When I posted my Krampus Nutcracker in January, the idea of a Nutcracker Along was floated, so when I saw the nutcracker blanks for sale at Michael’s in October I consulted with a few Lettuce Heads and started a thread! Here is MY nutcracker.
The holiday Season can be… hectic. The gift shopping, the gift wrapping, the baking, and the decorating. The events*, the gatherings*, the travel*, the movies & TV shows. This and two other things inspired this nutcracker: 1) a cute-monster snowman ornament I have pinned and 2) my original snowman arrived broken and they just sent me another… so I had a couple of extra arms!
In the spirit of embodying all the fun and chaos of the season, I have taken a ridiculous number of photos to try to capture the dozens of hours of details. You’re welcome. 
Before:
I took one a lot part and the other I took a little apart. Later I removed the hat and cut the head so it would sit crooked.
I also modified the carrot nose to sit crooked. His eyes are two different sizes of self adhesive plastic rhinestones, painted black and glazed. His mouth is always ARG-ing, but wanted it to be extra distraught when open, so gave him a few teeth and a tongue.
I thought having too many arms was a great representation of having too many things to do to get ready. Each hand has a different style “mitten” and one is an oven mitt which I carved to look quilted and added both a thumb and a hanging loop. And each is holding a different holiday season object. His apron is holding supplies as well.
Of course, it’s not just the things in his hands that he has to do, but all the other things he’s literally wading through.
What’s with the rubber chicken? First, they’re inherently “random” and I had one! Second, a very simliar rubber chicken was part of a Christmas tradition with my dad’s side of the family that went on from my early adulthood until about 8 years ago - a sort of white elephant gift exchange among the adults.
I added feet of wood plugs.
Oops! I forgot to show all the numbers for the countdown! One cube is stripes, the other dots; using the colors of paint from the mitts.
I only bought 3 things for this project: the nutcracker (ended up with two as described above), a floral pick that I cut up to make the garland, and the rope molding that I painted to look like a candy cane to decorate the lever on the back. EVERYTHING else is stash!
When I do a project like this with lots of details and lots of stash rummaging, I like to track all the tools and materials that went into it. And then I like to share that information. 
TOOLS: putty knife, utility knife, hammer, needle nose pliers, pall point pen, mechanical pencil, exacto knife, file, rasp, keyhole saw, miter saw (hand), miter box, paper scissors x2, fabric scissors, paint brushes, probe, wax carving tools, pen end cap, tin can, wood skewer, bone folder, rubber band, paint can opener, craft sticks, internet/laptop, smart phone, centering punch, guillotine cutter, power drill, sand paper, oven, forceps, iron, bias tape maker, air/water soluble pen, sewing machine, wire cutter, camera, printer.
MATERIALS: printer paper, craft wood, felt glue, 3-in-1 glue, vintage “lights”, various ornaments, plastic ribbon decoration, pompons, bottle brush tree and wreath, spray paint, l pick, floral wire, balsa wood, dowels, craft paints, stamp ink x 4, bias tape, ribbons, ric racs, polymer clay, glaze, water, paper straw, printed cardstock, wood filler, wood glue, cello tape, snowtex, beads: pearl, glass, plastic, mini tinsel garland x 3, striaght pin, turbo tacky glue, fabric, art glitter glue, dimensional paint, resin embellishments, button, thread, stain & seal, wood plus, self-stick rhinestones, aluminum wire, mini sharpie, various miniatures, fun fur, hot glue, clear varnish.
*Usually, that is.
Love!!