How to Paint a Bee Wood Cutout

What’s the buzz you guys? The weather is getting warmer and the days longer. That means it’s time for some of my favorite projects. Today I’m showing you how to paint a bee wood cutout, and it is sooo cute!

I don’t know about you but bee decor never gets old for me. There is something so cute and happy about bee projects. In the video below, I’m showing you how to paint a bumble bee wood cutout that is perfect for both spring and summer!

I know that some people like to swap out their door decor often. But sometimes it’s nice to have the option to just hang up something you love and not worry about it for a while. Especially if you sell your items. It seems like those of us who sell our designs are the worst when it comes to actually making things for ourselves. Raise your hand if this is you! Whatever camp you fall into, if you love bees, this is the design for you!

Paint Your Own Bumble Bee Wood Cutout

I know that some of you craft for yourselves and the people close to you while others create handmade items to sell. This design is perfect for both types of crafters but there is an added benefit for those of you who sell your items. These bees are super easy to paint in batches! There is no need to use a heat gun or wait for each paint color to dry. You can paint the base coat on each of them and by the time you’re done with the last one, the first one is ready to move on to the next color. Using only three colors makes this super easy and effective!

Design Options

I love this design and so do many people in our crafting community! For that reason we offer this cute little bee in many sizes and shapes. We have sizes as small as 6 inches and all the way up to 20 inches. You can get it as a wood cutout by itself so you can add it to a wreath or with a wreath rail attached to it that you can decorate so it can be a door hanger. You can also get it with two holes at the neck. That way you can make a beautiful bow and add flowers and greenery and then secure them to the bee with a zip tie. There are sooo many different ways you can use this bee!

I left my wings the natural wood color and then added the black dots. If you like this look you can do the same. If you would rather paint the wings, though, go for it! You could do white or yellow wings and keep the black dots. Or, you could do black wings with white or yellow dots. You could also scrap the traditional bee colors all together and make yours whimsical with bright colors! There are so many different ways you could paint this little guy to make him your own. And, again, if you sell your items, you can make a separate listing for each design option. One wood cutout can make several different products!

Supply List

• Bee wood cutout
• Paint brushes (flat, filbert, and a liner brush)
• White acrylic paint
• Yellow acrylic paint
• Black acrylic paint
• Heat gun
• Mod Podge
• Black glitter
• Paper to catch your glitter

Paint by Line Instructions

1. Start by painting the entire thorax with white paint, this will be your base coat. You will still be able to see the lines through the white. Use a heat gun to speed the paint drying.
2. Next start painting the stripes on the bee thorax. Skip the top line because that will be black. Paint the second stripe yellow and then every other stripe.
3. Use the filbert brush to fill in the dots with your black paint. Then paint the head and antennae black too. Finally, go back to the thorax and paint the other stripes black.
4. Next use the liner brush and black paint to outline the whole bee.
5. Once all your paint is dry it’s time to add the glitter to the dots and antennae! Lay down a sheet of paper to catch the glitter then paint the mod podge onto a few dots. Then sprinkle on the black glitter and tap the cutout to remove any excess. Repeat this process until all of your dots and antennae are covered. When you are all done, make a taco with your paper and dump the glitter back into your container.

And that’s how to paint a bee wood cutout, friends! Easy peasy and oh so cute. You’ll see in the video that I add glitter to the dots and antennae on my bee. I love the way it looks but you can skip this step if you want to. I was anti glitter for a long time, it can be messy and is just one more step to the creative process.

Now I’m on the glitter band wagon though. Some of our designs seem like they were just made for glitter and it adds so much to the overall look. It’s definitely not necessary though. I’ve seen some adorable bee door hangers with no glitter at all! Whichever way you decide to go, I hope you have a ton of fun with your bee!

If you need any help with painting your own wood signs or wreath rails and decorating your custom wreath rails, be sure to check out more of our tutorials on Hot Mesh Mom Blog.

We would love to see your amazing wreath rail designs! Please share with us over at the Hot Mesh Mom Facebook.

Just pin this project tutorial to save the instructions for later!