Make Your Own Glitter Ornaments

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own. We finally put up our Christmas tree, and one of our family traditions is to make some ornaments each year to add to our collection. I am a fan of all things sparkly so you know that any ornament I make is going to include lots of glitter. You know, so much glitter that you find it on your face, on the floor and even on the cat. My cat apparently does not share my love of glitter. I think she lacks the attitude to pull the look off. But I digress... If you want to find out how you and the kids can make some gorgeous glitter ornaments - for a fraction of the price of store bought - using glitter and some Mod Podge products, read on.

• Mod Podge
• Folk Art Chunky Glitter Acrylic Paint
• Glitter
• Wooden cutout ornaments
• Clear plastic ornaments
• Brush or sponge applicator
• Wax paper

Using the above supplies, your kids can make ornaments and you can too! For the kids ornaments, I found some wooden ornament cutouts at my local craft store that were in desperate need of jazzing up. You want to chose something that had a pre-drilled hole for a hook. I poured some Mod Podge into a cup and gave my daughter a sponge applicator. She then proceeded to spread it across the surface. Even if it isn't spread perfectly even by your child, it will be fine. The stuff is very forgiving and glitter covers a multitude of kid messiness.

If you are a kid this will be your favorite part. If you are a neat freak, avert your eyes! Have your child shake, shake, shake that glitter over the Mod Podge covered ornament and then turn it over to shake off the excess. Keep adding glitter until the entire side of the ornament is covered. Frugal mom tip - Use a paper plate under the glitter to catch the mess and save the glitter. When you are done decorating, make the paper plate into a funnel and pour the glitter back into the jar.

Allow the ornament to dry and turn over and repeat the above steps on the other side. Then if you are a two year old, hold out the ornament for all to see.

When both sides are glittered, place on wax paper for about 30 minutes to dry.

When dry, add a hook and hang on your tree. Now how easy and simple was that? So easy a child did it!

Now you don't want to let your kids have all the fun do you? Kids have enough fun. Grab a brush, a cup some Folk Art Chunky Glitter Acrylic Paint (we used gold) and a clear plastic ornament. I found these great plastic light bulb ornaments at my local craft store. They also sell ball ornaments like this that you can decorate.

Holding the ornament in your hand, start painting it with the glitter paint, avoiding the metal hardware. Don't obsess about which direction your strokes are going in. I find this stuff to be very forgiving too. What I really love about the Chunky Glitter paint is that it doesn't encrust your ornament with glitter. It just provides a nice sprinkling of glitter. Of course you can use multiple coats if you want it more glittery. Just be sure to let the first coat dry before you add another.

An easy way to dry this is to hang it on a hook somewhere where it won't touch anything else. When dry, you can add it to your tree. You can also make a bunch of these and place in a large vase or use them to decorate packages. So many possibilities!

For more ornament ideas check out Kid Made Christmas Ornaments.