Christmas Ornaments

After Pinteresting for an unreasonable amount of time some time ago, I decided that it would be important that I follow through with some of my pins.  I was on a Holiday Festivity Pinterest "rant" this time and I felt like it would be a great idea if I threw a party for a bunch of girlfriends and decorated ornaments like I had seen on Pinterest.  I organized a Facebook event and invited a bunch of girlfriends from the area that I thought might be interested.  However, this party ended up being a bit of a failure in that no one, save one good friend of mine (Carla!) showed.  More ornaments for us!  Anyways, we gathered all the supplies, air-popped some popcorn, boiled some water for tea and hot chocolate, turned on a Christmas music playlist, and dug in to our ideas and inspiration.  Our inspiration came from here, here, here, and here.  We didn't follow directions though.  I guess you could say we are rebellious, or that we lacked certain ingredients, either way, you would be right.

The Slushed Ornament

You will need: plastic or glass ornaments, craft glue (with a brush is preferable), and white glitter and sugar or instant snow.

Step one:  Paint the top of the ornament with the glue in such a way that it looks like the "snow" is resting on top and slipping down the sides.
Step two:  Pour the glitter on top of the sugar (do not mix).  (Skip this step if you have instant snow).
Step three: Dip the glued ornament in the glitter/sugar or instant snow and allow to dry.
Step four: Use an ornament hook or ribbon for hanging purposes.
Step five: Admire.

The Gold Pinecone

You will need: pinecones, spray paint, ribbon or velvet bows, and a hot glue gun and hot glue stick.

Step one:  Buy or find pinecones (I got a bag of about 14 for $1 at a flash sale at Michael's).
Step two:  Spray it with gold (or whatever color you desire) spray paint and let it dry.
Step three:  Tie a ribbon in a bow and attach a ribbon loop to it. (Or cheat like I did and use one of those little velvet ribbons with a ribbon loop attached to it).
Step four: Hot glue it to the top of the pinecone.
Step five: Admire.

The Snow Pinecone

You will need: pinecones, craft glue (with a brush is preferable), sugar, snow, and a hot glue gun and hot glue stick.

Step one: Paint the glue on top of the pinecone and on the top layers of cone scales/arms/whatever you want to call them.
Step two: Dip the glued on pinecones in sugar until they are coated and allow them to dry.
Step three: Tie a ribbon in a bow and attach a ribbon loop to it.
Step four: Hot glue it to the top of the pinecone.
Step five: Admire.

The Yarn Ball

You will need: Styrofoam balls, craft glue or a hot glue gun and hot glue stick, pretty yarn, ribbon, and a thumb tack or push pin.

Step one:  If you are using craft glue, paint the ball in one diametrical stripe on the ball and another in the other direction.  If you are using hot glue, glue short stripes across where you will wrap the yarn around the ball immediately following.
Step two: Wrap the yarn around the ball either (on top of the craft glue or preceding it with hot glue).
Step three: After you have covered the ball with the yarn, allow some extra yarn for the loop.
Step four: Place a dollop of hot glue or craft glue on the pointy end of the thumbtack or push pin and use it to secure the yarn loop.
Step five:  Tie a ribbon around the base of the yarn loop into a bow.
(Steps four and five can be replaced if you want to skip the bow and yarn loop with this: fold a length of ribbon in half and stab the loose ends with a thumbtack, place glue on the sharp end of the thumbtack and push it into the exposed end of the yarn that you just finished wrapping and hold until dry.)
Step six: Admire.

The Sand Ball

You will need: styrofoam balls, craft glue (with a brush), course sand (or epsom salt) in whatever color you please, mesh ribbon with wire edging, ribbon, a wooden skewer or stick, and a hot glue gun or hot glue stick.

Step one:  Place the styrofoam ball on a skewer of some sort so that you won't have to handle the glue.  The hole will be filled in later.
Step two:  Paint the ball entirely with the glue.
Step three: Pour the sand over the ball and roll the ball around in the sand as it falls. Allow it to dry.
Step four:  Cut about two to two and a half inches of the ribbon, fold it neatly and tie the ribbon that will form the loop around the center and tie the ends together tightly.  Bend the metal edging of the ribbon so that the ends open up into a nice bow shape.
Step five:  Fill the hole that the skewer made with hot glue and cover the hole with a small dollop of glue.  Immediately place bow/loop on top of the glue and hold it there until the glue dries.
Step six: Admire.

The Snowman

You will need: two different size styrofoam balls, craft glue (with, you guessed it, a brush), sugar, thumbtacks or push pins, yarn or ribbon, wooden skewer or stick that can be cut, orange paint or permanent marker, and a hot glue gun or hot glue stick.

Step one: Skewer the styrofoam balls and paint them in glue.
Step two: Pour the sugar on a plate or in a bowl and dip and roll the ball in sugar until it is coated.  Remove the skewer and roll again.  Allow to dry.  Repeat with the other ball.
Step three: Cut the skewer so that it is shorter than the combination of the two styrofoam balls stacked on top of each other.
Step four: Place glue on one end of the cut skewer and push it back into the hole of the ball until there is just enough to attach the other styrofoam ball to.  You will want enough that it will be able to go about halfway into the remaining ball.
Step five: Place glue on the exposed end of the skewer and attach the other ball.  Let the glue dry.
Step six:  Use a length of ribbon or yarn to tie around the neck of the snowman as a scarf.  If you want, glue a cute little hat on.
Step seven:  Place glue on the sharp end of a thumbtack and place it in the head of the ball as an eye.  Repeat this step with the other eye and buttons of the snowman.
Step eight (optional):  Use a ribbon to make a loop and a thumbtack (with hot glue on the sharp end) to attach the loop if you want to hang it.  I chose to leave mine loop (and hat) free.
Step nine: Admire.