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38 Homemade Christmas Ornament Projects

It’s Wednesday the 2nd… so it’s time to share this season’s (completely unofficial) Pinterest Challenge (not sponsored by Pinterest or anyone else, just dreamed up by Katie to make us stop pinning and start doing).

Fall Challenge

I actually tackled ornaments (since the winter edition of our little Pinterest Challenge won’t be until January), which I mentioned last Wednesday when Katie, Ana, Erin and I issued our little get-off-our-bums-and-make-something challenge.

I know, I know – it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. I’m one of those one-holiday-at-a-time peeps too. But it was actually oddly satisfying to feel so “prepared” for the upcoming holiday season. And I’m kind of in love with all the happy little ornaments I squeezed out. I actually ended up making 38 DIY ornaments! Here are just a few of the things that inspired them (all found thanks to Pinterest, but originally from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here):

Pinterest Inspiration1

As are the rules, I took inspiration (or Pintspiration, har-har) from the above projects and then I did my own spin. Which added up to those 38 aforementioned ornaments that I whipped up. My method? Good ol’ trial and error. I just played around and made stuff up as I went along. Here’s what I ended up with:

  • 12 faux ceramic animal ornaments (inspired by the A stuff above)
  • 18 colorful swirl glass bulb ornaments (inspired by the B stuff above)
  • 3 patterned ceramic ornaments (inspired by the C stuff above)
  • 4 faux antler ornaments (inspired by the D stuff above)
  • 1 skeleton key ornament (inspired by the E stuff above)

Here they are now:

Ornament Grid1

And here’s how I made each type:

Faux Ceramic Animal Ornaments

Pinterest Three Animals

  • Purchased a pack of small plastic zoo animals from Michael’s for $4 (with coupon)
Pinterst Animal Toob

  • Primed them all with white spray primer
Pinterest Animals Primed

  • Use small drill bit to start a hole to screw small ring hooks into the top of each one so they could be hung
Pinterest Animal Screwing H

  • Painted 4 of them white, 4 of them lime green, and 4 of them navy (w/ acrylic craft paint from Michael’s)
  • Added colorful string (the kind used for friendship bracelets from Michael’s) for hanging

Colorful Swirl Glass Bulb Ornaments

Pinerest Three Painted Bulb

  • Purchased three six packs of glass ornaments (in small and large sizes) from Michael’s for $9 total (with coupons)
  • Removed the ornament cap and poured a decent amount of 99 cent craft paint in one of three colors into the ornament (exact colors I used: “Limeade” by Apple Barrel, “Metallic Emerald Green” by Folk Art, and “Magenta” by Folk Art Shiny)
  • Slowly swirled the ornament around to spread the paint and create a nice “spun” effect (I aimed to cover 50% of the glass with paint for a not-too-much-and-not-too-little effect). Here’s a video to show you just how easy these babies really are:
  • Allowed each ornament to dry overnight
  • Reattached the ornament caps in the morning after the craft paint dried
  • Added colorful string (the same kind used for friendship bracelets from Michael’s) for hanging

Patterned Ceramic Ornaments

Pinterest Three Ceramics

  • Purchased three ceramic ornaments from Michael’s (for $5 total with coupons) along with three Sharpie markers in navy, magenta, and plum (also from Michael’s for another $5 with coupons)
Pinterest Ceramic Orns Befo

  • Drew magenta and plum chevrons on one ornament, hot pink continents on another (for a modern globe effect), and nested starbursts on the third ornament (in navy, plum, and magenta)
  • Switched out the stock red ribbon for colorful string (yup, the friendship bracelet stuff from Michael’s)
  • Oh and I’m planning to paint the gold cap of the globe ornament someday (white or orange or navy or pink… not sure yet)

