Easy Christmas Ornaments

Back to generating some Christmas awesomeness around here.  Have you noticed how expensive Christmas ornaments are? Especially the higher quality ones that are glass and nicely decorated.  You can easily spend $1,000+ just on decorating a tree.  I am on a mission to change that.  I bought several ornaments during the after-Christmas sales at Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and West Elm last year.  I know I didn't buy enough to fill the whole tree and I like a mix of store-bought and homemade (and I'm not talking about the popsicle stick ornamets I made back in 1987).

Last week I purchased a couple of ornament boxes from the craft store, and after sales and coupons they worked out to be $0.50/ornament.  I got the glass ones so that I could use hot glue to adhere the decorations - the glue would probably melt any of the plastic options.  Here is something I whipped up using items I already had on hand.

For the first ornament I used twine, a hot glue gun, ribbon and a little spray paint. 

I chose to use hot glue rather than a wet glue to keep the twine from shifting as it was placed.  Hot glue hardens very quickly; if you are doing a project like this, just keep in mind that you have to work fast - so keep items close at hand.  I started at the top and wrapped the twine around the areas that I applied the glue.  I worked in small sections to make sure that the twine was secured to the hot glue.

The end was cut and glued into place with a tiny drop of hot glue at the bottom. 

I tied a ribbon that I already had to the top to see how it looked.

I didn't like the way the silver looked against the burlap so I removed the tops of all the ornaments, weaved a wooden skewer through the hole of each top and spray painted them with Rustoleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze (which I always have on hand).  I suspended the skewer between two paint cans so that they could dry with out touching eachother. 

I liked this look much better.  The twine seems to protect the glass ornament and give it some cushion, so if it were to be dropped from a tree they should survive well.

I ran out of twine after I completed the third ornament.  And since I'm on a kick with sheet music, I did this very quickly to the fourth ornament just by cutting strips of the sheet music with a razor.  I wrapped the sheet music around my finger for a second and put it in the hole.  I tossed a little bit of glitter into the ornament  hoping it would stick to the paper.  It did not.  The glitter just gathered at the bottom and can't be seen.  So for future ones I may spray a light layer of glitter over the sheet music before it is cut.

I think they are the perfect addition to my tree! 

I also think this would be a great hostess gift or Christmas gift for someone.  I know I would love them :)

Mary