Sparkle Snow Ornaments

I'm still going ornament strong! Today's almost feels like cheating, though. I say "almost" because is there really anything wrong with super easy / cheap decorating this time of year? NO!

So...(drum roll)...I present to you...my lucky readers...this remarkable ornament...(continue drum roll)...for your crafting Christmas pleasure.

YES! You too, can make this pretty, sparkly, snow ornament. Remember those incredible plastic bulbs I found??? Well, I bought TWO. And then I found this bag of fake snow at Oriental Trading while looking for buttons that you'll see in the next few days.

This bag could have filled 10 of these bulbs! But, alas, I only had the one. Anyway...it was MESSY, but fun! We dug out the funnel (I must remember to buy a smaller funnel for stuff like this) and spooned the stuff in. I was thinking...instead of buying fake snow, you could also grate up some old broken white crayons to use. Making this even cheaper! You can also get all kinds of Christmas Crazy and add mini-Santas or what-nots and make it a Snowy I-Spy Ornament.

You want to see it again in all it's tree hanging glory, don't you???

Origami Wreath

I'm SO very excited about this ornament!!!

 

This looks so pretty and is very easy to do. The word "origami" really had me a little bit nervous. It took me back twenty-ish years to a very failed attempt at turning origami into a hobby. But once a Band-Nerd, always a Band-Nerd and I couldn't resist the beauty of using old sheet music to decorate with!

The instructions can be found here. Domesticali does a great job explaining what you need to do. Start off with some old sheet music. Cut it down to 4 cm by 8 cm. You'll need eight 4 x 8 cm pieces to make your wreath.

Each piece needs to be folded in half lengthwise. Then fold them in half again width wise. With the unfolded side up, fold each top corner down. Does that make sense??? What you have should look like this:

Are you with me? This seems harder than it really is. You need to do this to all eight rectangles. Now pinch the two points of your first piece together. Holding the points together, pick up the next piece and slide each point into the openings on the top of the first piece. So what you have looks like this:

Keep doing this piece after piece:

Put the final piece in place!

Did I loose you? I hope I didn't! It really is much easier to do than to explain. And the original post at Domesticali does a much better job than I did so check out their link!

Crochet Mini-Wreath

Here is my Ornament 'O The Day! I am VERY new to crochet and even newer at reading patterns by myself. The only thing I've completed on my own is the scarf I did a few months ago. However, I thought it would be pretty to crochet some stars for our tree and to decorate various other nooks and crannies around the house. Yeah. I couldn't quite figure out any of the star patterns I found online. Looks like my mom and I will be having a star jam session with our hooks! In my search for a do-able star, I came across this cute little wreath here. I can TOTALLY handle those directions on my own! And I attached a little scrap of red to make a bow. Cute and easy and I have visions of topping some gifts with these little wreaths!

Paper Ribbon (Candy) Ornaments

I've got 19 minutes to get this ornament posted before it is officially tomorrow. We had another busy day today. Our church holds a fun kids program called the Great ADVENTure, so we had to get Louie off to that. Then my DH (James) and J. went out to work on more outside decorations while I stayed in and folded some of Mount Laundry. For those of you who don't know...Mt. Laundry is the ever growing mountain of clean (or dirty) clothes that mysteriously form all over our house. Every once in awhile, Mt. Laundry explodes a volcano of socks, BVDs and various particles around and I seem to be the only one who knows how to deal with it. ANYWAY!

It is also our 11th Anniversary! YAY! So my marvelous hubby decided to take me out to dinner. We got the kids over to his parent's house and went out to eat. Thanks, baby!!! Good stuff! Then the Huskers were playing...so we watched the game at my in-laws. Then John fell down and bonked his forehead on a corner and got a wicked goose egg. To make a long story short (too late!)...we just got home and I popped out another ornament. And now I am down to 13 minutes to tell you about it...

So. You need some ribbon, scrapbook paper (or similar), pony beads, a hole puncher and scissors. Easy peasy. You need to cut a strip of your paper that measures one inch by 12. Then, starting at one end, punch 7 holes roughly 2 inches apart. It doesn't need to be perfect...mine certainly wasn't! Next, cut an 18 length of ribbon and fold it in half. String your first pony bean onto the doubled up ribbon. Like this:

Then string the ribbon through the first hole you punched in your paper. String on another bead. Then bend your paper and string that through. Keep alternating back and forth to get something like this:

Keep this going until you've gone through the last hole of your paper strip. Finish it off with a pony bead and then tie the two loose ends together. And you're done!



I think it turned out pretty darn cute! I found this ornament here and I'm looking forward to trying some more of the paper ornaments! PHEW! Two minutes left...

