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One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is crafts! So many cute, seasonal things to make! So, each year, I spend at least one evening making ornaments, sometimes with friends, sometimes by myself, depending on the year. This year I picked seven of my favorites on Pinterest, and gave them a shot. Here’s how they went:
Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may receive compensation (at no additional cost to you.)
The DIY Penguin Ornaments, by A Little Craft In Your Day
What You’ll Need:
- Glass Ornament
- Orange Felt
- Black Spray Paint
- White Acrylic Paint
- Googly Eyes
- Hot Glue and Gun
Admittedly, I didn’t follow their instructions at all. I had glass ornaments, and didn’t have foam balls, and my frugal self was not about to spend money when I could make a similar craft with what I had. To see how to make the foam ball version, visit A Little Craft In Your Day.
Regardless, my version turned out pretty well anyway. I spray painted my glass ornament using black spray paint, then painted on the white stomach with white acrylic paint. I cut out and glued on the orange feet and nose, then glued on the googly eyes.
Challenges: Cutting out out the feet for the penguin was tedious and required sharp scissors (I used my fabric scissors.) Spray painting the ornaments was also annoying – it’s difficult to cover everything without spray painting your hands too. Overall, though, the penguins were super cute and made me forget all about the irritating parts.
Overall Rating: Four stars
The Snowman With A Hat Ornaments, by So Craftastic
What You’ll Need:
- Glass Ornaments
- Toddler Socks
- Scissors
- White Acrylic Paint
- String
- Black and Orange Sharpies
So pictures of these super cute snowman ornaments have been floating around on Pinterest taunting me for weeks! I finally got around to buying some toddler socks, and making the ornament. I followed the instructions pretty much exactly; the instructions start at about the 4:50 minute mark in the youtube video linked above.
This was easy enough to make, even with my mediocre snowman face drawing skills. However, I was seriously saddened by the fact that the snowman face, no matter what I did, was on the bottom of the ornament. If you hang it on a tree, it needs to go at the top so that you can see the face! Otherwise, you’d see a sock covering most of an ornament, which was not what I was going for.
Challenges: None. This was super easy.
Overall Rating: Four and a half stars
The Clothespin Snowflake Ornament, by ??? (aka, pretty much everyone)
What You’ll Need:
- Wooden Clothespins
- Wood Glue
- Spray Paint
- Snowflake Button Things
- String
So, full disclosure, I actually made these two years ago, hence why I have no idea where I found them. I tried to hunt the blog down, but there are so many people who have blogged about these ornaments that I really have no clue. Regardless, they were such an ornament win that I had to include them.
The general idea is that you glue a bunch of wooden clothespins together (I used wood glue,) spray paint them, and then put some sort of cute thing in middle to cover up the glue spot. I used some snowflake buttons. The ones I used are no longer available, but these look pretty similar.
They’re the easiest things to make, and two years later, they’re still alive and brightening up my tree. The wood glue has weakened in a couple places, and on one of my snowflakes, a “branch” fell off. This was easily fixed with more wood glue.
Challenges: It’s a bit tricky to get the clothespins situated with the wood glue in the right spots when you’re gluing it all together (without making a total mess, at least.) It’s manageable though, and totally worth it!
Overall Rating: Four and a half stars
Snowman Block Ornaments, by A Butterfly House
What You’ll Need:
- Wooden Blocks
- Sandpaper
- White Paint
- Small Paint Brush
- Black and Orange Sharpie (or acrylic paint)
- Ribbon (for bow)
- Twine or String (for hanging)
- Screw Eyes
- Hot Glue and Gun
- Drill and 1/16″ Drill Bit
These are super cute and don’t require any real skill to make, but they take a few more supplies than the other ornaments listed here. A drill is required to add the screw eyes for hanging, and if you’re not comfortable with that, this ornament is a non-starter. That said, the result is undeniably adorable, so given you have a couple hours and aren’t scared of a drill, they’re the perfect craft for a holiday afternoon!
