Ideas for making ornaments?

R

red_mct

Cathlete
Creative ladies,

I am hosting an ornament-making party this weekend. It's just family and mostly kids, and something I thought would be fun. However, I am sort of stupid about such pursuits and need some ideas about what would be good to do. What do you think? Last year we tried to do the styrophone (sp?) ball things BUT we couldn't get anything to stick with glue or pins - I guess you need special tools for that?

Anyway, ideas???

Thanks!
Marie
 
You could make cut-out cookie ornaments, although that could prove to be messy.

I saw a show on the Food Network the other day--it might have been the Barefoot Contessa--where she made ornaments from dried fruit. She took all kinds of fruits; oranges, apples, star fruits, etc, sliced them paper thin, dried them in the oven, then strung them with raffia ribbon. They were pretty and everything was edible.

You could also string popcorn or beads.
 
Marie, you could make some baking clay and make different shapes and then people can paint them. Make sure you make a hole in the top before baking so you can thread a ribbon through and hang them. Sophie loves making these (so does my SO, actually:p)

BAKING CLAY
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 cups all purpose flour

Stir the salt into the warm water. Let cool. Add flour and knead for 8-10 minutes. For colouring the dough, add food colouring or powdered tempera paint to the salt and water - before adding the flour. Create figures and bake at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes to one hour (until all the moisture is gone). Paint creations when cool. You can also seal the complete work with a non-toxic water-based sealer.
 
I have some ideas for the kiddies. I'll come back later today when, hopefully, I will have more time to think and post a couple of pics.
 
My DS(age 5) made a star out of popsicle stick and just decorated it with glitter and sequien type things. Simple but cute. It was actually the first ornament on the tree, this year.

Linda
 
This one's easy:

you need old Christmas cards and a bunch of brads (those round metal things that fasten paper together)

Cut a Christmas card (front) into equal strips. Stack them in order on top of each other. Poke a brad through all the thicknesses at the top and bottom of the stack. (Probably need to use a mini hole punch first.) Once the brads are in place, just fan the strips out - they bend a bit so the ornament will be round. Use a pretty string as a hanger. Viola!
 
I teach 4 year olds and today we made cinnamon ornaments. Smells great, fun, but messy. Mix 1 c. applesauce with 1 1/2c. cinnamon and then add glue and mix well until it is the consistency of cookie dough. Roll out and cut with cookie cutters, punch hole in top and let dry at least overnight and hang on tree with ribbon.

Good luck!
Gin
 
We used to make decorations out of big pine cones (those roundish ones). Just put glue on the edges and roll in glitter, then add a ribboon for hanging.

Also, there's always the old-fashioned snowflake cutting (they work well as window decorations).
 
There where some very pretty christmas ornaments that we used to make when I was younger. We took satin ornament balls, pins, and some beads. What you will do is put the beads on the pins, as many as you would like and then stick the pins into the balls. It's really simple and they look really pretty when you're done. I'll look and see if I can't find them online so you can get an idea of what they would look like when they are done.
Ah, shoot, I can't find a picture of them anywhere and I don't have a digital camera. (Yes, I know, get into the year 2006)
Anyway, I also remember that we would find pretty ribbon to glue on the balls and we would find pretty gems (fake) to glue on them as well.

Kathy

Edited to add that I found a picure of them! They are the ones that obviously have the beads on them.

http://crafts.listings.ebay.com/Bea...-Kits_W0QQsacatZ146308QQsocmdZListingItemList
 
Also, you can make clove oranges. take oranges and stick whole cloves in them (often used for closet fresheners, but with the right kind of ribbon wrapped around them--in a cross shape--they could be ornaments).
 
My son had a project due at school and we have loads of Crayola Modeling clay left over. I'm going to roll it out, use cookie cutters and then let the kids paint away. They were excited just talking about it!
 
Anyone do the old round ornament ball made out of old Xmas cards?

Make a circle template out of cardboard, maybe 3 - 4 inches around.

Then make a triangle template where the edges will fit to the edge of the circle.

Take Xmas cards, lay the circle template ontop and draw a line around the circle. Cut it out.

Then place the triangle ontop of the cut out circle and fold the edges of the circle to form a "cup like triangle".

(If I remember correctly it takes around 20 or 25 of these to create a circle ornament.)

Take 5 of the folded "cups" and glue together to form a circle.

Make two sets of 5 circles - these will be the top and bottom of the circle.

Next you fill in between the bottom and top. You make a strip of triangles by gluing one with the point up and one with the point facing down together. (It kinda makes a rectangle/square with the two glued together.) Continue until you have 10 triangles glued together.

These get glued to the top and bottom circles.

Not sure if this makes sense. Any one else remember these that can explain better?

:+

I just loved making these, even as an adult :7
 
I have a family dayhome and we made playdough with 3 cups of flour, 3 cups of salt and 3 Tbsp Alum mix together. Then cut out shapes with cookie cutters and in the middle made a cut out circle, then I took their pictures with a Santa hat on and after they dry you paint them with acrylic paint and glitter glue then I shellac them and then put the picture in behind and cut out the same shape out of red or green contstruction paper and glue it over the back of the picture and write their name and date. Don't forget to make a hole with a straw end or something before they dry. Parents love these and I have quite a few myself on the tree from all stages of my kid's life.
Laura
 
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