me to get up once, twice, three times. I could have stay with you even longer this morning has it not been for the noise of visitors and the pressure of a morning routine.
But now for the blog...
I've seen this idea in various guises in lots of places, especially Pinterest and I've always loved it and thought i was a really great idea and more importantly thought it would be lots of fun... and after all that's what life is all about.
I'm talking of course about Themed Photo Booths. I've seen them designed for weddings, engagement parties, birthdays and of course Christmas. Not only is there usually a setting but also Photo Booth Props and this is today's craft item. 
I've made some Santa beard props for our family photos. As everyone will be wearing their Santa hat, as per the request in the Christmas Day invite, I just know the perfect prop is of course a beard and mustache. I saw some links on Pinterest to various different ideas so I have created my own using what I had at home.

• Firstly I sketched some mustaches, cut them out and measured them against my face for sizing. (Sorry no templates as I free-handed this)
• I figured I needed this to be a solid base to hold everything together so I used some Paper Clay to form the mustache. Mold it and shape it into a flattish sheet then trace around the patterns from the first step. I use an awl with a fine point to trace them, then cut around the pattern using a craft knife.
• Repeat for the second pattern (if you want a second mustache/beard set) then leave to dry overnight. The humidity was so bad here that on day three I put them into the roof access and they finally dried out overnight.
• Sand them down to remove the sharp edges from cutting them out and reshape them a little to look more natural. I used three grades of sandpaper... just from my scrapbooking distressing stash.
• Dust them well with a hard dry-brush then paint with a double layer of white gesso on both sides as well as the edge. For a more magical look paint a double layer of clear glitter paint on the front only. (Unfortunately this didn't show up very well in the photos - must be my poor lighting in here again.)
• Sketch a pattern for the beard making sure to trace the bottom edge of the mustache to get the fit right. Fold the paper in half before cutting to make sure both sides ended up looking the same.
• Pin the pattern onto white felt and cut out.
• As an optional extra decorate your beards with hand or machine stitching. Although it is a decorative extra, I did this also to stop (hopefully) the felt being stretch or torn during all the photos. 
• Glue the beard to the bottom of the mustache. I used about 1/4" crossover and used Helmar Tiger Grip for the glue. It was dry in about 2 hours, though I made sure I did this a couple of days before the props are needed just to allow some curing time.
• Finish by attaching a wooden dowel or stick to use as the mask handle. I cut mine 30cm long and attached it with the Helmar Tiger Grip Glue, though you could also try a hit glue gun for both of these steps. Unfortunately you can't see the dowel very clearly as it's inside the bottle I'm using as my display tool.

Put the props inside your photo booth and let the fun begin. I will be posting some of the photo booth pictures both here and on Facebook, so be sure to check back after Christmas Day to see my nutty family and how much fun we all had with our Christmas Day Photo Booth.