Every year I love to make some sort of handmade ornamnet with my girls. I just wanted to know if anyone had some ideas or suggestion of a website for ideas!
Kaboose and Michael's usually have some good kids crafts. If you want to do something a little "nicer" I like the ones Martha Stewart does. There is a recipe on there for some papier mache ornaments that look like baked goods I've been wanting to make. Probably above the kids skill level but they could help tear the paper and then paint the final projects.
Heres a fun website with great ideas.
http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/crafts/
This site has a ton of craft ideas, plus pictures of the finished product.
Try better homes and gardens for some fun ornament designs that you can do. There are just regular craft ornaments or there are ones that kids can make.
Take plastic Christmas ball ornaments and paint the childrens hands with paint and then very carefully have the hold the ornament (guided of course so that it doesnt smear). Sprinkle with glitter and let it dry. Hang a tag with thier name, year and a little poem/cute saying about hands on it, and hang it on the tree. My son gave me one when he was 5 and its still gets put on the tree every year. He is 11 now.
Merry Christmas!
What area do you live in? We are glass artists and have a number of glass Christmas trees ready to decorate. I have colorful dots that would be glued onto the tree and then put in a kiln and fused on. We live in Golden, Co. Let me know if you are interested. ###-###-#### B. Witt
my nieces made some beautiful ornaments by decorating the metal lids of frozen juice cans with puff paint and gluing on a pretty ribbon for hanging.
This may be a bit different from what you're looking for, but I love Oriental trading company. They have a lot of really cute things for very inexpensive. The often come in sets of 6 or 12, but not always. If you find one you really like thats in a set, you can always give them away too!
Orientaltradingcompany.com then they have a tab for Christmas, and a section just for ornaments.
We did some fun ones with the clear plastic bulbs. I tore off pieces of paper, Christmas themed or whatever color you choose. (tearing gives it character but you could cut it too) We rolled them around a pencil and dropped it in the bulb. Once it's full (it takes awhile) shake it to loosen the rolls up and you have a beautiful, fun ornament. We gave them away as neighbor gifts and it was a hit. I'm excited to look at some other response you got to get ideas too. Have fun!
My daughter has an art book where we found a cute ornament that we are going to make:
String
Elmer's glue
Spray paint (were doing gold)
Glitter
Small balloons (We'll use water balloons)
Blow up a balloon ornament-size and tie a string to the knot, mix up equal parts glue and water, dip string in mixture and wrap around the balloon in all different directions. Hang to dry. Once dry, hang from a tree outside and spray paint and sprinkle with glitter.
We use plastic and metal lids. Start by covering them with fabric or tissue paper, then put a picture of the child inside and decorate the edges with glitter, sequins, beads, shells, whatever. Modge Podge or matte medium dries clear over the photo. You can put the year on the back. The children loved doing this.
We made some fun ones with styrofoam balls, sequins, mini-marshmallows and straight pins. What you do: take a straight pin, put a sequin on it, then a mini marshmallow (we used the colored ones), then poke the whole thing into the styrofoam ball. Do that over and over till it's covered, and they look really cute!
We made ornaments with metal can lids (from juice cans or biscuit cans) by placing them on a scrap piece of wood and pounding holes in them with a nail and hammer. We had templates for shapes, like a star, that we printed off and laid on the can to help us make the shape look nice. Some of the kids also painted their lids after they punched holes in them.
