Christmas ornaments

It's late on Christmas Eve, and I'm waiting for midnight mass, so it seems like a good time to pop in with a quick post to share the Christmas ornaments I made this year.

I didn't keep any supply lists, so leave me a comment if you have any questions.

I found a tutorial for these adorable gnome ornaments on the Ruffles & Rainboots blog, and I knew right away I wanted to make them. Their pretty easy to make, and once I got the hang of it, they came together pretty quickly. (My biggest issue was the strands of hot glue everywhere!) I did try using yarn instead of craft fur to create the beards for two of the gnomes, and that was a lot trickier. I had to cut and glue quite a few pieces onto the base so the beard was full enough, and then I had to unravel the yarn a bit. It looks a little like they have dreadlocks, but I think they're still cute.

When I started these snow globe ornaments (I made twelve total), I thought they looked too plain, but by the time I was done I really liked them.

I found packages of bottle brush trees at Target, and I painted white gesso on the edges of each tree to create the look of snowy branches. I glued a tree to the bottom of a plastic jar (from Michaels) and added the artificial snow. (Tip: I rubbed the inside of the jars with a drier sheet first to reduce the static electricity and help keep the snow from sticking to the jar.)

I tried making a hole in the lid so you could hang the snow globe, but that plan didn't work. So these are sitting ornaments instead. I decorated the top of the jar with patterned paper and card stock, and wrapped twine around the lid. I tied it off in a bow, added a piece of pompom trim and glued a whole star anise over the knot.

For these ornaments I bought the sign shapes (with the top string attached) and painted them white. I die cut the letters out of black card stock -- three pieces for each letter -- and glued them together. (This was the most time-consuming part.) I added a top layer to each letter cut out of black glimmer paper to give a little sparkle and glued the letters on the sign. I strung the felt bulbs on crochet thread and glued the ends to the back of the sign.

This is another sitting ornament. I found these tiny animals (called Good Luck Minis) at my local art supply store. I originally wanted to put them in the snow globes with the trees, but the scale wasn't quite right. I needed to add a lot of "snow" to the jars, and these little guys would have been totally buried.

So instead I created a mini woodland scene. I painted the top of a birch round with white gesso, glued on the tree (with painted branches) and animals, and then glued on a light layer of snow.

I made three of these ornaments, and I still have a few of the animals left, so I'll have to come up with another ornament design for them next year.

I hope you have a very happy Christmas filled with joy, peace, and moments to remember. Thanks for stopping by!