Handmade Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Hello blog!  So glad that it is finally Friday.  This has been a super long and busy week, but I can finally take a load off and relax. I have finally finished all of the ornaments I intend to give as gifts this year, and cannot wait to share the tutorials with you. Today I am sharing the tutorial for a clear glass ornament that is filled with fake snow, berries, and pine cones.  This is a super fast and easy ornament that is inexpensive to make.  Each ornament cost me roughly $1.55 to make. 

To make this ornament, you will need:
Glass (or plastic) clear ornaments
Fake snow
Berry stems
Glitter spray
Fake miniature pine cones
Wired ribbon
Twine or hemp string

 You could also add Christmas charms, a dated tag, stickers, glitter glue, rub on sentiments, pine stems, sequins, or buttons to the ornament.  I kept these ornaments rather simple to keep their cost to a minimum.  As always, I encourage you to create these ornaments with materials you already have at home.  The hemp twine and glitter spray were already in my crafting arsenal, so I used them.  I was originally planning on adding a pine stem (from last years broken Christmas tree), but decided against it.  I did not want the filling of the ornament to be too busy.

Before filling my ornaments, I washed them off with Windex.  I had purchased these clear ornaments at Wal-Mart and had noticed a few of them were a bit dirty.  The clear ornaments at Wal-Mart are plastic which makes them easier to handle and a lot less fragile.  I personally love glass ornaments, but since many of these ornaments are gifts for friends and family with small children, I opted to go with plastic.

After washing and drying off the ornaments, I added a bit of fake snow to each ornament.  I purchased a 1 pound bag of fake snow from Hobby Lobby for $1.00 while it was 50% off last week.  The fake snow I used looks more like mini snow balls.  Wal-Mart also sells fake snow that is iridescent and fluffy for a couple bucks.  White fiber fill, pom poms, cotton balls, or down feathers would also work for this part.

 After adding the snow, I added the berry vines and mini pine cones to the ornament.  The berry vines were bent into a circular shape before I placed them into the ornaments so that they would wrap around the interior.  The pine cones and stems were all sprayed with glitter spray paint prior to being placed in the ornament.  I did not glue any of the berries or pine cones inside of the ornament, but you could if you want them to stay put. 

The contents of the ornament are completely up to you.  You could add glitter stems, pine stems, poinsettia flowers, paper flowers, fake holly, or even mistletoe to the ornament.  For added sparkle, be sure to add glitter glue, glimmer mist, or glitter spray paint to the floral stems. 

When I was satisfied with the ornament's interior, I placed the metal top back on each ornament.  I tightened the cap around the ornament opening so that the top would not come lose.  You could also glue the metal cap to the ornament to be sure that the contents of the ornament cannot escape.  (This is definitely an important step if you are gifting these ornaments to families with children or small pets).

After the cap was secured, I added a hemp twine loop to the top of the ornament.   If you do not have hemp or twine, you could use a thin ribbon, baker's twine, embroidery floss, or yarn to hang the ornament.  I have a ton of hemp twine around the house (that I use to craft hemp necklaces from), so that is what I used.

The last step was to add a bow to each ornament. The ribbon I used was a wired burlap ribbon, but any ribbon or string will work.  The ribbon I chose was too thick to wrap around the ornament cap or tie into a bow.  I ended up using my hemp twine to help create each bow and to affix the bow to the ornament.  The hemp twine matched the burlap ribbon perfectly, so the bows turned out beautifully. 

These ornaments turned out better than I expected them too.  I may end up adding a holiday charm or 2015 tag to each ornament, but for now I think they are done.  At this point, you could embellish the exterior of the ornament with a rub on sentiment, stickers, or glitter glue.  If you have any leftover berry twigs or pine cones, you could glue them to the center of the bow.  The way you personalize your ornaments is totally up to you.
 
I hope you enjoyed this ornament tutorial.  I will be sharing another handmade ornament tutorial with you next week sometime (if I'm not too busy).  This time of year is always hectic, and it has been difficult for me to find time in my schedule to post to the blog.  I also will finally be releasing my Vintage Christmas scrapbook kit in the next couple days.  Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog.  I appreciate all of the shares on social media and google+.  Have a great night everyone. ❤ Tia - Copper Blossom Paperie ❤