Every year I make Christmas ornaments for our friends. Some years I find an idea right away, sometimes it comes right down to the last minute. I have been making them for years.
It started out of necessity. Money was tight and we were not going to be able to buy our friends presents. I pulled out some of our glass ornaments and pulled out some stain glass paint from a past project. I painted snowflakes, gingerbread men and more on the ornaments. Then I put our friends names on the ornaments and the year.
Everyone loved them so much that I decided to make ornaments the next year, too. And so it now is tradition for us to give our friends a special Christmas ornament every year. Sometimes this there only gift sometimes we give them a little more.
The second year I created an ornament by pouring acrylic paint into clear ornaments and swirling it around, you can follow this tutorial if you want to try it. This is a great craft to do with children, too.
Then I created an ornament by stuffing snowflake sequins into the glass ornaments and adding glitter. I used glass paint to date them. Then I tied fun blue and white yarn all over the wire that sticks out of the top. And then added a nice ribbon to hang it from.
The year before last I used Styrofoam balls and wrapped them in ribbon. With them my friends received word plaques decorated with ribbon to match the ornaments. Here is an example of how I decorated the words. To decorate the balls I wrapped them with the main color over and over. Then used the accent color to add little decorations. Here is a simple tutorial on how to make some similar ornaments.
Last year I found these really neat metal word tags that were meant for scrapbooking. They were on sale and I knew I could use them to make ornaments. I snapped them right up. I used wire to add some large crystal beads above the words and to create a hanger. They turned out very elegant and unique.
I also started creating ornaments for an ornament exchange that I am a part of with my Ladies’ Game Night. I always create something with a dice theme. I created dice with Styrofoam and sequins with a tutorial similar to this. Last year I created an ornament similar to my snowflake ornament but added tiny dice to it. This year I created a die with a box I made from cardboard and glitter pom poms.
You can use this tutorial to make similar ornaments.
I wish I had taken more pictures of my ornaments, but the memories of making them are still with me. I also love when I go to my friends homes and see them on their trees.
Want to find more ideas on making homemade ornaments? Check out Craftster.org a great site for anyone who loves to craft. Or you can just head over to flikr and search handmade ornaments for inspiration.
