Tag: ornament

Christmas, Craft Projects, DIY GIFT GUIDE, Gift Idea, Holiday

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Snowman Ornament

Jessica Smith

DIY GIFT GUIDE Snowman Ornament

Day 4 of the DIY GIFT GUIDE series brings us this adorable snowman ornament. If this guy doesn’t belong on your Christmas tree, I don’t know what does.

Supplies:

Styrofoam Balls

  • Styrofoam balls in three varying sizes
  • Craft Wire
  • 2 black beads
  • Silver tacks
  • Ribbon
  • No-Fray
  • 1 button (white)
  • Hot Glue

Steps:

  1. Cut a long piece of wire and bend it in half. Feed it through two holes of a white button. This will secure the styrofoam balls to the wire.Button through Wire
  2. Feed the wire through the largest of the three foam balls. Try to get the wire to go straight through the middle so the snowman isn’t off kilter.Ball on wire
  3. Stack the remaining two balls on top of the first with the medium ball next and the smallest ball on top. In between each ball, place a small bit of hot glue on the wire to keep the ball secure once it is in place.
  4. When the snowballs are assembled, secure them at the top by making a wire loop, then wrapping the remaining wire around the base of the loop. Add a thin ribbon here to hang the ornament.Snowman assembly
  5. Next, create the snowman’s face by firmly pushing two black beads into the styrofoam for the eyes. I used faceted beads, not round beads, thinking they’d stay in better.
  6. For the mouth, take a small pice of craft wire and bend it into a smile. Then, form 90 degree bends at the end of the smile and push it into the styrofoam.
  7. For the buttons, take silver tacks and stick them into the styrofoam to act as buttons. Place a dab of hot glue under each one so they don’t loosen and fall out over time.
  8. The scarf is next. Find a thick piece of ribbon and tie it around the snowman’s neck. Then, take scissors and “fray” the end of the scarf by cutting small slits. Use no-fray to seal the ends so the ribbon doesn’t unravel.
  9. Take a long piece of wire (12″) and fold the wire in half. Twist the wire until it is 1/3 of the way twisted. Then, take the straight wire and wrap up the twisted portion. When the wire reaches an inch from the top, start twisting again. This will form the two forks in the arm. When both forks are twisted, wrap the remaining wire down the base of the arm, then stick the wire bottom into the styrofoam. Secure with glue and repeat.Wire arm
  10. Hang snowman ornament on tree!

Snowman ornament

Snowman

Check back tomorrow for another DIY GIFT GUIDE post! Hope you are getting some good holiday gift inspiration.

Christmas, Craft Projects, DIY GIFT GUIDE, Holiday, Quick and Easy Crafts

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Spool Ornament

Jessica Smith

Spool Ornament Cover

Today’s DIY GIFT GUIDE post is even easier than yesterday’s and would look super cute on your Christmas tree!

Know someone who sews? Then this would be the perfect gift for them! Turn an old wooden spool into a Christmas ornament in just a few steps.

Supplies:

  • Wooden spool
  • Wire
  • Ribbon
  • Beads
  • Wire Cutter
  • Scissors

Steps:

  • The worst part of this project is the first part. Remove any old thread from your spools so they are completely bare. I did the by unraveling each spool, but if you don’t have the patience (not sure how I did) you could score yours off with an exacto knife.

Spools

  • Once your spools are naked (hehe), cut a long pice of wire and fold it in half. Thread a seed bead onto the end and let it rest in the bend of the wire. This will stop your larger beads and spool from falling off of the wire.
  • Thread your beads onto the wire — thread through both ends of the wire.
  • Thread your wire through the spool, then add beads on top. I liked my ornament simple and just added one bright red bead below and above my spool. You can add as many as you’d like.
  • Create a loop in the wire after you add your last bead, then secure the wire by wrapping the long ends around the base of the loop until your wire runs out.
  • Tie a piece of ribbon through the loop to make a hook for the tree.
  • Embellish your spool with a large ribbon.
  • Ta da! Hang on your tree!

spool

If you want to get fancy, seal the ends of your ribbon with a no-fray fabric treatment. I haven’t done that to mine, but I probably will before I gift them.

spool ornamentCheck back tomorrow for another gift idea!

 

 

Christmas, Craft Projects, Holiday, Quick and Easy Crafts, Wine Crafts

Wine cork grape ornaments

Jessica Smith

I think this craft is one of my all-time favorites. My neighbor and I did a craft night before my Trash to treasure fair and we made so many cool things out of corks!

Unfortunately, I only have photos of the finished project. It’s hard to remember to take photos when you are crafting with one of your best friends. It’s basically non-stop talking mixed with singing along to Christmas music.

Anyway, check these out!IMG_0020

To make a wine cork grape ornament, you will need 8 wine-stained corks, a thin piece of cork, wire, hot glue, ribbon and a leaf!

First, you will need to cut the tops of your corks off. We used sharp knives from my kitchen to cut through the cork. Err, correction, Allie used the sharp knives… I couldn’t stand the noise it made. Either way, cut about half an inch from the wine stained end. We didn’t care if ours we all the same length because the different sizes gave the ornament a nice depth to it. (Can an ornament have depth?)

IMG_0021

Once the cork tops were sliced off, I arranged them on a flat piece of cork that Allie got from TJ Maxx. It’s super thin and was meant to be a placemat. It worked great for this project, but you could use really anything to glue the corks onto. Cardboard, maybe.

Once the corks were arranged in a grape shape, we traced around them and cut out the cork. Then, we glued the leaf at the top (from a fake flower) and proceeded to glue each grape onto the cork.

IMG_0022

When the glue dried, I poked wire through the cork and made a hidden loop behind the leaf. Then I strung my ribbon through the top and hung it on our holiday garland!

I absolutely love these ornaments and will definitely be gifting a few this holiday season.