Making homemade Christmas ornaments is a frugal and creative way to add festive touches to home and hearth.
Homemade Christmas decorations can be made from a simple dough of flour, salt, and water. You cut out different shapes then air-dry or bake your ornaments in a slow oven.
Christmas Ornaments to Make
What ornaments can you make for Christmas? Homemade Christmas ornaments include gingerbread men and wreaths, traditional bells and stars, colorful candy canes or Santas, glittery angels, cute reindeer or snowmen, and sparkling snowflakes or icicles.
Materials for Making Homemade Christmas Ornaments
- Rolling pin
- Garlic press
- Cookie cutters
- Toothpicks or a cake tester
- Narrow ribbon
- Acrylic paint
- Sparkly paint
- Brush
- Clear varnish
- Cookie sheets
Christmas Ornament Dough
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of salt
- 1 cup of water
Getting Started
Mix together the salt and flour, then add the water. Knead and work the dough until it becomes smooth.
Making Christmas Ornaments
- Roll out dough to 1/8"-1/4" thickness with a rolling pin
- Cut out desired shapes with a cookie cutter or knife for your homemade Christmas decorations
- Use food coloring to color each dough portion (popular colors are yellow, red, blue, and green) or leave the dough uncolored and paint it later.
- Assemble your ornament pieces by joining and pressing dough together
- Once you have your pieces assembled, take a cake tester or toothpick and puncture and make a hole in the top of each handmade ornament for hanging later (with the exception of the candy canes).
- Place your homemade Christmas ornaments on a flat surface to sit overnight or longer, making sure they are completely dried. Alternatively, bake larger pieces in a slow oven set to 200-250 degrees for approximately 1-2 hours, checking to make sure that the ornaments don’t burn. When dough is cooked, turn the oven off and leave the pieces to continue drying in the warm oven.
- You can now paint your homemade Christmas decorations. Add sparkle paint to highlight edges, using it as a trim for bells or stars or brush it onto angel wings or snowflakes.
- Once your holiday decorations are dried and painted, you should seal them on all sides, using a clear varnish. Sealing is important so that handmade Christmas ornaments last.
- Cut lengths of 4” to 5” ribbon and thread through the holes in the top of the Christmas ornaments, then tie in a knot.
Tips to Fashion Your Christmas Ornaments
- For gingerbread men: shape additional small dough pieces into eyes, buttons, and belts
- To make a realistic-looking bell, fashion a clapper
- For wreaths: make dough ribbons, then tie these into bows
- For candy canes: twist two different colored, rolled dough pieces together then shape a curve at the top.
- For hair: use a garlic press to create long, thin dough pieces
- For snowflakes: cut a snowflake from a piece of paper and use this as a pattern, placing it over your dough and cutting dough carefully with a knife.
- Make personalized Christmas ornaments by using a toothpick to scratch names into the gingerbread men, onto the reindeer or to name the angels.
Now you are ready to trim presents, wreaths, or your Christmas tree with attractive and unique homemade Christmas ornaments.
Other Christmas Craft Ideas:
- How to Make Stained Glass Window Art for Kids
- How to Create a Christmas Scrapbook
- How to Create Memorable Christmas Traditions
The copyright of the article How to Make Homemade Christmas Ornaments in Crafts is owned by Melody Rhodes. Permission to republish How to Make Homemade Christmas Ornaments in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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Nov 21, 2008 12:04 PM
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Dec 8, 2008 9:18 AM
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