CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS
TO MAKE
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Instant Ornaments
Every year my mother, sister and daughters and I make ornaments for each other, and now you can make them. Some of
these ideas have been around a long time, while others are our own originals. Use these as a springboard to come up
with your own creations... adapt them and make them unique. There are lots of ornament instructions for the years
1999 through 2007, so check them out. Just click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture.
Kitty Chairs
Make this original ornament from cereal box cardboard, fabric, a figurine, and lace or doily snippets. Draw and cut out both of the
templates shown.
Using tacky
or hot glue gun, glue fabric to both sides of the back and one side of the seat. Include in the layers a loop of string or wire for a
hanger. Be sure it's glued in well. The interior lines in the templates are fold lines. When the glue is dry, fold the chair sides
forward, like a wing chair. Fold the seat to create the seat and the bottom front of the chair. Glue the seat in place around 3 sides
of the seat piece. Glue seat bottom front to front side edges. Apply little pieces of lace or doilies to the headrest part of the chair
and both arms. Glue a piece of cardboard or felt to cover the underside of the chair. Glue a kitty or other creature figurine to the
seat. That's all there is to it!
Crystal Icicles
This is an ideal ornament: takes just a couple minutes to make, is very easy to make, costs little, but is completely elegant.
These would look so good en masse. Cut a piece of wire (18 gauge is my favorite-- doesn't bend too easily) an inch or two longer
than the finished length you want. Using needle-nosed pliers, bend one end of the wire around and through a small clear plastic bead,
then anchor it by twisting the end of wire around itself a couple times so it won't come undone. String about 3 or 4 more beads of
the same size. Now put the same number of a little larger beads, then repeat with medium triangle or star beads, and finish with
large tri- or star beads. With the remaining wire, fashion a discreet loop for hanging. Experiment until it looks good to you.
Rose Angel
This was not my idea, and you can probably find better instructions elsewhere on the Internet, but here's how I did it. Using
artificial roses that are neither tight buds nor fullblown, cut the stem off, leaving just enough wire to fit into a "head" bead.
Put a drop of glue on the cut stem and stick on the head. Put another drop of glue at the hole on top of the head and insert a loop
of gold cord or thread for a hanger. Glue on a snippet of curly doll hair, yarn, fiberfil, or other hair, making sure the hanger will
be free to hang. Bend a small piece of glittery chenille wire for a halo and glue to her head. Then cut 2 leaves from the discarded
stem and glue into place on the back, to serve as wings. Tie a tiny ribbon bow around her neck, and draw on a face with a fine-tipped
indelible marker.
Crocheted Mirror Wreath
This is just a simple, original design that incorporates those little mirrors we see everywhere. Without going into an explanation of
how to crochet, let me just say that I crocheted a small disk just slightly larger than the little mirror, about 3/4". Then I decreased
the number of stitches, creating a lip over the edge of the mirror. Once the mirror was safely crocheted in, I went around the outside
making a scalloped edge, like a flower. I added a few chain stitches for a hanger. Using red sewing thread, I sewed on the little silver
beads. That's it!
Christmas Card Stars
I saw these stars in a magazine or on the Internet and easily figured out how to make them. Look at the pattern. You just create
these 2 pattern pieces from a scrap or card back to use for
templates. It's easiest to use a
ruler and ink pen to draw the lines where you'll be folding, so the "arms" are easy to fold. To make stars of any size, on a scrap,
draw a triangle that would represent the length of one arm of the star. Draw one to each side of it, then add a glueing tab on the
side. This is the 3-triangle template, and you need to cut 8 of these from the Christmas cards. Now, using another scrap, draw a total
of 4 adjoining triangles, with glue tabs at the bottom of each triangle, and one on one side. This is your 4-triangle template, and
you need to cut 6 of them. Now: using tacky glue or hot glue gun (I just used the tacky glue), fold each arm so it makes a pointy
cone, then glue with the tab on the inside. Repeat until all 14 arms are glued. Make sure to glue a loop of thread, wire, fishing
line or other hanger inside one of the arm points. Now, see that all the 4-sided cones have the tabs at the base. Glue a 3-sided cone
to each of the 4 sides. Then glue the units where they fit together until the star is complete. You'll see how they fit together--
trust me. If I could do it, so can you. Experiment with differing widths and lengths of arms. The largest one I made is about 8"
across. The smallest had very fat arms and looks almost like a 2" ball. They look very elegant in a giant vase, with some overflowing
onto the table.
Y2K Tassel
To make this original ornament I just cut some pointed ovals from a strip of holographic paper used to border
classroom bulletin boards, about 4" long and 1.5" wide. I then took a huge needle and poked holes along the edges. Then I threaded
the needle with gold crochet thread and whip-stitched the sides together until all 4 sides create a sort of box. I then made a thread
hanger and made a tassel from the same crochet thread. I got some tiny foil numbers from the sticker section of a scrapbooking shop,
(they were hard to find-- had to go to several stores) and put "2000" down the front. The holographic shimmer is very cool when the
light catches it.
Silver Snowflake
Children could make these easily, but they're elegant enough for adults to enjoy making and displaying. To make this ornament,
I just cut two 4" lengths of silver chenille stems (pipe cleaners) plus one a little longer for the hanging loop, per snowflake for
the 'legs', then twelve 1" pieces for the 'arms'. With hot glue or tacky glue join the long pieces at the center to have a six-pointed
snowflake. Bend all the 1" pieces in half to create 90º angles. Glue 2 of these angles to each spoke, making each spoke identical.
That's it. White chenille stems make more realistic snowflakes. Very fine irridescent or white glitter spray-glued to the snowflakes
would make them more spectacular. Often snowflakes are shown with 8 spokes, but nature only makes six-sided ones.
Wood Painting
This is nothing but a small slice of wood with a little Christmas figure painted freehand on it. Drill or poke a hole in the top
for a hanger. Instead of painting a design, you could use a decal, sticker, photo or magazine picture. The bark on the wood
acts as a picture frame.
Christmas Egg
This is the very first exchange ornament I ever made, back in 1975. We were poor, newlywed students and had no money for fluff, like
Christmas ornaments. I blew the contents out of several eggs and wiped them clean and dry. Using colored markers I drew numerous designs
on each one. Gaudy can be good. Simple is good, too. The drawing was tedious, so be sure you're watching a good movie while you do it.
Once the eggs are dry, spray them with clear craft spray (hair spray works just as well). Try not to touch them until the spray is completely
dry. To hang them, I glued a strip of braid up opposite sides from bottom to top, allowing some slack for the hanging loop. I
threaded on and glued a wooden bead as a finishing touch. All these years later (raised 4 kids, moved 'cross country, basement flooded a few times), this
is the last surviving egg from 1975. It's the one I gave my mother, and seeing it brings back a lot of good Christmas memories.
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Instant Ornaments
Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved. Updated 7/12/2008.
You are ornament maker number 97,823 plus
