25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - DAY 7

Whew, this was a loooooong day, but I finally had a chance to sit down and tackle this one

I picked up a package of these eggs around Easter and never did anything with them. 

And who says they don't work at Christmas?

 

Before I glued these paper strips on the egg, I poked a hole in the top with a small screwdriver

 

I knotted the end of a piece of silk ribbon and pushed it through the hole

 

 

The next step was pretty fussy, to say the least.  I cut down several strips of patterned paper and smeared Modge Podge all over the egg and the paper strips.

 

When the Modge Podge was dry, I spritzed on a clear texture spray to finish it off.

 

Then I pulled out these gorgeous crocheted blossoms

 

 

I used hot glue to attach them around the top and the bottom of the egg.

 

Some rhinestones completed the blossoms

 

 

Thank goodness it's Saturday tomorrow - I'm ready to sleep in and get a jump start on my next ornament...

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - DAY 6

Here's an ornament idea I stumbled on and wanted to try.

 

I gathered these supplies

And then I prepared the dough

 

{Ingredients}

 

1 Cup Salt

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Water

 

Directions: Mix together until smooth.  The dough will probably be wet, but don't panic.  Just add flour (I added 1/4 cup) until it's not too sticky to handle.  I took a small chunk and rolled it out.  I recommend having flour handy to sprinkle over the dough as you roll it out.

 

I may have rolled some sections out too thin, but it's a learning process so I decided not to let it bother me.  I have plenty of dough left, and I'm sure my girls will want to try this when they see mine.

 

I chose some stamps and two colors of ink.

 

I first tried this bird stamp

 

 

I don't know if the pearlescent ink I chose will show up well, but I wanted to give it a try.

I may have pressed too hard, but I kind of like the outline of the stamp on the dough.

 

Once I tried a few stamps, I used some biscuit cutters to create circle shapes.  Of course, other shapes would work, as well (I have a good heart shaped cookie cutter that would work).

 

 

Before baking, I created the holes for the string (floss, twine, ribbon, jute, etc.).  My straw for my Starbucks cup worked perfectly for this

 

 

And a small screwdriver worked for the smaller ornaments

 

 

They are currently baking (on a parchment lined baking sheet) at the recommended 250 degrees for 3 hours, but I'll be checking them often.

 

Mostly I want to dry them out so I can string them.

 

I'll update this post when they're done...

ETA: Here they are.  I spritzed them with a shimmer spray to give them a shine.

And here's what I learned

- I would lower the oven temperature and bake them for longer.  One of the ornaments started to brown on the bottom, and another one puffed up a bit (although I think that one was way too thin to begin with).
- Unlike the other ornaments I've made so far, this one was quite challenging.  Getting the consistency of the dough right took some extra time and it's important to roll out the dough to an even thickness.
- This one is not as kid-friendly as the previous ornaments I've made.

But I'm still happy with how they turned out and I will absolutely make these again.

 

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - DAY 5

Okay, so this one's still drying, but that doesn't mean I can't share the supplies and the general idea.  That counts, right?

 

Well, here are my supplies

 

Everytime I go to my local antique store I see a few vendors make great use of vintage photos/cards by turning them into ornaments and adding glitter, buttons, ribbon, etc.  So I found a few vintage Christmas images online and printed them off. 

 

I glued them to some chipboard

 

 

Once they were dry, I cut them out and punched a hole in the corner of this one

 

 

Some glue around the outside, and then some glitter

 

 

And....

 

I'll add a photo in the morning of the finished ornament. 

 

Next time I'll take into account drying time.

 

ETA: Here it is

 

 

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - DAY 4

Here's a quick little ornament that I whipped up this evening after attending my daughters' choir concert.

 

Here are my

 

SUPPLIES

 

 

Glass ornament

Adhesive shapes

Glitter

Plastic tray

 

Here are the steps:

 

I applied the adhesive shape to my ornament

 

 

Here's what it looked like after I removed the paper

 

 

I chose some ultrafine glitter and sprinkled it generously over the adhesive

 

 

Super easy!

