Decking the tree is one of the most memorable holiday traditions, and with these ideas, you can make some ornaments of your own to hang. With supplies you can find right in your pantry cabinet or craft drawer, these DIY holiday ornaments are as easy as they are affordable. So what are you waiting for? Turn your kitchen island into a workstation, put on some holiday tunes, and get ready for the season by making one (or all) of these DIY ornaments!
1. Salt Dough Ornaments
Salt dough ornaments are easy and affordable to make. In fact, you probably already have some of the supplies needed in your pantry cabinet! To make these traditional ornaments, you mix one cup of salt, two cups of flour, one cup of water, and food coloring.
If you want your ornaments plain because you plan on painting them, you can skip the food coloring. Then roll out your dough and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place your ornaments on a parchment lined cookie sheet and poke a hole near the end of each ornament so you’ll be able to hang them. Then just pop them in the oven and let them bake!
Once your ornaments are ready, let them cool on your kitchen island on a rack before decorating. You can paint them or get creative and add colored sand or glitter. These lobsters combine all of the elements and are too cute not to include. Whatever salt dough ornaments you make, just remember to spray them with a sealer as the last step to preserve them.
2. Glass Ball Ornaments
Make glass ball ornaments your own by either filling them or decorating the outside. Some cute and quick ideas for filling include pom poms, pearls, ribbon, tinsel, bells, and beads.
If you’re up for more of a challenge, you can even make your own little winter wonderland or snow globe using Epson salt! Take a look at this snowy Paris scene and this adorable melted snowman ornament.
For decorating the outside of glass ornaments, the possibilities are really endless. For the sake of simplicity, here are a few ideas you can master no matter you DIY skill level.
These are gorgeous and the technique is really not as complicated as it may seem. You simply spray paint a container of water with the colors of your choice, and then blend them by shaking the container or using a stick to create swirls. Dip your glass ornaments in the water and the spray paint will create a marble-like design.
Stick on holiday embellishments using a hot glue gun and decorate your ornaments in the same fashion as you would a scrapbook. This idea works better using colored ornaments so you don’t see the back of the embellishments through the clear glass.
If you have kids and a lot of stubby crayons, this is the perfect project for you. All you need is clear glass ornaments, different color crayons and a hair dryer. Take off the top of the ornament and drop a few pieces of broken up crayon inside (you don’t need a lot). Then using the hair dryer, warm up the ornament to melt the crayons and help move it around. The result will be swirls of pretty colors that will brighten up your tree!
3. Paper Ornaments
Another easy and affordable material to use for DIY holiday ornaments is paper. Holiday cards, wrapping paper, and sheet music are all fair game. Here are a couple really creative ideas for DIY paper ornaments.
If last year’s holiday cards are long gone, this is definitely a project you will want to pin for next year (or you could compromise and use sheets of paper in holiday colors and designs). All these DIY ornaments require is old cards, foam eggs, a paper punch and hot glue. Using old cards or paper, punch out a bunch of little circles. You will then hot glue these to your foam egg, assembling from the bottom up, overlapping the previous row as you climb.
There are so many cute designs you can create using sheet music and a few embellishments. Using a stencil or cookie cutter, trace out different designs like angels, doves, stars, stockings or trees. Then simply add your unique details and a string to hang.
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