Craft Project: Glitter Ball Ornaments

This is a super simple but oh so pretty Christmas ornament craft to do with the kids... and what kid doesn't like to do something with glitter?

For this project,  you need glitter and clear ball ornaments.

I would prefer to have used clear ornaments instead of these iridescent ones, but these are what I could find and my preschooler would tell me, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit." So there.

Remove the ornament hanger from the ball, and using a funnel
pour in your glitter. I like to fill just under half full, but you
can do it however you like. Replace the hanger when
you're done.

I have also done this with larger size ball ornaments using sequins and larger glitter, and I've seen it done with small white Styrofoam balls and even small buttons, as long as it will fit through the hole of the ornament. There are lots of different options to make each one unique.

The small blue is the one I just made, and the
larger two are ones I've made before with
multicolored sequins and larger glitter.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:19-20

Craft Project: Bottle Cap Snowman

My daughter's second grade class is having Ornament Day next Wednesday. Her teacher invited parents to come and help the children make some ornaments to take home, and invited those who could to also provide the supplies so each child could make one ornament. Of course this is right down my alley, and my first thought was that I needed to count my stash of bottle caps. And I had JUST enough! Recently I found a Bottle Cap Snowman idea on Pinterest, pinned from whatilivefor.net, and I thought it would be the perfect thing for the kids to make.

I made one ahead of time so the kids could have one to look at.

Supplies needed for this project are 3 bottle caps per snowman,
white paint, Sharpies, ribbon, hot glue.

Begin by painting the inside of each clean, dry bottle cap.
You may need to apply more than one coat. I have done
this step ahead of time for the kids in my daughter's class
because they won't have time to let the paint dry before
drawing their snowman's face.

If you want to have a glossy finish, do it now. For my sample snowman, I drew the face on first with a Sharpie, and then added a glossy finish. Even though more than 12 hours had passed since drawing the face, the Sharpie still smeared with the gloss coat. So... I painted over that face and started again.

When the paint/glossy finish is dry, turn the bottle caps
over and hot glue the ribbon to the caps as shown, leaving
a bit of space between them so the ribbon will show. Use any
color ribbon to give your snowman some color and personality.
I am providing the kids a couple different colors to choose
from: hot pink, blue, green, and red.

And do be sure to do this step before drawing the face. It is much easier to draw the face once the caps are attached to the ribbon, than it is to try to make sure your face and buttons are, and stay, straight as you glue. Also, hot glue seems to be the best option. I used tacky glue on my first snowman, and it did not hold the bottle caps securely enough (and dried slowly). But be ready, the hot glue will dry very fast, especially if you have a low temp gun like I do. And of course, this will need to be highly supervised during our class Ornament Day.

When the glue is dry, turn your snowman
over and use colorful Sharpies to draw a face
in the top cap and some buttons in the
middle cap. I'm providing various colors for the kids
so they can choose eye and button color to their liking.
You can see when I repainted my snowman,
I also changed the color of the ribbon from
green to hot pink.

I give this a super cute snowman two thumbs up. I really hope the kids like it, too.

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18

Craft Review: FamilyFun Homemade Paper Stars (Ornament)

Last year, I saw this craft idea in the December 2010/January 2011 issue of FamilyFun. I decided way back then that these Homemade Paper Stars would be our craft ornament project that would also be our gift to teachers and a few other people around us. The "recipe" makes 3 stars, so I will give instructions for 3 stars first. However, we made 25 ornaments (stars and trees), and I will also detail our experience with doing the 25.

For this project you will need sheets of construction paper, glitter,
3 inch star cookie cutter, blender, hot water, sieve, plate,
paper towels, cloth towel, baking sheet, oven, and thin ribbon.

Recipe according to FamilyFun: Tear 3 (9-by 12-inch) sheets of construction paper into small pieces, about the size of a domino, and place them in a blender. Pour in about 1-1/2 cups of very hot water and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, put a folded cloth towel on a plate, add a paper towel, and top with a 3-inch star-shaped cookie cutter. Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Pulse the blender until the mixture is pulpy, about 30 seconds. In a sieve set over the sink (or bowl), drain the pulp, then spoon some into the cookie cutter to the top, taking care to fill the points. Sprinkle with glitter. Use a rag to press the pulp down into the cookie cutter until most of the water is gone, then gently push the star out onto a baking sheet. Repeat to make two more stars. Bake them for 2 hours or until the moisture has evaporated (they should be firm and lightweight). Let the stars cool, then glue ribbon loops to the backs for hanging. Makes 3 stars.

Tear Construction Paper.

According to the directions, 3 pieces of paper will make 3 stars. My cookie cutters (we made some trees and stars) are about 4-inches instead of 3, so I decided to tear about 1-1/2 pages per ornament that I planned to make. We needed 10 trees, so we used 15 pieces of green construction paper. We needed 8 yellow stars, so we used 12 pieces of yellow construction paper. We needed 7 red stars, so we used 12 pieces of red construction paper. We had enough pulp to make one extra tree and one extra red star.

Soak and Blend Paper to Pulp. 

Because we were making so many, I did this in small increments, just making sure to use plenty of water. I placed all the pieces of torn paper (by color) in a bowl and poured in hot water to allow the paper to soak. Then I moved the wet paper a little bit at a time, adding extra water as needed, to the blender to pulse it into pulp.

From the blender to the sieve.

From the sieve to the cookie cutter.

Add glitter and squeeze out water.

Is there such a thing as TOO much glitter?

Adding glitter was the best part. It allowed my girls to get creative with what color(s) of glitter to use for each ornament. After you add the glitter, use a rag to press into the cutter to squeeze out extra water.

Bake. 

Okay... this is the part where doing more than 3 threw off the recipe. We started with the yellow stars, and had 8 of them when all was said and done. All eight of them on one baking sheet into the oven for 2 hours at 200 degrees. In the back of my mind, I knew it would take longer for 8 stars to dry out. They'd been in there for a little more than an hour when our trees were ready, so I put them in too. When the two hours for the first batch of stars was up, they were not dry, so I let them stay in there longer. Finally, after who knows how long, I just took them all out to let them dry on a rack.

I had to fix about 3 stars where the paper pulp didn't hold together throughout the process. I also feel that the red stars, even though they spent the shortest amount of time in the oven, look a little bit like they are burned. Just a tiny bit browned. They're not ruined, but it makes me like them a little less.

So as I write this, our ornaments continue to dry. And they do look good, but I think this craft project would best be served sticking to the recipe and just making 3 stars, or trees, or whatever shape you might choose.

The important part is that we had fun making these gifts together. My girls enjoyed pushing the button on the blender, smooshing the pulp into the sieve to drain out water, filling the cookie cutters, and adding glitter. Beware... this will get messy, especially if you decide to make 25 of them.

And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21