Who says that your Christmas tree has to be covered from head to foot with expensive breakable ornaments? Sure, some people may have boxes of ornaments that have passed down from generation to generation, but for most of us, we are lucky if we have inexpensive tinsel hanging from our trees to get into the holiday spirit. If your budget is tight this Christmas but you are set on having a Christmas tree, why not keep a little extra money in your wallet and try making your own Christmas ornaments. Making your own ornaments may sound difficult, but as the following ideas will show you, it can be quite an easy process and you will wonder why you haven’t always produced your own ornaments.
Find some full-body pictures of friends and family members. Glue the pictures onto thick card stock. When they are dry, crop the picture so that you have cut out your friend or family member’s picture completely. For example, if you have a picture of your mother standing in a field, cut her out so that all you have is your mother and no field behind her. For a fun effect, crop the pictures close to their bodies, which may mean you are cutting perfectly around their arms and legs. Once you have cut out the picture, use a hole punch to punch a hole somewhere near the top of the picture. Tie a piece of ribbon, raffia or yarn through the punched hold and tie in a knot. You now have picture ornaments from all of your family members and friends to hang on your tree!
Want a homemade ornament idea your kids can help you make? Get some plain white yarn and cut into various sizes. On wax paper, make a pencil design of some Christmas-themed pictures like bells, Christmas trees, snowflakes and stockings. Dip the yarn completely in a diluted glue mixture (get some plain white glue and pour a little bit of water in it to make it less sticky). Place the yarn on the wax paper on top of your designs. Let the yarn dry completely. Once it has dried, carefully remove the wax paper from your yarn design. You will now have a yarn ornament. However, to make it look a bit nicer, you can do one of two things. One idea is to put the ornaments on some newspaper sheets and paint the ornaments with poster paints. The other idea uses different glitter colors. Brush glue onto the yarn ornament and sprinkle glitter over it, shaking off the excess. Once the ornaments are completely dry, use store-bought ornament hooks to hook the yarn designs onto the tree.
At a local paint store or hardware store, purchase some plain wood paint sticks (the sticks you use to stir up gallon buckets of paint). Some stores may even provide these paint sticks for free, if you ask. Cut the stick into two pieces of the same size. For example, if the paint stick is a foot long, cut it into two equal six inch pieces. Using a drill, drill a small hole on the top of the paint stick so you can later stick a ribbon or hook through it to hang. You can paint the paint stick any way you want. For example, you can paint the stick to look like an angel, a snowman or Santa Claus. For Santa Claus, paint the bottom portion of the stick red (for the Santa suit). Use brown and black paint to paint the buckle. Use black paint for the boots. Paint the face a flesh color and then use black to paint in the eyes and nose. Red paint will create the rosy Santa cheeks. Paste some cotton on the stick for the beard. Be creative! Use fabric pieces for a scarf for a snowman decoration or gold glitter for wings for an angel decoration.
