Christmas Ornament Craft Ideas

Sparkling Beaded Snowflake

Little fingers will find these sparkling ornaments easy and fun to make!

You'll Need:
Scissors
Silver and/or blue tinsel pipe cleaners 2 per snowflake
Blue, white, silver plastic pony beads

Cut the pipe cleaners in half so that you have 4 pieces. Make a cross with two pieces, twist and secure.

then add the other two pieces, twist and secure.

Add a few beads to each piece of pipe cleaner. Bend the ends of each piece just enough to prevent the beads from falling off. Add an ornament hanger or make a loop with the pipe cleaner for hanging.

Sparkling Beaded Ornaments

A festive and easy to make ornament for children to make.

You'll need:
Tinsel pipe cleaners (craft store)
Metallic colored plastic pony beads

How To Make:

Simply add beads to the pipe cleaner to make a circle (about 22 beads).

Twist the pipe cleaner together to secure the circle. You can stop here, add jingle bells, or continue with the next step.

Add more beads to the remaining pipe cleaner and make another loop. Leave a little bit of pipe cleaner to use for hanging your ornament.

Pipe cleaners are versatile enough for your child to create their own special design.

Toothpick Ornament

Make these quick and easy ornaments.

Materials

• a box of rounded tooth picks
• scissors
• pencil
• white glue
• old Christmas cards
• 1 sheet of cardboard
• spool of thread

Directions

1. cut out a square of cardboard 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" - this will be your stencil
2. pick out a favorite Christmas Card and position your stencil over the area you want to cut out.
3. Trace around the stencil
4. cut out on the lines
5. put a small amount of glue around the edges of the cutout Christmas card
6. begin placing toothpicks by 3's or 2's, first on one edge then the next until all 4 sides make a frame.
7. Place a "roof" at the top of the frame.
8. Allow the glue to dry
9. when glue is dry take a length of thread, double it and tie it to the top of the roof. .Make the loop long enough to fit on the branch of a Christmas tree.

Easy Ornament

Materials

• 2 different pieces of scrap material one plain and one patterned
• sheets of fusing material
• pinking sheers and scissors
• light cardboard
• iron
• narrow ribbon

Directions

Use a can or juice lid to make a circle on the plain material (it could be any shape), cut 2 pieces. Cut out the same size circle of cardboard. Look in a coloring book for Christmas or magazines for a shape to trace for the middle of your ornament (both sides). Trace the shape on to the patterned material. Cut out shapes and circles. Cut fusing material just a bit smaller than the shape and circle. Cut a length of ribbon to use as a hanger. Fuse each circle to the faces of the cardboard circle with the one end of the ribbon between the fusing material and the material at the top of the ornament on each side. Fuse the shapes to each side of the circles. Hang your creation on the tree!

Cotton Ball Angel Ornament

Materials

• Round Cotton Balls
• 1/8" wide white ribbon
• 1/8" wide gold ribbon
• 2" wide lace ribbon
• glue gun

Directions:

• Cut a 4" length of lace ribbon for wings

• Cut 6" length of white ribbon for hanger

• Measure a length of gold ribbon around the cotton ball and cut to size for Halo

• cut a 1 1/2" length of gold ribbon and tie in middle

Assemble:

• Gather ribbon in the middle so that a bow tie shape is formed. Put a small amount of glue in the middle to hold.

• Glue round puff in center on top of gather.

• Glue gold tied lenth to angel's neck

• Glue on halo

• Double white ribbon to make a loop and glue to back.

Bread-Dough Ornaments

The recipe:

1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of salt
Hot water to make a "good dough"

Combine ingredients, and when consistency feels right let the children make candy canes, bells, or create forms with cookie cutters.

Beat an egg and glaze the ornaments with it; this will give them a shiny brown finish when baked.

Bake ornaments (not forgetting to put a hole in them for hanging) at 350 for 15-25 minutes, till they start to turn brown on the top.

Remove from the oven and cool completely. Paint if you like. I recommend an acrylic clear coat varnish to finish the the ornaments sfter they're painted.

These will keep many years if kept in a cool dry area in tightly sealed containers.

Pointy Star Ornament (Polish Star)

This traditional Polish decoration -- also known as a porcupine ball for its spikiness -- adds a sparkling touch to trees and presents.

To download PDF instructions with pictures, click here.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

Ruler or compass
Scissors
Thin cardboard
Foil paper
Glue stick
Heavy thread and needle

Time needed:

Under 1 Hour

Directions:

1. Cut out a 4-inch cardboard circle. Using the cardboard as a template, trace and cut out 14 foil-paper circles. Fold one circle in half, in half again and in half once more. Unfold the circle and place it on a stack of as many circles as you can cut through. Cut along the fold lines, stopping about 1/2 inch from the center. Repeat until all the circles are cut.

2. Form the eight segments of each circle into points by wrapping each one around the sharpened end of a pencil, as shown, and securing it with a dab of glue.

3. Thread a needle with an 18-inch length of thread, and knot one end. Insert it through the centers of the circles -- from the foil side of the first seven and the wrong side of the rest. Gently pull on the thread, bunching the circles into a ball. Tie a knot, then form a hanging loop from the extra thread.

Thanks to: www.familyfun.com

Painted Glass Ornaments

These ornaments are so much more than the sum of their parts: A flash of holiday alchemy transforms inexpensive glass globes and a few dropperfuls of paint into marbled masterpieces, and the guests at your ornament party will have a ball making them.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

Clear glass ball ornaments (available at craft stores)
Acrylic or tempera paints
Paper cups
Plastic eyedroppers

Time needed:

Under 1 Hour

Directions:

1. Remove the tops from the ornaments (a parent's job). You may want to inspect the tops of the ornaments for stray glass threads and smooth them with the side of a toothpick.

2. Pour the paint into the cups, one color per cup, and stir a little water into each until it reaches the consistency of heavy cream. Put an eyedropper in each cup.

3. To decorate a ball, squirt a few drops of paint into it and swirl before adding another color.

4. Dry the balls upside down, perched on paper cups, and replace the tops when they're dry.

Tips: Experiment with dribbling paint down the sides or squirting it right into the bottom and tipping the ball upside down over a cup. (Most designs look great, but if a child is really unhappy with his or her ball, you can swirl the inside of the ornament with hot water and start over.)

Gumdrop Ornaments & Trees

Craft Materials:

styrofoam ball or cone
toothpicks
gum drops

Directions:

Kids break the tooth picks in half.

Stick a gum drop on one end and the other end into the foam ball or cone.

Tie a ribbon to it and hang it on the tree.

Make a colorful and edible ornament!

Use a Styrofoam cone instead of a ball and create a tree centerpiece covered entirely with green gumdrops.

Candy Glass Ornaments

Baking these ornaments is a job for parents, but let the kids unwrap the candies.

MATERIALS

Holiday cookie cutters
Hard candies and sprinkles (optional)
10-inch length of ribbon

For a mold, wrap the bottom and sides of a metal cookie cutter with foil. Set on a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray.

You can also use cookie dough and cut out a hole in the center. Place the crushed candy in the center to form a candy glass window.

Fill each cookie cutter with a single layer of candies.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes, or until melted.

Add sprinkles, cool for 2 minutes, then use a chopstick to poke a hole near the top for hanging.

Once cool, remove from the mold and hang with a ribbon.

TIP: Jolly Rancher candies work best, since they produce the brightest color.