I absolutely love the holidays. Getting a new place, however, poses some difficulties when decorating for the first time. I always attempt to reuse decorations from houses and apartments prior, but it seems that the artificial tree never fits, decor looks out of place, and there is never a ideal location for a singing holiday Tigger. Last year, I have finally gotten enough decorations to have the array of ornaments that tell our family life story. Prior years, I have went out and purchased matching silver ornament balls with red or green garland to dress up the tree. I always missed the look and feel of my parents' Christmas tree that was covered with decently homemade and Hallmark yearly purchased ornaments. I could look at the tree and find the baby ornament that was purchased the year I was born, the one from when Big Bird was popular, and an array of Popsicle sticks shaped into reindeer faces hanging from the branches. Last year, I created my own crafting holiday pieces to add more of that homemade feel to my array of Hallmark purchased ornaments.
Ornaments that look similar can be purchased at shops like Urban Outfitters or World Market for $20 a piece; however, with a bit of hot glue and some patience, I managed to make some at under a $1 an ornament.
My shopping list for this craft includes:
- Any glass or plastic ornament ball
- Hot glue sticks/gun
- Twine/Yard/Heavy String
I start utilizing the hot glue at the top of the ornament, close to where you would hang it on the tree. I would make sure to use very little hot glue and a little bit at a time, or the extra glue seeps through the twine and hardens on the outside, not making a very pretty ornament. Hot glue also dries extremely fast, so using a little at a time is best to make sure that you have time to focus on the strand that you are working with without the other part drying. This project easily can take three hands; however, I moved really slow and very carefully looping the twine and adding glue bit by bit around the ball until I got to the bottom. I measured and cut the end of the twice and made a thick glue dot on the bottom and pressed firmly. Throughout, I had made sure to wrap the twine around the ornament really tight and close together, and on the bottom, I made sure that I pressed hard until the glue felt as if it was cooling off and drying.
I wouldn't necessarily suggest making an entire tree's decorations like this, because the one ornament was kind of time consuming. However, for the one ornament to go on my tree of multiple different ornaments, it is really cute, homemade, and rustic. Finally, I sat it on some aluminum foil to dry! Hope you enjoy this cute little ornament as much as I do!
