Making Your Own Christmas Ornaments

You can buy some pretty fantastical Christmas tree decorations and ornaments. But its so much more fun to actually make them yourself. It adds a touch of personalization to your tree, and can provide hours of entertainment for yourself and children. Many objects can be found around the home, and the rest can be bought for relatively inexpensive.

Wooden Ornaments.

We found some really cute Christmas ornaments made out of wood at Michaels Craft Stores. They came with markers and some glitter-glue. It cost $1 for 3 ornaments, 5 pens and 2 different colored glitter glue. My son, sister and her friend spent hours coloring and glittering the ornaments. We added the children's names to some and set out to dry. They will be hung on the tree.

* You can also find plain wooden ornaments in most craft stores. You can add your own decorations as desired.

Wire Ornaments.

Take some craft wire and shape it into traditional Christmas shapes, the tree, the wreath, the candy cane, angels and more. String large beads such as pony beads on the wires and hang with string.

Bead Garland.

To make a pretty string of bead garland you will need some holiday yarn and sparky pony beads. String the pony beads on the yarn. Tie a knot in between each bead to prevent them from all falling off. You can string them one after another, or space them apart. You can do the string a solid color, or a pattern of Christmas colors.

Crochet Yarn Garland.

Even if you don't know how to crochet you can make loose weave yarn garland. Take several colors of yarn that go well together and do a simple chain. Make sure you use a large hook, its often easiest to do this by hand.

* To finger crochet. Take the yarn and make a loop out of it. Put the cut edge OVER the other side. It needs to be in front. Put 2 fingers and your thumb inside the loop from the back side. You want the severed edge of your yarn to be in front of everything else. Grab the piece of yarn that is connected to your skein. Pull it through the loop loosely. And repeat. If you tighten it all the way you will create a tight chain. Loosely with several pieces of yarn will create a nice loose braid like chain that can be hung on your Christmas tree, or used to frame a window.

Polymer Clay

Have children make Christmas ornaments out of polymer clay. You can make any decoration out of the clay. However polymer clay requires you to bake it to set the clay. You need to bake it at 275 degrees for 15 minutes per ¼ inch thickness. When its baked or cured, the clay becomes hard enough that it shouldest break when dropped. You can paint and decorate your fired clay as desired. You can even make beads out of it. This is not just a holiday craft, you can make anything you can imagine with polymer clay.

Felt Ornaments.

You can make ornaments out of felt by cutting out the shapes. You can sew or glue decorations such as pom poms and sequence on them for a bit of added posh. You can buy all sorts of colored felt including sparkly pieces at craft stores. You can make the traditional Christmas characters.

Snowflakes.

Go back to basics and make paper snowflakes. I use construction paper and copy paper. Fold in hand and in half again. Then cut a snowflake shape out of the paper. To decorate cut diamonds, triangles, rectangles and other shapes from the folded edge. They can be hung from the tree, in rows or from the ceiling.

Paper Trains.

Cut strips of colored paper in to strips. One inch wide and 6 inches long. Make a loop and glue it closed. Take a second strip and interlock it with the first making a chain. Glue or tape closed.

Personalized Ornaments.

Buy some clear ornaments from the store. Collect pictures of children and family members and cut small enough ti fit inside the ornament. Using a toothpick push the picture inside the ornament to create a personalized decoration. You can also put pictures of pets, holiday icons like Santa and frosty, and places you have been or want to go as ideas.

Clothespin Creations

This could be an ornament or a decoration. Find clothespins, either old fashioned clothespins, or the newer ones with springs. Using felt, pom poms, sequence, and beads you can create many different Christmas characters like Santa, Frosty, Reindeer, and gingerbread men. Use paint to define your decoration and add pizazz to it.

Apple Cinnamon Ornaments.

Mix 3 cups applesauce and 3 cups cinnamon together until you get a very thick paste. It will take quite a bit. Roll onto wax paper and cut out shapes. Pierce with a toothpick to make a hole. Allow to dry for several hours then hang. They will smell wonderful for years to come. If your ornaments happen to loose their scent. Just drop on a few drops of cinnamon essential oil.

Salt dough crafts.

You can made the same ornaments out of salt dough that you can with polymer clay and you will have the ingredients at home. You need 3 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup cold water. Mix together to make a dough. Hand knead for about 10 minutes then set in a covered container or bag for an hour. Then it can be rolled and shaped. Bake in the oven for a few minutes to harden.

Pine Cone creations.

Collect pine cones from outside and make into Christmas themed creations. You can make the normal Christmas characters, or you can just coat with glitter and hang up on the tree. You can also drop a few drops of scented oil on the pine cones to make them smell. Or you can buy scented or unscented pine cones in most craft stores.

Pipe Cleaner candy canes.

Twist red and white pipe cleaners together to make a candy cane. You can decorate with pony beads if you want for added decoration. Hang on your Christmas tree or place in plants or around the house for decoration.

Ribbon ornaments.

Take a ribbon fold it back and forth, making a stack about 1 inch long. When it gets the desired length use a needle and thread to pierce the stack and tie off. Use a small bit of ribbon to tie a loop on top to create a hanger. The ribbon decoration works best if you use a ribbon that is 1 inch or wider.

REAL snowflakes.

You need pipe-cleaners, 3 per snowflake. A mayonnaise or pickle jar, borax, and yarn. Some misc things you will need include scissors, spoon, water, and blue food coloring.

Start by making the basic snowflake shape with the white pipe cleaners. Twist the 3 pipe cleaner together to form six spokes. You want this to be able to fit inside your jar.

side note If you want to make larger snowflakes, you can use a clean bucket, large pot, or some other larger holding container. Using the yarn, tie each pipe cleaner together making a circle around the pipe cleaners. Making a basic snowflake. You can do more then one string to vary your snowflakes.

Using string and a pencil, suspend the pipe cleaner in the jar or container of your choice. Boil some water in a pot. Mix the boiling water with the Borax. You will need 3 tablespoons borax to each cup of water. If you want your snowflakes to be colored you can add a few drops of food coloring. Blue would be the obvious choice, however you can do other colors as well. I think green and red snowflakes really make the season that much more fun.

Pour the water/borax mixture into the jar carefully. An adult should do this step. Then set aside. As the water cools the borax will stick to the snowflake, crystallizing it. Carefully pull your snowflakes from the jar and Hang.

*side note You can do the same
thing with sugar and water making rock candy but it will take longer to set.

Making your own holiday decorations is a fun activity for a cold winter day. Something that every member of your family can participate in, no matter their age.