Marshmallow Snowman Ornament

I realized that having the same title (25 Day Ornament Challenge) from now until Christmas would get pretty redundant. So I dropped it! But you are in the right place and this is the third day of my challenge. It was a busy/crazy day today. Lots of running errands, picking up these kids, dropping off those kids...and our oldest had HIS school Christmas program tonight.

I'd like to pause here and mention Louie's school program. It was FANTASTIC! They do a great job every year and it is a wonderful way to really get into the Spirit of the Season! A few "shout-outs" to two of Louie's BFFs...Joe did a great job with the opening second grade reading and Andrew did a great job playing Santa and popping out of the chimney! Fun times!

So, with that type of day...I didn't even THINK about ornaments until about an hour ago. Luckily I found this little gem here at Craft Goodies! I heart the absolute cuteness and easy factor of these little snowmen. And you can get as carried away as possible...or stay as simple as I did!

Here's what you need:

I found these empty ornaments at Michael's and they're PLASTIC! And they were 79 CENTS! Because of the time crunch I raided the construction paper box, but some cute scrapbook paper would be great to use, too. I hole punched the black to make eyes & a mouth and then I cut out a triangle from the orange to make a nose. Then I enlisted the help of my three year old and told him to "stuff" Frosty!

You get the idea. Fill up your ornament with mini-marshmallows. J. did his best stuffing while his tongue was hanging out. He pulled it back in when he spotted the camera. Anyway, fill up the bulb, but don't overstuff. Then put the top back on and glue on your eyes, nose & mouth. And TAA DAH!

You have achieved Homemade Christmas Cuteness in about five minutes!

25 Day Ornament Challenge...Tube Wreath

I'm back for Day #2 of my Ornament Challenge!

But first I have to share...tonight was John's first ever Holiday program with his pre-school. ADORABLE! John is our super shy guy and is a very big Mama's Boy. However, he did great! He sang all the songs and did all the actions!!! The teachers and their aides do wonderful, WONDERFUL work with the kids. Highlights were the final song...Ballin' The Jack complete with fancy hats and little tuxedo shirts they made from paper towels and construction paper, AND being presented with a beautiful gingerbread house and scene complete with a pond and Santa Claus. And I only got a little teary eyed. (pics to follow...they're on my other camera and I need a new connector to download them to my computer)

So. On to Ornament #2 (appropriate because you use TP rolls!). I've been seeing many crafts done with cut up toilet paper rolls. And they look so darn cute. And we use lots and lots of toilet paper around here. So...why not?!? What you need is: two empty toilet paper rolls, three pipe cleaners, ruler, pencil, scissors, hole puncher, and super duper muscles in your hands to use the hole puncher (either my puncher is getting too old...or I am!!!).

I've tried to write up some coherent directions, but I must be getting tired, because they didn't even make sense to me! I found these ornaments here, and they have an awesome and easy to follow guide. I did take some pictures as I went, though:

I've gotta say...I loved the way these looked on Family Fun's website. On our tree...not so much. It kind of turned out big and klutzy. But it was a fun project to do. The boys had a blast. And that's what counts!

25 Day Ornament Challenge...Blingy Snowflakes

Hello…anyone out there??? I’m hoping to drum up some more followers and/or lurkers, but I realize that I’m not the most consistent blogger on the block. SO! I decided to challenge myself this month with 25 Days of Handmade Ornaments. Yep. We will end up with 25 new ornaments in time for Christmas Morning! To quote my mother, “Really? You’re going to make 25 ornaments?” That’s the plan.


For my first ornament, I decided to go super easy and make one that sparkles so much it makes me want to shout, “Bling! Bling!” I got the idea here, and it was very easy to do. Did I mention easy?

Okay. For these Bling Bling Snowflakes you need: Waxed Paper, Puffy Glitter Glue (I’m sure there is a more technical term, but I threw away the empty bottle already), and something from which to hang your new pretty ornament on your tree. That’s all!

First you lay out your paper. The instructions told me to use a pencil to sketch out a snowflake design on the paper first. Here’s where I got cocky. I thought, “Hmmmm. How hard can a little snowflake be?” Well. My wonky flakes testify that an artist I am not. So sketch out your snowflake. Then trace over your lines with the Glitter Glue. Here’s a look at what you’ll have:

After you’ve finished snickering at my weird looking snowflake…walk away. That is, let the paint dry and harden. I left mine overnight and for half the next day. Slowly pull the snowflake off the waxed paper and tie a string through it, or attach it to a hook. Then you’re good to go. Adds some definite sparkle to your tree. The site I found this on said they also make good window clings. I plan on making up a bunch more in different colors and hanging them from our kitchen windows.