12/03/2012

Five Minute Stocking Stuffers - DIY Custom Ornaments


Ok, you may have me on a technicality here.  Or maybe two...  TECHNICALLY, ornaments aren't great stocking stuffers because then you can't decorate your tree with them all season long, and TECHNICALLY a few of these may have taken more than five minutes, but not much more.  Really.  

Anyway, this is the first year it ever occurred to me that I could really MAKE ornaments.  

I blame it all on this video that my friend Mary Dawn from My Pink Mexico did last year.

Seriously, until I saw it, it had never really occurred to me to do anything other than buy ornaments. 

Except for a few kiddie craft ones, that was all I had ever known.  Ah, how my eyes have been opened to the possibilities!!!

For most (all except the angry birds) of the ornaments I have shown here, I used clear glass ornaments that I got at my local craft store and I painted them on the inside.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of these, which are matte yet shiny and totally customizable as far as the color is concerned.  There are a blue million tutorials out there about how to do this, and I found this one to be totally straightforward and easy to follow.

Here's a brief description of how I made each kind.  All my great ideas came from Pinterest by the way, and I believe in credit where credit's due, so I'll link to each of my inspirations, too. 


SUPERHERO LOGO ORNAMENTS:



Where I got the idea.

The hardest part of making these ornaments was deciding which dozen - yes, dozen - superheroes I wanted to feature.  After I narrowed it down I made a list of how many of each color I would need, then I painted them according to  the directions above.

This is where the "more than five minutes" technicality comes in.  If you used a regular old ornaments this is definitely an under 5 minute project.

After the ornaments were dry, I went online and Google searched for "superhero logos" and then looked at the images.  I found most of what I needed right away, and saved them to a file on my desktop.  Then I created a new doc in Word and pasted them there.  I sized the logos to approximately 3/4 of an inch, but feel free to make them larger or smaller according to the look you're going for.  Just remember that the smaller the logo, the more likely it will be to apply smoothly to the round ornament.  I printed the logos out on a piece of sticker backed paper, which I got at an office supply store, but you could definitely use glue (I'd recommend just a glue stick, or some thinly applied craft glue).  I cut them out, stuck them on, and there you have it!


ANGRY BIRD ORNAMENTS:




I Googled "geeky Christmas ornaments DIY and found this site.  I love them all.

These were the only ones I didn't use the painted glass ornaments for.  For some reason, I wanted these to be shiny.  I printed out the faces on sticker paper (TIP: Google "angry bird wallpaper image"), cut them out and stuck them on.  It took about a minute.  And I think they're really cool.  More importantly, so do the boys.


POKEMON PIKACHU ORNAMENT:



I saw a Pikachu ornament on the same site as the Angry Birds one.  It was like the motherlode of geeky ornament ideas.

Zachary is Pokemon crazy at the moment, and he thought this was quite possibly the coolest thing he'd ever seen.  I got MAJOR Mama points for this one.  I used a clear glass ornamentspainted yellow on the inside, then I used the same search, print, cut, stick technique as before.  I freehanded some ears out of yellow craft foam (and colored the tips with a black sharpie) and glued them on with my hot glue gun.  I tried craft glue first, but the ears were too heavy for that, so I'd recommend the hot glue or possibly glue dots if you have them.


MICKEY MOUSE ORNAMENT:



There are a million Mickey ornaments floating out there on the great wide web, but I just kind of made this one up with what I had on hand.  Out of all the ornaments I've made lately, this one was my least favorite in terms of execution.  I used a black painted glass ornamentsand black craft foam for the ears.  I was going the leave it at that and call it a silhouette, but when Cooper saw it he said "Where'd his face go, Mama?" so I quickly printed out a Mickey face and stuck it on.  The face is kind of warped and bent in spots, but it made Cooper happy, and that's more important that excellent craft execution.  I guess.


THUMBPRINT REINDEER ORNAMENTS: 



This site has a million cool ideas for hand, finger, thumb and footprint Christmas crafts.
 I recommend checking it out.

The first activity in our Advent Calendar this year was "Make Ornaments for the tree."  The boys both LOVE doing crafts and getting messy, and I LOVE anything with their hand or fingerprints on it (well, except when they're on my walls or fridge - that's not nearly as endearing), so this was a perfect Saturday morning craft for us.

I used the painted glass ornamentsagain, and dipped their thumbs in brown paint to create the reindeer. After the paint dried (let it dry all the way, please, don't be impatient like I was), I drew the antlers, feet and faces on with a Sharpie   Zachary's is red, Cooper's is teal.  I wrote their names and the year on the back with the marker, and this is one I plan to repeat year after year.  This would be a great grandparent gift, too, if your kids have grandparents who are into that sort of thing.


HANDPRINT SNOWMAN ORNAMENTS:



I want to live in this person's house.  Everything she posts is SO adorable.  Her tutorial is much better than any of mine about how to do this, so go check it out.



For the first year ever, my Christmas tree is full of interesting, geeky, handmade and special ornaments. It's not color coordinated, it's not straight, it's not perfectly decorated.  It lists a little to the left, it's kind of top-heavy, and it's full of quirks.  Just like me.

And I love it.






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5 comments:

  1. These are SO stinkin' cute! If I have time my 21-year-old is getting a Pikachu for sure ;)

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    1. Oh you should make him one! That one is my favorite, and it was so so easy!

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  2. you're brilliant! and so crafty...we should totally craft together some time

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    1. Mary Dawn, your gorgeous cards make my stuff look like preschool craft day - but I'd love to craft together sometime!

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