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Hi friends,
Welcome to the 2017 Ornament Exchange & Blog Hop! This year, there are 47 amazing bloggers participating in the exchange. The rules of the challenge were simple: be partnered with a fellow blogger, create a handmade ornament for $15 or under, create a tutorial, and ship the ornament off to a new home!
I was paired with Pam from P.S. I Love You Crafts and (p.s.) she really does love crafts! We messaged back and forth about our blogs and our styles and she’s just great. If you don’t already follow her on social media, check her out below!
Facebook || Pinterest || Instagram || Twitter || G+ || YouTube
Meet the 2017 Ornament Exchange Hosts
Erlene ⋅ My Pinterventures Kim · Made In A Day Amanda · Domestically Creative
Shirley · Intelligent Domesticatons Michelle · Our Crafty Mom
Beverly · Across the Blvd. Christene · Key to Inspiration Pili ⋅ My Sweet Things
Nicki · Sweet Parrish Place Megan · C’mon Get Crafty
Hilary · Raising Fairies and Knights Emily · Two Purple Couches
Tina · One Crafty Mess Marie · The Inspiration Vault Debra · Shoppe No. 5
Trisha · Rosewood and Grace Jeanie · Create and Babble Katrin ⋅ Kreativ K
Terri · Christmas Tree Lane Maureen · Red Cottage Chronicles
Toni ⋅ Small Home Soul Ula ⋅ Lulu & Celeste Sue ⋅ A Purdy Little House
Pamela · Home On The Corner Lorelai ⋅ Life with Lorelai Cindy ⋅ DIY Beautify
Debbie ⋅ Tweak and Style Stephanie ⋅ Swoodson Says Chelc ⋅ Inside the Fox Den
Susan ⋅ Super Mom – No Cape! Molly ⋅ Just a Little Creativity Pam · P.S. I Love You Crafts
Roseann ⋅ This Autoimmune Life Angela ⋅ Simply Beautiful by Angela
Vicki and Jenn ⋅ 2 Bees in a Pod Joanne ⋅ Our Unschooling Journey
Tylynn ⋅ Bitterroot DIY Sam ⋅ Raggedity Bits Mary ⋅ The Boondocks Blog
Cyn ⋅ Creative Cynchronicity Dione ⋅ Clever Chameleon Quilting
Erica ⋅ Erica Ever After Chelsea ⋅ Love Paper Crafts Evija ⋅ From Evija with Love
Samantha ⋅ Little Bits of Home Hope ⋅ Hopes Crafty Niche Anne ⋅ Orange Bettie
When I first reached out to Pam she told me that she didn’t have a specific theme to her Christmas decor but she had two different trees that she put up each year; a family tree filled with ornaments they’ve collected over the years and ornaments that her mother hand painted, and a more whimsical tree filled with colors of hot pink, teal, and lime green. Those colors instantly spoke to me and that’s the direction I decided to go in!
Supply List
- Clear, plastic, open front ornament
- Paint in choice of colors
- Paintbrushes in various sizes
- Mini tree ornaments
- Hot glue gun & glue sticks
- DecoArt Snow-Tex
Instructions
1. Remove the metal hanging tops from all of the ornaments.
2. Squirt a dollop of paint into the plastic ornaments and swirl around inside coating all areas. Make sure you’re careful that it does not spill out the front opening. You could also spray paint the outsides if you wanted, but I wanted to make sure the paint wouldn’t chip if, heaven forbid, the ornament fall off the tree. The ornament may be shatterproof, but paint isn’t!
3. After all of your ornaments’ insides are painted, turn them upside down so the excess can drip out. I used an empty egg carton.
4. It took a full 24 hours for the paint to completely dry, but once it did I thought the ornaments were really dark. I wanted all of the ornaments to have a feeling of walking through a winter wonderland so I painted the insides white. I used a brush this time and it dried much more quickly!
5. While they were drying, I started to work on the displays for each diorama ornament. I started with my mini Christmas tree.
