DIY Glitter Ornaments
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Grab the glitter and polycrylic to make these super easy glitter ornaments for Christmas!
Why are ornaments so expensive?
I mean, if you’re getting really nice glass bulbs it may cost a few hundred dollars to get everything you need for your tree. At least…that’s how much it cost me (which I think is absolutely ridiculous).
But if you have young kids and need decorations that won’t break, making your own is a cheap and fun option.
When it comes to decorating Christmas ornaments I love using vinyl. These Rae Dunn ornaments have permanent vinyl on them and they’re still holding up well two years later.
But for these glitter ornaments I used gold foil paper from the Silhouette store. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea but I would NOT suggest using it for ornaments.
It was a beast to get it to stick to the ornament and it was such a pain to get it to transfer from the sticker paper to the ornament.
So yea, if you’re going to make these you should use gold metal vinyl instead of the sticker paper. It’ll save you a lot of trouble if you just go the vinyl route.
I really love these plastic glitter ornaments when you have young kids.
I chose to get plastic ornaments because my child is showing a lot of interest in the tree now and I don’t want to worry about him accidentally breaking an ornament and hurting himself.
I just wouldn’t want to risk it.
Even though plastic is safer at this point in my life I was worried they’d look bad on the tree. But they don’t!
They actually look really nice! Especially when the lights on the tree hit the glitter and the whole tree sparkles.
Who wouldn’t love that?!
Common questions about these easy glitter ornaments.
1. Would modpodge work for these ornaments or do you need polycrylic?
The problem with modpodge is that it is too thick and will begin to settle and separate the longer it sits.
Polycrylic is thin and can easily coat the inside of the ornaments (a little goes a long way!). It also won’t separate and holds up for a long time.
edit: these ornaments are three years old and they still look like I made them yesterday!
2. What type of glitter works best?
You specifically need small glitter for these ornaments! For whatever reason the bigger glitter doesn’t coat the inside of the ornaments as well and looks patchy.
3. How long do you let the ornaments sit before you use them?
I recommend at least 24 hours!
The longer you let them sit the better though. I like to set mine upside down in an egg carton for a week so that the polycrylic can dry and the glitter can set.
4. How do you put vinyl (or sticker paper) on a round surface?
I have a really easy step-by-step tutorial for putting vinyl on round ornaments!
If round surfaces aren’t your thing you should grab a few M&M style ornaments like I did here and use glitter to decorate them! They’re much easier to put vinyl on if you’re a beginner.
If you’re using sticker paper you cannot use transfer tape. It is too tacky and won’t let go of the sticker paper. I had to pick it up myself and put it on the ornaments.
A pain, I tell ya. It was a pain.
5. Why don’t you like the sticker paper for these ornaments?
The sticker paper was not tacky enough to stick well. The edges kept lifting and the design slid around on the plastic ornaments.
These designs would’ve worked really well for paper crafting but not for these ornaments. That’s why I suggest vinyl. You’ll have no issues with permanent vinyl sticking to the outside of the ornaments!
If I could do it over again I would definitely use vinyl over the sticker paper. The sticker paper actually fell off of these as I was taking them off the tree at the end of the season.
If you want these to last, use permanent vinyl.
These glitter ornaments are:
- easy,
- messy, and
- a project you can do with your kids!
Want to make your own Glitter Ornaments?
Glitter Christmas Ornaments
Use polycrlic, glitter and Silhouette brand gold foil sticker paper to make these fun and easy glitter Christmas ornaments!
Materials
- Christmas Ornaments
- Polycrylic (water based)
- Fine Glitter
- Printable Foil Paper
- Empty Egg Carton
- Small Squirt Bottle
- Transfer Tape
Tools
- Silhouette Cameo
Instructions
- Pour your Polycrylic into your small squirt bottle. Then pour a small amount into your ornament. Turn the ornament around in a slow circle until the entire inside is coated with the polycrylic.
- Set the ornament upside down in an egg carton (or on a plate) to let the excess drip out (I waited about five minutes).
- Use a funnel and pour glitter into your ornament. Rotate the ornament slowly, making sure you cover every inch of the inside of your ornament.
- Place the ornaments back in the egg carton until they are dry (I waited about 5 to 10 minutes).
- While the ornaments are drying, cut out your designs with your Silhouette machine. (See NOTES #2 AND #3 before moving to the next step)
- Now put the foil on your ornaments!
Notes
- After coating the inside of your ornament with glitter, pour whatever ends up on the table back into it's original container. You can use it for later!
- Don't try to weed the foil, it was terrible! You can actually just pull the designs up off the backing with your fingers and that will leave the insides of the letters/designs behind.
- For my designs I used a font that came with my computer (called Jasmine) for the word "JOY", traced the Deer Head from google, and bought the tree file from the Silhouette store.
Recommended Products
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These are SO cute!! I definitely need to try to make these, what a perfect gift.
Thank you Macy! They would make really great gifts, there are so many possibilities with them!
Gorgeous! These would be great teacher gifts!
Those are so pretty! Makes me excited for Christmas!
These are super pretty! I love glittery ornaments on our trees.
Very cool! I never thought about the stripe before! Had a great time “hopping” with ya!