OVER 115 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 more
ornament instructions for the years 1999 through 2008, so check them out. Just click on the thumbnail
to see a larger picture. A few of these are things you can hang on a tree as is- without having to 'make' them.
I call them Instant Ornaments.
Jeweled Half Globe
Using a hack saw, cut a plastic faceted ornament ball in half. Buff the edge with an emery board. Glue a fancy earing, pin, or other
doodad into the center. Glue a string of little beads around the edge, and another, smaller doodad to hide where the beads meet.
Attach a hanger, and you're done.
Little Drum
This cute drum was made by my former sister-in-law, from an empty paper towel tube and scraps of felt, plus a few other odds and ends. Cut a 2” length of
cardboard tube. Glue a heavy scrap of paper or fabric across the top and anchor it on the sides. Do the same with the bottom
for a finished look, or leave the bottom open like a real drum. Cut a strip of blue felt 1.25” wide and a little longer than
the circumference of the tube. Starting at one end of the felt, apply glue and press it to the cardboard. Don’t overlap the
felt—cut it so the new edge will butt up firmly against the first edge. Make sure both edges are securely glued down. Cut
short lengths of contrasting yarn (brown, yellow or black) for the ‘stabilizers’. Glue them in place at the top and bottom
edges, along with a hanging loop (this one is gold cord).
Cut 2 red strips of felt .5” wide and a little longer than the circumference of the tube. Apply glue and place the red strips
even with the top and bottom edges of the drum, butting the edges together like the drum felt. Strike 2 wood matches, let cool.
Cross them and glue to the top of the drum, including the ‘rim’ of the drum. Instead of matchsticks, you could use a cut bamboo
skewer for drumsticks.
Santa's Boot
This is a clay Santa boot I made in school in first or second grade, back in the 1950s. To make a New Millennium version,
roll out some polymer clay to about 1/8”. Cut a shape with your favorite cookie cutter. Use a sharp knife, scissor point,
or skewer to make a hanging hole at the top center. Bake according to clay instructions, about 20 minutes at 250ºf, more
or less. When cool, sand where needed, and paint as desired. Add a ribbon or other hanger, and sign and date on the back.
Forest Freak
My sister made this unusual and, well, freakish ornament (she’s the one who named it the Forest Freak). Start with 2 Styrofoam
balls. Slice a little off each ball to make 2 flat edges that will fit together well. Glue balls together with Styrofoam glue,
let dry. Hot glue sphagnum moss to the bottom ball, and all but the ‘face’ of the top ball, and little artificial flower leaf
sprigs to 2 cinnamon sticks for arms. Poke the cinnamon sticks into the upper part of the bottom ball with some Styrofoam glue
on the ends. Poke 2 more cinnamon sticks in the bottom for legs, as in the photo, with glue. Add a wire or paperclip hanger to
the back, by poking and gluing. Press in 3 whole cloves for a face. Add 1 bow on top of the head, and 1 bow on the front.
Sheri used a nature print for the bows.
Sisters
This is a very easy to make polymer clay ornament I made for my sister to represent us. Clay comes in many colors, so you
can avoid having to paint the ornament by using clay colors you like. Simply roll 2 cylinders for the bodies, then 4 skinny
cylinders for the arms. Roll 2 balls for the heads. Carefully press the bodies together, attach the heads (with their heads
turned toward you), then apply the arms. Adjust everything until it looks good to you. Cut a 1” piece of wire or twisty-tie,
and poke it into the back somewhere for a hanger. Bake upright in a 250º oven for between 30 and 60 minutes, checking for
hardness every 10 minutes, OR, follow clay instructions. Paint any parts you want to paint. Use paint or markers to draw
cute faces and hair. You could also glue on yarn or doll hair instead of using paint. I used a glossy clear sealer over all,
and dated the bottom of the ornament.
Pompom Kitty
Cut a little heart from black felt, about 1 inch long. Cut 3 tiny triangles, one a little smaller than the other two
from the same black felt. Glue 4 cat-colored pompoms together, one medium for the head, one large for the body, and 2
tiny ones for the kitty's cheeks. Glue the heart to the bottom of the kitty for feet. Glue on the little triangles
for the ears, and the smallest triangle for the nose. Glue on 2 black beads for the eyes, and tie a piece of string
or 1/16th" red ribbon around his neck. Attach a hanger and purr!
Elf Boots
Draw an elf boot shape (or any kind of shoe, for that matter) and cut it out of paper for your pattern. Cut out 2- a front and
a back. Using a needle and matching thread, sew front and back together with the smallest stitches you can. Cut some long, contrasting
felt triangles for the 'cuffs'. These can be sewn or hot-glued at the top. Sew or glue a piece of glittery trim around the top edge.
Sew a tiny bell to the toe, attach a hanger, and you're done.
Jeweled Star
Go online for instructions for folding a 5-pointed star, such as http://www.highhopes.com/5pointstar.html,
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagstar.html, or do a search. Make 2 3-D stars from posterboard, or other
heavy paper. Glue their edges together and insert a string or wire that can be used as a hanger. Glue a wide variety of
beads, jewels, sequins and glitter to the front. Outline the edges with bugle beads to make it stand out more.
Walnut Diorama
Carefully open some walnuts so you have perfect half-shells. Glue down a tiny piece of fluff (batting, or even dryer lint
so long as it's white) to be the snowy background. Glue a tiny plastic deer (or other tiny creature) so it's standing on the
'floor'. Glue tiny pieces of sphagnum moss or lichen on each side of the deer on the edge of the shell. Glue a very thin
ribbon to the outside rim of the shell and tie a bow at the top. Add an ornament hanger and that's it.
"Realistic" Heart
I had a heart attack in May, 2005, and have spent the rest of the year regaining my health. I wanted to make a heart ornament
as a reminder of how precious it is. Simply shape a walnut-sized ball of polymer clay (I used Sculpey) into fist-shaped heart. I
wanted the heart to be shaped realistically, rather than like a Valentine heart. I rolled long
clay strings to use for veins and arteries on the outside of the heart and put a fat tube at the top. I then cut and bent wire
to embed into the top behind the 'aorta', and poked it in. I baked the heart at 275° for about 20 minutes. When cool, I painted the
heart dark red (only because I didn't have red clay on hand) and the veins and arteries off-white. To soften the creepy factor, I
added a little jewel to the upper left corner, and coated the whole thing with a sparkle glaze. Then I added a coiled wire hanger
and wrote my initials and the year on the back. Perhaps there's something in your life that could be represented by a clay ornament.
Half-Sphere Angel Scene and Deer Scene
Cut a plastic round ornament in half lengthwise so there'll be half the hanging cap at the top on both halves. Use an emeryboard or
sand paper to round off the edges. Paint the inside a pretty color-- light for a daytime scene or dark for a nighttime scene.
I added a clear sparkly glaze over the paint. Paint on either white paint or snow paint (Wal Mart) to bottom half. Glue a little
puff of a cotton ball, quilt batting, etc to be the snowy foreground. A little goes a long way. Arrange a plastic angel or plastic deer
, Santa, whatever, with the background tree (my little angel came from a cheapy plastic snow globe that broke. When you have a
composition you like, glue everything in place with hot glue or tacky glue. When dry, glue some trim around the edge. Plastic beads,
ric-rack, narrow braid are all good for this. I added a few star-shaped 'jewels' spaced unevenly on the trim. Add a wire hanger (mine
is hooked onto the trim with a drop of glue), and that's it. To me, any little dioramas or scenes have a child-like magic
about them.
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Instant Ornaments
Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved. Updated 10/11/2008.
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