Challenges: Bows have always been difficult for me, so that’s the part I struggled with the most. I found a tutorial that was really clear and helped me out, which is linked in the post. Because this is my project. I snuck it in. #sorrynotsorry
Overall Rating: Four stars
Glitter Dipped Ornaments by By Stephanie Lynn
What You’ll Need:
- Glass Ornament
- Black Spray Paint
- Mod Podge
- Glitter
- Paintbrush
- Something to catch the glitter
- Something to balance the ornament on while it drys (I used a small wine glass)
This looks like the worlds easiest ornament. Spray paint ornament, cover with Mod Podge and glitter, let dry. And it was simple, and my ornaments look decent. But it wasn’t the super easy ornament I thought it would be, so I feel like I have the right to complain.
Challenges: Spray painting the ornament evenly without getting covered in paint is difficult. I ended up holding it with a giant paper towel covering my hand. But even then, how do you lay the ornament so that it can dry? I never really figured this out, and all of my ornaments have a small unsightly spot where the ornament rested while it dried (including my penguins from above.)
Then, painting the circle of Mod Podge evenly and not lopsidedly was challenging. Maybe I was just being a perfectionist, but the whole time I was convinced my ornament was going to have glitter higher on one side than the other. Turned out okay anyway, though, so maybe this isn’t as hard as it seemed.
Overall Rating: Three and a half stars!
Farmhouse Embroidery Hoop Ornaments by A Butterfly House
What You’ll Need:
- Two 3″ Embroidery Hoops
- Stain or Spray Paint
- Twine
This is another one of my projects, but I will do my best to be unbiased! It’s not going to sound that way though, because these were ridiculously easy to make. Arrange circles. Tighten. Stain/spray paint. It’s that easy. If rustic farmhouse is your thing these are the ornaments for you.
Challenges: None. These were super easy.
Overall Rating: Four and a half stars!
Paw Print Salt Dough Ornaments, by One Little Project
What You’ll Need:
- Hot Water
- Salt
- Flour
- Straw
- Paint
- Glitter
- Animal/Pet
So, when I was 11 years old, I begged and begged for a puppy. I made my mom promise me that if I was good for an entire year, we could get a (second) dog. A year later, I demanded my mother keep her promise (even though I probably wasn’t perfect.) And so we found a 1-year-old Kiki at the local SPCA. Fast forward 15 years, and Kiki is, by some miracle, still with us. At 16 years old, she’s a little slow, and not very good at climbing stairs, but still a pretty happy dog.
Since all bets are off on how much longer Kiki will still be with us, I was determined to get her paw print on an ornament this Christmas. I now also have a cat, Penny, who joined us for this adventure. It was easy enough to mix up the dough, roll it out and cut out the circles. It was not so easy to get suitable paw prints on the dough.
I realized quickly that Kiki’s ability to stand on three paws instead of four is pretty much gone, so getting a paw print while she’s standing was near impossible. My dad ended up picking her up and holding her while we pressed the dough into her paw. Poor Kiki was terrified, and I felt awful.
Penny, on the other hand, saw this commotion going on and immediately ran to hide under my bed. I had to lure her out with food and then hold her wiggling, protesting self while we shoved her paw into the ornament. Penny doesn’t really bite or scratch, so this wasn’t dangerous, but if you have a more ornery cat I could see you taking a major risk with your arms here. Also, I felt a bit bad. Not that much, since
I then gave her the fancy canned food that I lured her out with, but a little.
Challenges: Getting a decent pet paw-print, and not feeling guilty that you’re manhandling your pet into this situation. Not for geriatric pets.
Overall Rating: Four and a half stars!
Final Thoughts
Honestly, when I went on this mission, I was hoping/expecting to have some sort of major #PinterestFail moment, and it never happened. I’m almost disappointed, but on the bright side, that means there are now 7 tried and tested ornament crafts for you explore this holiday! Give them a shot! And if you do, let me know how it turns out! Did I miss anything? is there something I should add? Let me know in the comments below!
Finally, if you found this post useful and/or entertaining, please save it to Pinterest so other people can find it too!
