How to have an ornament party

How about having an ornament-making party? Here are some branch-worthy ideas to get you started. The key to making this party a success is to think simple. Come up with designs that are easy, but still pack a holiday punch. Everyone brings supplies, makes the ornaments and then swaps them with each other.

This is my fave and you know why, don’t you? Pick up a box of glittered chipboard letters. I featured these earlier in my blog and I’ve found yet another use for them. All you do is hot glue these little babies together to spell out your name. You can even create words and then hang a “sentence” on your tree or wall, or from the ceiling. Ooooo, I like that…

I had some faux fur scraps hanging around and I could not bring myself to chuck them. They were just the right size to make a mini pillow ornament. I used some other fabric scraps for the center and then added glitter for some twinkle power. This is a great way to make use of fun fabric that is too cool to toss out. I used the sewing machine, but you could also use fabric glue, like Aleene’s No Sew Fabric Glue. Or heck, even hot glue if you are in a time crunch!

This one I used iron-on appliques and applied them to sheets of starched paper. You could also make your own appliques with Heat N Bond. I am a total HNB junkie. I have rolls of the stuff. It is paper-backed adhesive. However, this week, I got some of Aleene’s new Fusible Web that is an alternative to HNB, no iron needed! I’m excited to try it out on some more of these ornaments! By the way, use a fabric pen, and these ornaments make great gift tags!

This is the easiest yet, and looks great. All you have to do is buy some snowflake ornaments (I got this one at Michaels) and then hot glue whatever you want on the front of it. For this picture, I have an original pair of Goldie Garcia bottlecap earrings with pretty guardian angels in them. I sacrificed one of the earrings for the front of this ornament. After Christmas is over, I plan to turn it back into an earring because they are one of my favorite pairs and I miss them. Anyway, you can glue anything, like an antique button, a small toy, photo, mirror, etc. If anything, you can always buy some of Goldie’s earrings!

My friend Judy Walker sent me this lovely treat. An artist made it in New Orleans. It’s a seashell! It has a picture decoupaged in the center and it is trimmed in gold paint. Genius! I have been wanting to make a seashell shrine for ages, maybe this dangling bauble will motivate me to actually do it.

And last, this is just a piece of cut embossing tin that I glue a picture on and then coated with transparent glitter. Photo is from ArtChixStudio.com.