Homemade Christmas Ornament Ideas!
Dec 06 '05
The Bottom Line Stop reading ... start crafting!
With Christmas less then twenty days away I am working like one of Santa’s elves to get done with the ornaments. Every year I have this grand plan of making 20 - 30 of one type of ornament a month so when December rolls around I have at least ten unique designs that I can pop into a small basket and give to friends. I came up with this idea years ago and guess what, it’s never gone according to plan. January rolls around and I put it off until February and so on. Now I am trying to play ‘beat the clock’ and get done with the designs I came up with so I have enough time to get them out. This has also prompted Annabelle to start doing her own ornaments; every year the brood put up their own tree in their room and they decorate it the way that they want to. This means I don’t have to have 100 NASA themed ornaments on my tree. She’s had good luck so far but when she tried to make a five pointed star from popsicle sticks it came out looking like a pentagram ... not exactly something you want on a tree.
So here it goes .. some very easy, quick and inexpensive ornaments that you or your kids can make.
Popsicle Stick Snowflakes & Stars
Items Needed:
Clean popsicle sticks
all purpose glue or glue sticks
buttons, glitter, embellishments
string or yarn
First you have to pick out a design for your snowflake, since no two are alike there is no right or wrong way to make them but you do want to try to keep them symmetrical so that they hang right from the tree. When you have them positioned the way you want, use a liquid glue or glue stick to put them together. If they have several layers to them, use a wooden clothes pin to keep them balanced and in place while the glue is drying. I usually do a six pointed star by making a triangle from three sticks and another triangle from another three sticks. Lay the first triangle over the second until and move it around until you get the shape of a star. Allow it to dry completely then you can paint it or use a spray paint [do this outside to avoid mess and fumes]. Add what ever you want to them; left over embellishments, buttons, glitter, beads ... you get the point. These look so cool when you spray paint them gold or silver then add some small pearls to them. Kids love to make these because they can design them any way they like. You can buy the sticks in different sizes or swap the tongue depressors from your doctors office. When you are done you can hit them with a dealer if you used glitter to keep it from falling all over the place and then use yarn or string to hang it up.
Box Ornaments
Items Needed
Small boxes
wrapping paper
tape
ribbon
These are really cute to add to a tree or hang from a fireplace with the stockings. Take small boxes [we use the mini raisin boxes as well as the individual serve cereal boxes] and wrap them like you would a regular present, add some ribbon and if you want, a tiny little gift card. You can use double sided tape to make a line of these going up a wall or use a ornament hanger around the ribbon to hang it on the tree. Since you can use any type of wrapping paper [including aluminum foil, tissue paper, comics from the newspaper or pieces of scrap felt] you can add a lot of color to a tree in just a few minutes. A nice twist on this is to have a Christmas version of the Easter Egg Hunt. Hide these little boxes all over the place then let the kids open them when they are all found.
Advent Calendar
This takes a little more time than the others but they are a great gift for kids to give to each other. Be on the look out for small items at party supply stores that you can use inside the calendar but don’t wait until the last minute to get these items because you need to have this done before December starts. You can use anything you like for these but styrafoam egg cartons are the easiest to work with and obtain.
You will need to find some type of holder for the gifts; if you have a ton of small boxes, spray paint them and start numbering them from one to twenty four and arrange them in a random order inside a larger box. Don’t glue them yet, you will need to make a cut out type flap so you can get the gift in and the receiver can get it out without ripping it to shreds. I use an X-Acto knife for this because you get clean edges and you can press the flap back into the box without it opening up. If you are going to use egg cartons you will need to cut out a thick cardstock, place the gifts inside the nooks then glue the covers on them. Use a glue stick for this, it creates less of a mess and dries quicker. Some ideas that we have used in the past for gifts include: cartoon type erasers, fake jewelry, toys, coins, fast food gift certificates [folded up], mini stickers, candy and other small treats. Kids like having something to open every day and most of the time they could care less if it’s some small little thing that cost a few cents, they get a thrill out of getting a surprise.
Spaghetti Art
Items Needed:
Cooked spaghetti
markers, paint or Kool Aid packets
wax paper or parchment paper
muffin tins
Take your cooked spaghetti and allow it to cool, make sure the water is drained off of it when you start. Lay out a sheet of wax paper and arrange the pasta into different shapes. One thing I started doing with the spaghetti was to put it in the bottom of a muffin pan in a circular swirl. You can make the swirl as tight or loose as you want. Allow it to dry completely and then paint it, use markers on it or a mix of a few drops or water and unsweetened Kool-Aid to color it. These make very cute ornaments or you can use them to add to home made greeting cards for some extra flair. This works best with a thinner spaghetti because you don’t have to glue anything together and it dries out quicker. You will want to work on wax or parchment paper so that the pasta won’t stick. If you want to ensure that you get completely flat pieces, place apiece of wax paper over it and then a book [nothing too heavy or it will smoosh it] on top of it. This will increase the drying time needed but in most cases, they are dried out in a day. These look great if you take the time to make intricate designs. If you have old candy molds, you can also use the spaghetti in the molds to make hearts, trees or other holiday shapes. People really freak out when they see these and they ask what they are made of .. most don’t believe that it’s plain old spaghetti. If you have larger cookie cutters you can put the pasta inside it and use it as a form - there’s no limit to what you can make from this very easy project.
Dog Bone Reindeer
Items Needed
Large dog biscuits
wiggle eyes
scrap felt pieces
red or white pipe cleaners
ribbon
Have the dog bone in a vertical position and glue two of the wiggle eyes near the top of the bone, a little bit down from where the circles are on the ends of the bone. Take the red or white pipe cleaners and make them into antlers - just cut them to about three inches and make a small loop at the end of them. Glue these to these back of the bone. When the glue dries, use scrap pieces of felt to make a scarf if you want ... make a loop from some ribbon and glue it to the back of the bone and you are done!
These are some of the more basic ornaments that I’ve made in the past and am making for this year. The more intricate ones don’t take a lot of time bit it would take forever for me to type it out - those are the ones that are best shown with a step by step photo series so you understand exactly what is going on. With a little bit of imagination you can think up all kinds of cool crafts for Christmas and just about every other holiday. The Spaghetti Art one is so cool to do for Halloween to make bats; just get a small bat cookie pan or mini bat baking pan, wrap the spaghetti around the shape of it and allow it to dry. You can make a ton of these to hang from the ceiling - a cheap yet very awesome decoration that you can throw out when you are done with it.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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