Paint Drip & Glitter Ornaments

The idea of easy DIY ornaments that actually have the potential to look nice really appealed to me. In my opinion, most easy DIY ornament projects end up being a bit tacky, which is okay if they are made by small children... but not a 20 year old. I thought that these ornaments would make cute gifts for the parents of my close friends, and those members of my family that I don't feel I know well enough to buy an actual gift for. It's a relatively inexpensive and really fun venture, and best of all, because you made them yourself, they make extremely thoughtful gifts! :)

I took on two different DIY ornament projects: Paint Drip Ornaments & Glitter Ornaments

The credit for the Paint Drip Ornaments project goes to the authors of the blog A Yellow Bicycle

They actually got the idea from someone else (which they mention in their post), but I followed their instructions, so I give them the credit!

The credit for the Glitter Ornaments project goes to the author of the blog Green Bean Crafterole

Unfortunately for me, I decided to take on these projects a little late in the holiday season, and Michael's was almost completely sold out of the clear ornaments required. Therefore, I was only able to make six ornaments :( I feel if I had been able to do a few more, I would have perfected the technique and made much nicer ornaments! Regardless, most of the recipients seemed pleased with them... and all wanted to know exactly how I did it!

Glitter Ornaments

Making the Glitter Ornament went pretty smoothly. I used a product called "Glitter-It" instead of the Pledge product mentioned in the instructions, because I didn't feel like making an additional trip to Publix after Michael's, haha. It wasn't too expensive and worked very well, but I'm sure you can get more out of that big bottle of Pledge. One thing I must stress is NOT to pour out any of the liquid from the ornament before putting in the glitter, even if it looks like there is a bit too much! I did that for one ornament, and there were "gaps" in the glitter all over, and there wasn't much I could do to fix it. I also recommend being liberal with the glitter, as you'd rather pour too much in, get a nice even coating, and pour the excess out than put in too little and get an unattractive, uneven coating.

Paint Drip Ornaments

The Paint Drip Ornaments definitely require some practice, trial and error, etc etc. You have to figure out which color combinations work, and which don't. Putting colors in that could potentially mix and produce an ugly shade is something that should be avoided. I attempted a red and green one, which came out all right, but there are some points where the colors mixed a little, and it does not look very nice. I also recommend placing them upright as they dry (hanging them could work), as excess paint will pool in the bottom. If it pools on the side, you have a somewhat "unbalanced" ornament, haha. My biggest mistake was leaving them in my car for a short period of time. That might be all right up north at this time of year, but I live in Miami, Florida. The heat caused the paint to return to its liquid, and this ruined one of my ornaments :(

Results:

I plan to try to show more a of a step-by-step process with my future posts, but I made these a couple weeks before I had the idea of writing this blog, so I only took a few pictures. I also recommend following the instructions I linked to above, as they are excellent!