Confession: I originally wrote this a few years ago when I was working at marketing-esque company as a blogger and copywriter. I’m pulling it from my archives since it’s no longer live on a site and my Pinterest peeps are clicking on the images.
DIY Christmas Ornaments
This weekend, I had a little bit of fun with Christmas crafts. Crafting Christmas ornaments, to be specific. I thought that homemade Christmas ornaments would be just the thing to get you started for the holiday season. (There’s no need to mention that much to the chagrin of my peers, my holiday spirit started 4 weeks ago with holiday music).
Growing up, my mom was all about the holiday crafting. She makes gorgeous wreaths for all of the holidays and seasons, but she would let me help with the Christmas designs. We would also create fun and colorful beaded Christmas ornaments to hang on the tree. Though many of them have long since disappeared, they hold a sweet memory in my heart.
The Raw Materials
In the spirit of holiday fun, I made six glass ball ornaments with simple items that I had lying around the house. I started with a pile of household materials: Clear glass ball ornaments, buttons, ribbon, Mardi Gras beads, and leftover fabric from Halloween costumes a few years ago. You may have other materials that would also be perfect for this project, so be creative with your ideas. You never know until you try it.
The Christmas Ornaments
Mardis Gras Beaded Ornaments
I made two Christmas ornaments with the Mardi Gras beads, the first a plain colored purple, and the second multicolored with traditional Mardi Gras colors of gold, purple, and green. I really liked both of these, and I loved the way they shimmered in the light. It was really easy to make them too!
For the purple ball, I just guided one strand of uncut beads inside through the small opening. For the multicolor Mardi Gras ball, I cut all three strands, and guided them in together through the opening, cutting the remaining beads off once the ball was filled. I used the scissors to push the beads all the way inside.
Memory-Inspired Ornaments
My next set of Christmas ornaments was in homage to our 2011 Halloween costumes, Poison Ivy and Ras Al Ghul. For those of you who love keepsakes, this is a great way to preserve any fabrics or materials that have meaning to you, whether you are using extra fabric from your wedding gown, a child’s favorite piece of clothing that they’ve outgrown, part of a blanket, or anything else that you can think of. Our family Christmas tree has always been loaded up with keepsake ornaments that didn’t come from Hallmark.
I cut a long strand of gold and black fabric that my boyfriend had used for his Ras Al Ghul costume, and a long strand of green velour fabric that I had used for my Poison Ivy costume, and guided them in the same way I guided the beads in. Again, I used the scissors to push the fabric into the glass balls. I also considered adding little pieces of ivy to the exterior of the green ornament with a hot glue gun to add to the Poison Ivy nostalgia from the costume.
Button-filled Christmas Ornament
The Christmas ornament idea that inspired me to get this ball rolling was the button-filled ornament. I had so much fun picking out the buttons from a huge collection that I came across at a garage sale over the summer. I knew my aunt was big into crafting with buttons, so I thought I might test the waters…
The buttons sat in my room untouched for several months before I finally decided what to do with them. I slid them into the opening of a glass ball ornament for a cute and fun little decoration. This one was probably the most time consuming, considering I had to make sure that the buttons fit, and choose the colors to have a decent variety.
Red & Silver Christmas Ornament
My last ornament, and personal favorite, is the ribbon filled ornament. I used a tinsel cord ribbon and a small thin red sheer cloth ribbon and laced them through the opening in the ball and let them intertwine with themselves throughout the ornament.
The result was a lovely red and silver shimmering ornament. I’ve always loved the red and silver combination of colors, and I think that the multiple mediums made for a cute combination inside the glass.
Overall, I had a great time crafting these Christmas ornaments, and it only took me about an hour to do 6 of them. At 10 minutes per ball, you can easily make a beautiful set to give to someone you love.
Happy crafting!
14 Responses
I’m not crafty at all, but these look super easy! Though I’ve never seen hollow ornaments like that before… but I’m probably just not looking in the right place.
And by hallow I meant hollow. Obviously.
Of course, I have no idea what you’re talking about. No spelling errors here. 😉
Silly me. I must have been mistaken.
Must have 😉
They were TOTALLY easy. I found them at JO-ANN Fabrics a few years ago. I’m searching for more, but haven’t come across them.
My dad went through a phase of adding fishing lures to empty ornaments like this… I have two of them on my tree, which is ironic because I really hate fishing… And any fish, really, that isn’t cooked and on my plate.
Hahaha. I have a random fishing ornament. And I’m not sure why. I bought whatever was on clearance at Hallmark in my younger days…
Love all the different types of ribbon in them. So cute. Aren’t the buttons heavy? I’d think they would pull the branch down.
Btw….loving the new theme !
Thanks! And yeah, the button one is pretty heavy. I just hang it on a higher branch and fold it upward!
I’m making the Mardi Gras one, and putting your name and ’13 on it. I LOVE this idea. I am also going to make one for my son. Hell yes!
YAY! They are SO fun! And if you have an ornament with my name on it…well…I think I might cry! #NoHotGlueRequired
I’ve been looking for something like this for awhile now. I like Christmas Ornament ball that you have presented here to fill on your own, but do you know where I can get a Christmas ornament that have openings. Like maybe some small holes, or cut out stripes, but not to big of an opening. I’m working on a project and this would make the ornament pop more if it had opening around the ball.
Sorry, I haven’t seen those!