This year for Christmas I was invited to my first Christmas Ornament & Cookie Exchange Party. A friend of our family has invited me and I was excited to get started on finding some great ideas on Pinterest!
The ornament I decided to make is a glass globe covered in old/vintage book pages that are written in German. I also printed a tag that said Noel and added gold glitter to the ornament. I love it because it’s DIY vintage! I love anything vintage and what better way to dress it up for a Christmas tree than to add a lot glitter.
Here is what the original ornaments looked like from the blog Flea Market Style:
Since her blog is just about what she found at a flea market/craft shop and didn’t have much in the way of directions on how to make the actual ornament, I decided to take a chance and make my own with some variations. Here is a photo of my final product:
Instead I used gold glitter and distressed my paper to give it a antiqued look. Since she didn’t have a how-to, I am going to add it below on how I made my ornament.
Items Needed to Make Ornament:
- Clear glass bulb ornaments
- Mod Podge (glossy finish)
- Vintage print papers from a book, newspaper, etc.
- Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad (walnut stain)
- Paint (gold)
- Glitter (gold)
- Tacky glue
- Hemp yarn/string (tree hanger and tag)
- 2 paint brushes (paint and mod podge)
- Sponge (distressing ink)
I found a great shop on Etsy called Sadie Olive, which has tons of vintage items for sale at really great prices–this is where I found the vintage books. If you search on Etsy, you can find anything you’re looking for–it’s my new favorite website!
Note: It’s best to do everything in stages if you are making a lot of ornaments at once, like me. I’ll need to make 17 ornaments total, so I am doing them in batches of 6.
Step One: It’s best to start by separating the hanger part from the ornament bulb. Since my ornament tops were silver and I was going for a gold look, I painted the tops gold. I set them aside to dry and began to work on the ornament bulb.
Step Two: Rip up the sheets of paper you are using into smaller pieces. I usually started with 3 bigger pieces that would cover the entire top then used smaller pieces to form around the rest of the bulb. Once I had my pieces torn, I distressed them with the Tim Holtz Distress Ink (walnut stain). I made sure to lightly distress the edges and lightly dabbed the face of the paper.
Step Three: Begin the mod podge process. This will be quite messy, so you will want to do this over a paper plate or put down a sheet of wax paper. First, I applied a very thin layer of mod podge to the glass ornament in the spot where I would begin. Be sure to cover the full area the paper will cover. I then laid down the paper and began to bend, fold, and tear some of the edges to create a more smooth surface on the round bulb using my fingers. I then added a light layer of mod podge on top of the paper and smoothed it out again with my fingers, being sure to get out any air bubbles and to flatten the paper as best as possible. I did this piece by piece, until my entire bulb was covered.
Note: Since you are using such a thin layer of mod podge, by the time you have finish the bottom half of the bulb, the top half should be dry enough to set back in the holder to finish drying.
Step Four: While your bulbs are drying, get your ornament tops that you painted gold and add a thin layer of mod podge, then shake on the gold glitter on the top and around the edges. It’s easiest to first roll the edges in the glitter, then shake the glitter on the top. Tap it lightly to shake off excess glitter and let sit to dry.
Step Five: Now it’s time to glitter the bulb. Use a light layer of mod podge and spread it on top of the paper. Then you will use the tip of your finger and dab it in a the gold glitter and then dab your finger on the bulb to stick to the mod podge. It’s easiest if you do this in rounds, starting from the top of the bulb and working your way down.
Step Six: While everything is drying, you will make your tags. I decided to handwrite my tags and use the leftover pieces of paper from my vintage paper. I also distressed the edges and both sides of the tag with Tim Holtz Distress Ink (walnut stain). You could also use a piece of neutral colored paper and print out the word Noel, cut them down to size and antique the edges. Make sure when you cut your tags, you leave room to punch a hole in the tage to hang it on the ornament.
Step Seven: Finally, you will assemble all of the parts. First you should put the ornament top back into the bulb. Then add the hemp yarn to your tag and wrap it around the base of the top piece with the gold glitter. I used Tacky Glue to keep the hemp yarn attached to the bulb. Then you will add a piece of hemp yarn around the top hanger as the hook. And you are done!
It’s a little messy and labor intensive, but they are so worth the effort and look gorgeous on the tree! (Just don’t make 17 of them at once). You could use any size ornament and use any color scheme: gold like mine, or more silver like the original photo, or other colors! Customize it to your heart’s desire!
Have fun creating and let me know if you were inspired by this post and what you made. Leave a comment below! :)
Links:
Like this:
Like Loading...