Faux Antler Ornaments

Pinterest Antlers Alone

  • Purchased one square of Premo Sculpey clay in lime green from Michael’s for $2
  • Sculpted two small shield shapes and two larger ones
  • Used a needle to create two holes for hanging and a stick to create two indents where each stick antler would be glued
  • Baked according to the Sculpey directions to permanently harden them
Pinterest Sculpe Baked

  • Used crazy glue and sticks from the front yard to create faux antler trophy
  • Added colorful string for hanging (more of that friendship bracelet stuff from Michael’s)

Skeleton Key Ornament

Pinterest Key Alone

  • Grabbed rusty old skeleton key (a sweet gift from a friend)
Pinterest Key Before

  • Used spray primer and white craft paint leftover from faux ceramic animals to paint it white
  • Added the friendship bracelet string for hanging

As for where I’ll display the not-so-Clara-friendly ornaments (well, they’re all super friendly for looking, especially all the zoo animals – just not so friendly for touching when it comes to the glass and ceramic ones), I’ve always loved the idea of a half-height tree on a round pedestal table like this – so we might get a real tree for that (and plant it in the backyard when the holidays are over). But on to the money stuff – here’s the budget breakdown:

  • $4 for plastic zoo animals (from Michael’s)
  • $2 for ring hooks for animals (from Lowe’s)
  • $3 for spray primer for animals (from Lowe’s)
  • $3 for acrylic paint in navy, white, and lime (from Michael’s)
  • $2 for friendship bracelet string for hanging (from Michael’s)
  • $9 for 18 clear glass ornaments (from Michael’s)
  • $2 for magenta & teal acrylic paint (reused lime paint from animals)
  • $2 for Primo Sculpey clay for faux antlers (from Michael’s)
  • Total: $27 (so each of the 38 ornaments was 71 cents on average)

Oh and don’t forget to check in on Katie, Ana, and Erin to see what amaaaaazing projects they whipped up (they’ll be sharing theirs sometime today as well)!

Pinterest Challenge Peeps

And now here’s the part where we invite you to share all of the fun Pinterest Challenge projects that you guys have tackled in the last week (right along with us, well at least virtually with us). If you’ve already blogged about it, just:

  1. click on the blue “Add Your Link” button with the odd cartoon head at the bottom of this post (you might have to do some scrolling, depending how many projects are added)
  2. add a link to your specific blog post about your project in the url field (not your home page)
  3. where it says “name” write a descriptive name for your project (ex: “38 DIY Ornaments”) as opposed to your actual name
  4. we’d also love if you could quickly link back over to our project posts within your own (here’s Katie’s, Ana’s, Erin’s, and ours) – it’s also nice to link to your inspiration project on Pinterest as well as to directly link to the original project/site, just so they get some love too.

And if you’d rather just link over to your project in the comment section, feel free to do that – or even add a link to a free photo sharing site like Flickr with your pics if you don’t have a blog (remember to set the gallery to public so we can all see it). We can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to! Geeked out doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15! 

Comments

  2. Christine says

    Love the glass ornaments! What a great idea. We just bought a new house and I can’t wait to try this out for our first holiday in the new home.

    Reply

  7. cc says

    I love the animals– I have plans to do something similar with my son’s small toys when he’s through playing with them one day!

    Reply

  8. Chelsea in Richmond says

    So cute! I attempted to finish a wreath I found the inspiration for on Pinterest but didn’t finish the painted letter for our last name that goes in the middle. Maybe this weekend.

    FYI- Seems like no one else’s blogs can handle the traffic today LOL. Yours loaded immediately, Katie’s loaded slightly slower while Erin and Ana’s sites both crashed on me.

    Reply

  9. Nallely says

    today i talked about pinterest in my blog and i didn’t remember today was the big reveal!! well now my people (mexicans) will know about you and i’m sure they will get some inspiration after seeing your pinterest challenge… thanks for that!

    Reply

  11. beth says

    Too funny. Just bought the same animals today for my daughter’s national zoo report. And I was thinking….what will I do with these afterwards. Since my college roomate just got back from Safari…..Xmas gift. Priceless.

