Craft a Cotton Batting Frog on A Lily Pad

       A cotton batting ornaments of a frog seated on a lily pad. You could give him an additional crwon to make him a prince if you like but I prefer to keep him all-natural. His flesh is painted but his sharper features are drawn on using a permanent ink pen instead. You can always repaint ornaments like these if the lights on your tree fade the colors out.

 

The painted cotton batting frog from three angles.

        To make a frog ornament similar to this one you will need the following craft supplies: masking tape, tissue paper, white school glue, cotton batting, acrylic paints, and a permanent black ink pen.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Shape the tissues into a frog shape first. See the detailed photos below for guidence.
2. Shape a simple lily pad for the frog to sit upon. See the photos below.
3. Tape a long wire in it's center securely to the bottom of the lily pad so that this ornament may be twisted to a flat Christmas tree branch. This wire should be painted to match those colors of the branches you wish to attach him to. Paint the wire white for a white tree or green for a green tree. This will help to hide the attachment.
4. Fray out a small stack of cotton balls.
5. Using the white school glue and the cotton layer small sheets of the cotton onto all of the surfaces to cover the masked frog. This will take many layers to ''flesh out the frog.'' Be patient and allow each layer to dry before applying more glue and more cotton batting as you proceed. 
6. Once you have fleshed out the shapes with batting apply a final heavy coat of glue and paint the frog using acrylics.
7. After the paint dries use the permanent ink marker to color his eyes and lips.
8. If the paint fades in time, it's o.k. to repaint the frog.

The frog shaped using masking tape and tissue paper; as seen from three sides.

The masking tape covered lily pad is taped to the frog and a wire underneath is taped on to allow
the ornament to be attached to a tree branch from underneath. Four different viewpoints are 
photographed above. Click to see all pictures larger.