Handmade personalized ornaments has always been one of my favorite holiday traditions.  They can be given as gifts or simply used as mementos on your own tree.  Either way they’re fun to make!

OMBRE MONOGRAM WITH GLITTER

I started with a plain black glass ornament.  To get the ombre effect, I simply set it in the cap of the spray paint and sprayed the bottom end of the ornament (I didn’t use any tape, which would make a solid line). After it dried, I used an adhesive foam scrap book letter and stuck that on in the center of the ornament. That’s it!

NAIL POLISH & GLITTER ORNAMENT

Okay this one is super easy.  I grabbed some old nail polish I had on hand and poured it into a clear glass ornament.  Then I added some blue glitter ( a reason to use old polish…unless you like more glitter in your nail polish, lol). After pouring in the glitter I rolled the ornament around to coat all sides with nail polish, and then poured the excess back into the bottle.  While it was drying I turned the ornament upside down resting on the rim of a glass jar filled with paper towel (paper towel catches any drips while it dries).  Once it was dry I tied a ribbon on and it was ready to hang.  FYI: Glitter isn’t required, but it does make for an interesting marbled effect.

SNOWY PINE CONE

First, I stood the pine cone on end.  Then I lightly dusted the pine cone with spray paint, making sure to hold the can about a foot away.  I found that using short sprays prevented me from getting too much “snow” on my pine cone.  Once the spray paint dried I added a glob of Mod Podge.  I literally dipped my brush in and wiped off the excess on the tip of the pine cone.  Last I sprinkled it with white glitter.  Add some twine to hang it and DONE.

Here’s another pine cone photo:

WINTER WONDERLAND PHOTO

This is great to display cute pet photos, so I decided to immortalize our kitty cat. First, I grabbed a clear glass ornament and took the hanger off. Then I put the ornament face down in my spray paint cap and sprayed the backside ONLY using small sprays…almost misting it.   I printed out a photo of my cat (laser printers work best because the ink won’t smear) and I cut it to size using a scrap booking stencil.

To get the paper to stick to the ornament I soaked the picture in a mixture of Mod Podge and water (ah, 3rd grade paper mache memories).  Next I put a generous coating of Mod Podge on the backside of the paper and I stuck the photo to the ornament’s unpainted side, making sure it was centered.  Another layer of Mod Podge was brushed on top of the photo…and it took a lot of brushing to make the paper conform to the glass.  I also coated the glass with Mod Podge all the way to the edge of the spray paint for a frosty look. Once it dried, I used my brush to dab little dots of Mod Podge on the photo to highlight the cat’s colors. Then I sprinkled on black glitter for fur and green for his eyes.  Last, I used my brush to coat the edge of the pic with Mod Podge and sprinkled white glitter over it as a snowy border.

HANDWRITTEN ORNAMENTS

Writing on a round surface takes practice and patience.  One thing that really helps me steady my hand is using my pinky and resting it on the ornament as I write…I picked that up from watching the manicurist when I would have my nails done (I can’t have sculptured nails anymore due to an allergy, but that’s a whole other subject, lol). Maybe I’m the only one who has ever noticed, but when polishing my nails the manicurist used her pinky to stabilize her hand… and it really does work!  Another thing that helps me is setting the ornament in a cup or jar.  Here I used a 4 oz mason jar. If I mess up, and I often do, a little bit of acetone on a q-tip can be used as an eraser (just sparingly, of course).

First, I taped off the top half of a white ornament with Frog Tape.  Then I took the hanger off and turned it upside down.  I put the ornament on top of a disposable cup with a straw so I could spray paint all sides easily (that’s called using what’s available, lol). I spray painted the bottom of the ornament with Rust-Oleum Metallic Gold spray paint.  When it was dry I removed the tape and replaced the hanger.  Done.