    So one question…when you drill does it move around a lot? What size bit?

    Beth

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We used a very small bit (not sure the size, but just look at the pic and try to choose one that thin too). Holding the animal with one hand and the drill with the other hand worked (so it wasn’t a two person thing or anything). Hope it helps! And good luck!

      xo,
      s

  13. KathyL says

    Sherry, honestly I feel like you and Katie are my best friends…I work in a long term care facility/nursing home and am always looking for appropriate projects/centerpieces for my diningrooms that are budget friendly. Not only are your projects good for my home, but also inspire me with all the links to pick from for my other home. Thanks so much, Kathy

    Reply

  14. Dawn says

    LOL..they look great! “colorful string for friendship bracelets”…LOL…Embroidery Floss…;) I guess you had a brain block moment. Don’t worry, I get them ALLLL the time!

    You crack me up.

    Reply

  18. Corrie says

    I just want to send a big giant ‘THANK YOU’ and virtual hug (completely non-creepy, I promise) to you and the other lady hosts of the Pintrest Challenge. Not only is this a fun, motivational and inspirational way to make us all a little less pin-happy and a little more productive, but your link party is a great way for us newer and lowlier bloggers to draw outside interest in our blogs and projects. I cannot tell you how much traffic this has driven to my blog/typography art post today! So thank you, thank you :o) Not to mention, it has been great to discover other fabulous DIY people out in the blogosphere whose blogs I might never have discovered if not for this ‘challenge.’

    Sorry for the long comment, but i thought an email might get lost in the shuffle, and I just really wanted to say THANKS! (x 1 bajillion)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw Corrie, you’re so sweet! We’re so happy that you’re getting visitors and enjoying our little Pinterest linky party! Your project is tons of fun and completely deserves it!

      xo,
      s

  20. Kate says

    Love the ornaments and the Pinterest Challenge! Just a little FYI…the “friendship bracelet stuff from Michael’s” is actually called embroidery floss and is a total crafting MVP because it’s so cheap (sometimes 25 cents a “skein”!)

    Reply

  21. Sarah says

    These are so cute! I really wish that I had the time/$/energy to make what I pinned. Once I do, I will post to FB or something.

    Reply

  22. Esther scott says

    Hi Sherry,

    I’ve been following your blog for a couple of months now and I’m hooked! I didn’t know about Pinterest before I read the blog but i joined it last week and I’m loving it.

    Thanks & best wishes,

    Esther (U.K)

    Reply

  24. Laura W says

    This is my Pinterest Inspiration: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauracate/6306423905/in/photostream/

    and this is my redo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauracate/6306423931/in/photostream

    I sanded down and old dresser and removed the top two drawers. I had to cut a piece of wood to make the shelf. I primed it with Valspar spray paint primer and spray painted it with Rustoleum’s American Accents in Marigold. I spray painted the old hardware ORB. I’m not sure how much I love the yellow so that may change eventually…

    Reply

  25. Jenna says

    How fun! I particularly LOVE the “ceramic” animals! I’ve been contemplating painting or glittering some little plastic animals, and now I simply have to give it a try!

    Reply

  26. Leslie N says

    LOVE the ornaments guys! I completely forgot this was today before I headed out the door, so I was scrambling trying to enter mine on my iphone and I didn’t read the directions carefully (I’m the goof that entered my name in the “name” field…and my blog in the url instead of my post – been one of those days!) so I wanted to share the correct link here, if anyone is still reading ;) Thanks for hosting this guys!!

