So, we've had some of those clear glass balls in our Kids Craft Box for far too long, and THIS year, we are going to make some ornaments. Pinterest is overwhelming sometimes...
What are some simple and easy ways to make these clear bulbs look fabulous? I'm hoping not to make a trip to the craft store (hint, hint...)
Also, I've heard of making/baking-ornament dough with cinnamon, applesauce, all types of things. How do I do this??
Thanks for all your help, Mamas!
Thanks so much everyone for ALL the suggestions! We are crafting tonight...and baking cookies, too. Looking forward to giving the ornaments and gifts and perhaps saving a couple for ourselves. Everybody had such GREAT ideas-Thank You and Merry Christmas to YOU and Yours!
Put broken crayons in the ornaments (super small pieces like 3 or 4) and use a hair drier and melt the crayons by moving the ornament around it makes a cook wax drop effect you can use as much or little color as you want.
If you have something white you can put inside the balls, you can take black paint and paint snowman coal eyes and mouth on the outside and add an orange carrot nose. Then a little bit of ribbon or such and felt or a little puff ball to make earmuffs on him! (know it is posted online too)
We did glass ones this year. We put different colors of paint inside and swirled them around, then after they were dry we used a stencil to put a glitter snowflake on the outside and the year. They turned out super cute, we sent them to all the family members :)
Another year we took the same glass balls and put a little glitter and fake snow inside and then hung a photo of the kids on a piece of ribbon in the center to make a type of snow globe looking ornament, it was very easy and turned out super cute as well.
A couple of people I know tried the crayons in the ball and said it was an epic failure. Crayons didn't melt but the clear plastic ball did. Glass ones got too hot and cracked and the crayons didn't melt.
My daughter's Sunday school teacher had the kids put some Christmas potpourri in the clear balls with a couple of drops of cinnamon scent. Three years later it still has a scent when it hangs near a light and gets warm.
Last year we put acrylic paint into the clear ornaments. we would do 1 color at a time, swirl it around, let it dry and then add another color. They did turn out very pretty, but I also learned that they take a very long time to try. In fact, the first round I thought they were dry and put the tops on them and hung them up. This was a bad idea as it kept the paint from drying fully and those ones ended up with pools of wet paint in the bottom. I would suggest letting them dry with tops off for about a week (I did several test ornaments and the ones that sat for a week were the ones that worked. It is hard for the paint to dry fully with such a small air hole in the top.
I have seen these clear ornaments with crumpled red paper or tinsel inside and then puff paint on the outside to make eyes and nose and then pipecleaner antlers. It would be cute also to fill with silver or blue tinsel, glitter or paper strips and then use white puff paint on the outside to draw a snowflake.
BTW an egg carton is great for setting these to dry.
Lastly, we are doing an ornament craft tomorrow that seems like it will be fun. We are using air dry clay (but you could also make salt dough, baking soda dough, etc) rolling it out, pressing a doily (or you could use lace) into the clay and then cutting it out with a snowflake cookie cutter to make ornaments.
There are some really cute angels you can make from paper clips, teddy bears from wooden blocks and reindeer from clothes pegs.
My kids did the clear balls with glue and glitter.
Iv'e done both.
I stuffed tinsel in the glass bulbs. They look pretty up against the lights on the tree.
Dough ornament.I made these about 15 years ago and gave them away as gifts and kept a bunch. They are still on our tree.
I just mixed flour,cinnamon and a little applesauce together til it made a dough consistent enough to be rolled out. Then I used a heart or star cookie cutter. Baked them, I believe at 325 til they were hard. Then they laid on my counter all night to cool and harden. Don't forget to poke a hole through at the top for a ribbon/string for hanging.
Have fun!!
You can get little stencils and use the inexpensive craft paint.
We just made dough ornaments!!!!
it was 1 cup cinnamon, 1 TB nutmeg, 1 TB Cloves (we skipped this), 3/4 applesauce, and 2 Tb glue (nonwashable kind). Stir ingredients, and then knead into a dough. Roll to 1/4 inch. Use a pencil to put a hole in the ornament. Put in the oven at 250 for a few hours until dry.
not sure if we will paint them or what, but they are in the oven right now ;-)
What I used to do was use acrylic paint (the cheapest in the bottle works best) to create a swirl paint on the inside.
Take the balls and rinse them out with vinegar.
Set them upside down on paper towels to drain.
squirt 2-3 colors of paint inside the ball and rotate the ball till it is completely covered inside. (add paint of it won't cover completely)
Drain excess paint on several layers of paper towels.
Let dry for a day
Use a metallic or pearl paint to add shimmer. Don't be afraid of strange color combos, some of the prettiest ones I've done were purple, black, and gold. Nice side advantage, if the ball ever breaks, the paint holds the broken pieces together till you can throw it away
My niece made me a a very cute ornament. She glued red buttons on the outside (6-8), and then put another 5 or 6 red buttons and a handful of small gold beads. That's it - and I love it.
My kids have done several of the things mentioned, but a couple of warnings for you. If you do the paint, make sure the ball will not be in direct sunlight. The paint melts and makes a gooey mess. Also if you use confetti make sure the ball is securely held together. We had a huge confetti mess when one fell and all the stuff went all over the place.
-drop tiny sea shells inside for a summer vibe
-put lots of diff colored glitter inside
-drop acrylic paint from tubes inside & swirl. Use diff colors
-put little momentos inside like gold filled or silver charms
-put foil confetti inside
-put a bunch of fortune cookie strips inside for something fun & diff
Flour, glue, and water. Mix and bake. I have a recipe but not on hand, I am afraid. I did this as a kid, and my kids have done it. It's fun and you can paint them after they bake. We never used cinnamon, but that could be nice. Just remember to make the holes before you bake them! I found this with Google:
-drop tiny sea shells inside for a summer vibe
-put lots of diff colored glitter inside
-drop acrylic paint from tubes inside & swirl. Use diff colors
-put little momentos inside like gold filled or silver charms
-put foil confetti inside
-put a bunch of fortune cookie strips inside for something fun & diff
Last year, my stepmom printed sheet music of Jingle Bells, cut it into strips and put it inside the balls along with a pinch of colorful metallic music note confetti.
I was going to mention the melted crayon one too. I think it looks pretty, and it's a good use for trash crayons. :)
