Happy Christmas Eve!

The only two real ornaments

Happy Christmas Eve! Before the season was over, I wanted to share my tree with you all. In an effort to be budget conscious, I decided to make some ornaments this year. I really want to collect bird ornaments (of the white, gold, silver, and blue persuasion) but that's gonna take time and money. I'm hoping I can scoop up a few this year when they all go on sale. But, I currently only have two real ornaments. Seen here is my little birdy tree topper from Pier One that I got last year and the little white bird I got from Christmas Tree Shops this year (he was only a dollar!). However, I knew the tree would look very bare with only two ornaments, so I set out to make more.

My cut out "patterns"

First thing I did was print out a few bird shapes I liked off the internet. Then I traced them out onto thin cardboard boxes that I'd been hoarding for a week. Boxes like the ones from pasta, crackers, and popcorn. Logically, the next thing I did was cut them all out (it took forever!).

Birdies all cut out!

One of the many cardboard boxes traced out

 

Drying after one of the many coats of paint

Next I had to paint them so that they were all uniform in color (and it didn't look like they'd been cut out of random boxes.) I ended up doing one coat on the non-colored side, and two coats on the printed side. I chose to go with white since that's the look I was going for, but you could paint them whatever color/design you like to fit with your aesthetic.

Glitter bombed!

The next step was the most fun and most definitely the messiest. I'd bought some really cheap glitter from Joann's. It was three colors- silver, blue, and white- for only a dollar. Turns out it was really fine glitter too, which worked out well. Anyways, on the blank side of the ornament, I painted a coat of paint mixed with matte medium (which helped thin it so it would dry faster and act better as glue). You could probably also just use paint or use white glue/a white glue mix. The matte medium is what I had on hand so that is what I used. I painted each ornament and then sprinkled away. As you can see, the owls I ended up sharpie-ing on a bit of definition to help them read more as owls. I'd asked Mike what he thought they were when they were all white, and his guess was a shield. :/ And so the owls got some sharpie.

Make-shift hangers

I'd originally been planning on punching holes in them to thread the hanger through, but after putting all that paint on them, I realized that was going to be no small task. So I cheated and simply hot glued the hangers to the back. Voila! The only sad part was when I decided to not pay attention and accidentally touched the metal tip of the hot glue gun to my finger. It hurt really bad and blistered, but luckily it was really small and is healing pretty quickly.

 
And just for fun, here are some close-ups of them on the tree:

They're not the most fantabulous ornaments ever made, but I had fun making them and they make the tree feel full, so I'm happy. :)