    Here’s a link to my Pinterest Challenge entry: Camouflage Birthday Cupcakes

    http://life-embellishments.blogspot.com/2011/10/project-post-11-camouflage-cupcakes.html

    Reply

  27. Myrna says

    For a “Clara safe” tree, how about a wall tree? I bought one years ago when we had a puppy. Then a couple years later, I made one to hang on the wall in the kitchen with cinnamon sticks and cookie cutters and mini faux fruit. It is about 3 feet tall and all I did was take coat hangers and make a triangle the size I wanted, attached a couple of pieces of coat hanger crossways and then used artificial evergreen roping to cover it all, using twist ties to attached it. A string of mini lights stays on it along with the decorations when I store it in the attic.

    Reply

  28. BethanyB says

    I think these are so fun, and cute, and easy to make! I love it! They look great :) I love the pink. Is that going on Clara’s tree? Oh I can’t wait to see your Christmas this year!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yup, I think we’ll have a small tabletop tree this year (one that we can plant in the backyard afterwards). Excited to put it all together after Thanksgiving!

      xo,
      s

  34. Courtney says

    I’m hosting a Pinterest Challenge potluck, everyone brings a recipe that they have pinned and are dying to try!

    Reply

  38. Krista says

    Those look great! I absolutely love the animals! I have to admit though, I’m surprised to not see any J, S, C, or B monogramed clay letter ornaments in the mix. :)

    Reply

  39. Angela says

    We have 6yr, 4yr & 2yr old kids. So for the last several years we have been displaying our Christmas Tree up off the floor. Ours is around 6ft, so with a little squishing of the top spine we can just still fit it under our ceiling height while still getting it up off the floor 20in. We set it on a large blanket box that we have so it’s very stable, although it could be screwed down or similar if needed as our tree legs have holes in them for that. I have also done a half/half decorating trick with all my gorgeous ornaments on the top half & all the plastic, don’t really mind if something happens to them kid-friendly ornaments in the reach of curious little fingers. Something I didn’t plan for, but now is part of our plan are all the handmade kids ornaments that come home from school & daycare, so now we have to make room for these too. I love your colour scheme for this year, I can’t wait for you to start decorating!!

    Reply

  42. Tabitha says

    I’m so mad at myself… I couldn’t find my camera charger – so no pintrest challenge for me. Hello, my name is SLACKER – nice to meet you! Maybe during the fall challenge, sigh.

    Love your ornaments btw <3

    Reply

  44. Kelly B says

    Love your ornaments! With all the bright colors you used, you may be able to use them as decorations year round – if you hung them on something other than a Christmas tree for the non-holiday times.

    I also just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your blog! I read it every day but have never commented. You guys are definitely an inspiration!

    Reply

  46. Jamie says

    Those are fantastic … what a great mix! I love pinterest! After reading your post I went over to their site (this has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas ornaments but I’m feeling a bit famous) got a little sidetracked and saw one of my own designs (for sale on etsy) had been pinned! I guess I’m so excited I had to share :) Keep up the great work!!!

    http://pinterest.com/pin/406136133/

    Reply

  47. Liz says

    I got super stoked when I heard about this linky party because I do a “pin worthy tuesday” series on my blog where I try to actually DO/MAKE something that I’ve pinned. I linked up already, but just wanted to say THANK YOU and great idea! :)

    Reply

  48. duck-billed placelot says

    These projects are so fun, but several of the links go to ‘facebook.com’. Which, somehow I don’t feel like Mark Zuckerberg does a lot of crafting? Anyway, normally I would simply focus on the other magical things on offer, except for Stephanie’s owl pillow (?) at #205. STEPHANIE please post bigger pictures and instructions immediately. Thanks!

    Reply

  49. Miss Kitty says

    Thanks for hosting this party! I’m having fun looking at all the entries. I’m glad that you are leaving the time to post for several days…maybe I can get one of my Pinterest “pins” made into a project and join the party before it closes.

    Reply

  50. jo says

    Great! The final push that got me to check out pinterest. I’ve been avoiding it because I don’t have any more time to be sucked away. Anyway, loved the past few hours I just spent checking out what everyone else did. Crafty on the cheap! It doesn’t get much better.

    Reply

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