homemade ornament ideas

You'll need a package or two of clear glass ornaments and several bottles of acrylic paint.

The metallic colors, especially gold and silver, work best. We also used a deep red, blue, and green with great success on our handmade ornaments, too.

The night before you're going to create your holiday masterpieces, take off the tops, and then pour a little rubbing alcohol inside of each. Swish it around, and dump it out.

This cleans the interior of any dust or dirt so that you have a fresh surface to work with. Turn the Christmas ornaments upside down to drain. The next morning, gather paints, the glass ornaments, and cover your work surface with newspapers to protect it.

This is a bit of a messy job. But the festive end result is well worth the messy fun of homemade ornaments.

Homemade Ornament Ideas to Add Color

Squirt about three teaspoons (three little squirts) of several different acrylic paints into each glass ball ornament. 

Keeping your thumb over the hole, gently swirl the colors around until they're mixed the way you like them.

Then place them gently back in the box, upside down, with fresh newspapers underneath. Allow to dry a couple of days before using or wrapping as your customized holiday gifts.

Finish by placing the tops back on, and tie with a festive ribbon. Consider stringing beads on the hook for added sparkle. These are great gifts for teachers and grandparents.

And If You Want to Get Really Festive This Year...

• Personalize it. You can write your name (or the name of the person you're giving it to) on the front along with the year in glitter glue or using an acrylic paint pen.

• Make it sparkle. Instead of putting paint in the glass ornament squirt in a little glue and then pour in glitter and swish it around. Then pour out the leftover and let dry. Don't use too much - you don't want the whole ball covered - you just want to create a pattern. We liked using white glitter. After it dries, stuff the ornament with confetti or beads and your child's class picture.

• Design it. You could also write the person's name on the ball with plain glue and then roll the ball in glitter. Or, you could make a design on the ball - like a snowman - and roll the ball in white glitter. Or, you could make the outline of a tree with the glue and roll it in green glitter. After it dries, glue on little colored beads.

That's what we came up with. But the possibilities are endless. Use your imagination to create memories of the season with homemade ornament ideas that best reflect your personality and style.

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