 

This is the first of a few glass ornaments I will be decorating - so many ideas floating around in my head.

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - DAY 3

The GOOD news is that I made this ornament much earlier today, but I didn't get a chance to post about it until now.

 

Here's the ornament

Yep, it's another tree, but this one's made of wire.

 

For all the details, read on.

 

 

{SUPPLIES}

Cardboard cone

20 gauge wire

Round nose pliers/wire cutter

Beads in a variety of colors

 

To start I used the round nose pliers to create a loop at the top of the tree.

 

 

 

I used the same cone that I used for yesterday's ornament, and I wrapped the wire around the tree. 

 

 

Here's what it looked like when I pulled it off the cone.



 

I added the beads to the wire in no particular order - I liked the randomness of it.

 

 

And here's what I learned:

 

- This took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

- I'm glad that I decided to use a small cone, especially since I used such small beads.  Any more wire and it would have turned into quite a tedious process.

- Next time I would like to periodically add a large bead to make it look more like Christmas ornaments are on the tree.

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - DAY 2

Christmas trees are everywhere!  And I decided to put a tree on my tree.  A little one, that is.

 

Here it is

 

SUPPLIES

 

Cardboard cone

Jute

Floss

Buttons

Hot glue

And here's how I put it together.

 

I began by using hot glue to create a hanger for my ornament.  I crisscrossed a piece of floss underneath a piece of the jute.

 

 

Then I secured a looooong piece of jute with hot glue and then I wrapped it around the cone. 

 

 

Periodically I added a drop of hot glue to keep it secure.

Once I completed the process and glue the end of the jute to the cardboard I put a large dot of hot glue right in the middle of the tree.

 

 

Can you see it?

 

Well, that's where I put one button

 

 

I finished the tree by staggering a few more buttons in assorted shades of green and in different sizes all around the tree.

Here's what I learned:

 

- I can make one tree in about 10 minutes!
- This would be a great project to make with my kids (who are 6 and 8) - although they might need help with the hot glue. 

- It was super easy and it would be difficult to mess this one up.

 

Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration.  I found TONS of cone tree ideas which evolved into this project.

 

I'm hoping to get started earlier in the day on tomorrow's ornament...

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - DAY 1

Okay, better late than never for this one!

 

It took nearly all day for me to have the time to make these ornaments today because Saturdays are busy around my house. 

 

Also, I'm challenging myself to make a new one every day, rather than make a bunch in advance (which I am very tempted to do!).

 

So let me get started...

 

Here's the ornament that I designed

 

Now, if you're interested in HOW I created them, read on...

 

My Supplies

 

Several colors of felt

Scissors

Floss (in two colors)

Needle

Bling (for the eyes)

Modge Podge (for glue)

Chipboard birds

I traced my bird shapes adding 1/8-1/4 of an inch around the outside so that it looks like this when I place the chipboard bird on top of the felt bird.

I used the first felt shape as a guide for a second shape in the same color.  I chose to make two ornaments in different colors.

I cut some wings (4 - 1 for each side of both birds).  I totally eyeballed this one - I did a freehand drawing on some brown felt and cut 3 more using this one as a guide.

 

 

I glued the felt onto the chipboard by brushing some Modge Podge onto the chipboard.  The reason I chose to put the chipboard in the ornament is that it gives it a nice sturdy shape.

 

To finish the ornaments, I did a whipstitch around the wings (before gluing them onto the bird) with a beige floss, and around the bird's body with dark brown floss (hence the extra felt around the outside).

 

 

I thought about doing a blanket stitch, but I thought I would like the look of the whipstitch better.

 

I left about 6-7 inches of floss hanging off the first stitch so that once I made it all the way around, I could just tie it off and create a hanging element.

 

Here's what I learned during this process:

 

- It took approximately 45 minutes, start to finish

- I didn't pull the floss as tight on each stitch with the blue bird as with the red bird, and I like the look of it a lot better.

 

 

{On a side note: While I know I'm not the first to create felt ornaments, this exact ornament design - aside from the bird shape - is mine.}

 

 

I'll be back tomorrow with another ornament, so come on back and check it out...