DIY Glitter Ornaments

Have you ever had a moment when you do a double-take at something someone says? I think I'm very open-minded, but every now and then I'm struck by something that I have a hard time comprehending...

Did you know that there are people in the world afraid of glitter?!? Yes, it's true - I even Googled it to see if this phobia has a name, but the closest would probably be Selaphobia (Fear of Light Flashes) combined with Acarophobia (Fear of Itching).

I guess not all people are brought up in a Winter Wonderland of sparkly glittery ornaments on their Christmas tree (to be fair, most people were not raised by the woman that puts Martha Stewart to shame at Christmastime...) - but fear? 

 

Well, it's true. In fact, one of my very best friends despises glitter, and yet, I decide to invite her family over to create - what else? - glitter ornaments.
 

Opps.

 

Lucky for me (and her?), there were a sinkful of dirty dishes from dinner to distract her from the task at hand, while the rest of us made our little DIY Glitter Ornaments.

 

You too can invite over your glitter-fearing friends and make these!  I found a great tutorial at The Ornament Girl and made some minor adjustments.  Here's how we made them:
 

 

Clear Ornaments

Small or Fine Glitter

Floor Cleaner (yes, really)

Small Funnel

Pretty Ribbon

Super glue

Permanent Marker (optional)

 

 

Since our group included two four-year-olds and two not-yet two-year-olds, we used plastic ornaments.  I found some cute tree shaped plastic ornaments at Walmart.  Remove the top of the ornament and put out of reach of the kiddos.  The adults carefully (well, mostly carefully, ahem) swirled the floor cleaner around in the ornament, then dumped it out.  Be sure to cover all the inside surface so your glitter will stick.  Dump the rest of the liquid out (keep reusing it!)

 

Now choose your glitter color and pour a little bit into the ornament using a funnel.  Swirl the glitter around the ornament (this is very fun for the kids!)  You could dump out the extra glitter, but we chose to leave ours in it - you know, to contain the glitter mess. 

Carefully, replace the top of the ornament (after the kids went to bed, I used a bit of glue to make sure the tops don't pop off, but don't use hot glue because the metal tops will conduct the heat and you'll get an boo-boo, trust me on this!)Tie a pretty ribbon on the ornament and you're done!  We also chose to write the children's name and the year on the ornaments, but you could skip this step if you were looking to make a bunch of them for gifts.

 

When all was said and done (and glittered), my glitter-phobia friend and to admit that they were very pretty, and it wasn't so bad since the glitter is contained.
 

After our friends had gone home and the kids had gone to bed, I decided to make a few glass ornaments, with some pretty beads on the top.  The Ornament Girl has some great tutorials for that, too.  Here's how mine came out:

 

 

If you're looking for more ornaments to make for yourself, or with kids, check out The Ornament Girl's list of 25 Ornaments to Make.  She has some really beautiful ornament tutorials - and even has adorable DIY Ornament Craft Sets for sale.I hope you have enjoyed this little tutorial and will have a chance to make some of these with your family, too.  Happy Holidays!