6. I first snipped off the wooden base of my Christmas tree because 1. I liked the way it looked and 2. It fit better in my ornament.
7. I took a string of beads that were the colors of Pam’s decor and used hot glue to attach them as “ornaments”.
8. I took a big dollop of Snow-Tex, spread it on the bottom of the ornament, and stuck the tree firmly in the snow.
9. Then I moved on to my gingerbread village diorama ornament.
10. Fun fact, these are actually buttons! They’re super cute and they work perfectly. But because they were buttons, I was able to take them apart and work on each part separately.
11. The house and accessories were decorated with the traditional colors of red and green, but since these ornaments are not traditional I decided to paint over the red with the hot pink and the green with the lime.
12. Once all of the pieces were completely dry, I popped the pieces back together and glued them down onto a small craft stick that I painted white. I figured this would make it easier to place in the ornament.
13. I took another dollop of Snow-Tex, spread it on the bottom of the ornament, and stuck the gingerbread village into the snow. I found that this time it wasn’t as sturdy as the tree, so I secured it with a TON of hot glue.
14. Last but not least, I worked on my falling snowflake diorama ornament.
15. I wanted this one to be very different from the two I had previously made, so I decided that the snowflake ornaments should be dangling from the top to look like they were falling to the ground. I looped the thread through the top of the ornament and secured in place with hot glue.
16. I took my last dollop of Snow-Tex, spread it on the bottom of the ornament, applied a dab of hot glue to the bottom of the deer’s feet, and stuck it in the snow. Full disclosure: after I took this picture, I realized that the snowflakes kind of got lost against the white background so I painted them with a blue glitter varnish.
17. Pop the metal hanging tops back on and add them to your decor!
I love that because they have a flat bottom, they can be so versatile and add decor to a shelf or be hung on the tree! I’m kind of obsessed with these open front ornaments and may or may not have another post next week using them so stay tuned!
FIND ALL 47 HANDMADE ORNAMENT TUTORIALS BELOW AND SHARE YOURS TOO! Use Hashtag #2017OrnamentExchange so we can see your creations on social media.
hope says
I love these. Bright vintage looking ornaments are so adorable.
Evija says
These are absolutely gorgeous, so nice and bright!! You did a great job! #2017OrnamentExchange
Beverly says
These are beautiful! I love all of the attention to detail you gave each ornament. I especially love the gingerbread house ornament. Pinned.
Pamela Smith says
I love these! I love how they look so retro! Pinning! I am part of the ornament exchange too and its so fun to see what everyone has created!
Debrashoppeno5 says
These ornaments are so precious. I love the details. These will certainly become a family heirloom.
Amanda @ Domestically Creative says
Ok these are too cute! My favorite is the deer, but they are all amazing! Plus I love the bright colors.
Amanda @ Domestically Creative recently posted…Mini Wood Framed Sign Ornament
Katrin says
Oh my goodness, these are so so pretty! My girls have each a little white Christmas tree in their rooms and these would look amazing on them!!
Super Mom - No Cape! says
The ornaments you made turned out absolutely gorgeous. They have a bit of a vintage feel but with modern colors. I love them! They’ve just gone on my list of must makes. :)
Kim~madeinaday says
Oh how I love these! You did such a great job! I love the colors and the sweet little things inside the ornaments! Pinned & Sharing
Kim
Kim~madeinaday recently posted…Leather Feather Arrow Ornaments
Dione Gardner-Stephen says
Oh my goodness! I’ve been waiting to get the time to look at this post, and it is even more fun than I expected. I love dioramas, and these are just fabulous. I can’t believe what you did to those buttons! I would have never thought of that. The effect is just perfect. I wonder where I can get those ornament shells in Australia……
Debbie Lynn Pearl says
Wow, the detail you put into that is amazing! Such a pretty ornament:)
Hil says
Those are so creative and cute! You could really do a lot with different themes with these ornaments. Awesome job!
I pinned to my group board. Love participating in the Ornament Exchange I get such amazing ideas!!
Megan says
I love the little details on these! Pinning and sharing!