12 Crafts of Christmas: Inside Out Glitter Ornaments



So it looks like I've really dropped the ball on this 12 Crafts of Christmas thing. I had the best of intentions, but then school and work and life in general got in the way and I realized that I hadn't blogged or even crafted or baked as much as I should have.  Here we are a month away from Christmas and we're only on craft number 2.  But for craft number 2, I have an exciting one in mind for you. I love glitter, but I hate that it gets EVERYWHERE.  The other day I bought a new glittered treetopper.  By the time I got home, every other thing I bought, and my shirt, were also covered in glitter.  Now I said I love glitter, but I don't love it so much that I want it in my hair.  So that's why last year I made these Inside Out Glitter Ornaments from Greenbean's Crafterole that I found on Pinterest.  The glitter is on the inside so there's no mess.  This year I had the brilliant idea to make them with sprinkles instead, because how cute would that be?  But intea I ended up with this

 

 

 

They got all melty and gross and the entire ball took on a grey-pink appearance. So I scrapped that idea, broke out the glitter, and returned to the original plan. So, without further ado...

 

 

Inside Out Glitter Ornaments

 



 

What You'll Need

 



Clear ball ornaments. Never pay full price.  Download the Michael's or Jo-Ann Fabrics app or sign up for email coupons.  There's no reason to ever pay full price for anything crafty.

Glitter.  I prefer Martha Stewart. It's super-fine and I think that makes for a more finished look.

Floor Wax

Funnel

Shot glass

Coffee Filter.  You're going to use this to dispose of excess glitter.  When you're done you can crumple it up and throw it away.  Much more convenient than using a plate or a bowl.

 

What You'll Do

 

1.  Remove the caps from one ball. 

 

2.  Squirt a small amount of wax into the ball and then roll it around so that the wax covers every bit of the ball. Roll, don't shake. If you shake you'll get air bubbles that are hard to get rid of.

 

3.  Turn the ball upside down onto the shotglass to drain away the excess wax.  

 

 

4.  Let the wax drain for about 3 minutes.  Then turn it upside down and place the funnel in the top.

 

5.  Add glitter  to the top of the funnel, remove the funnel, cover the hole with your thumb, and then shake, shake, shake until every inch is covered in glitter.

 

6.  Pour the rest of the glitter into the coffee filter. 

 

6.  Replace the cap of the ball immediately and set aside. 

 

7.  Repeat for all your remaining ornaments.

 

 



These are gorgeous on the tree and would be great to make for yourself or to give as gifts...or both!  Ornaments are one of my go-to Christmas gifts.  Since the ornaments come in a package it's easy to give a set, or you can put some tissue paper in a chinese  carryout gift box and add one to make them go further if you have to give gifts to a group.  I think this would be ideal for students or coworkers.  Plus, this is a really fast project so you can make a whole lot in a short amount of time.

12 Crafts of Christmas: No-Sew Burlap Bunting

I have a plan, guys.  I have a plan to make 12 things this Christmas season.  And blog about them.  That's 12 tutorials in just over a month and a half.  Can I do it?  We'll see!  I'm calling it my 12 Crafts of Christmas and I'm pretty excited about it.  We're going to have some ornaments, some wall decorations, and a lot of fun with clay pots.  I'm kicking things off with a project that I've been pretty excited about since I stumbled across it on a blog I follow pretty religiously, E, Myself, and I.  Last Christmas she blogged about her Christmas decorations and I saw this awesome bunting banner made of burlap.  I immediately pinned it to my Holidays and Entertaining a Crowd board.

Source

There was no tutorial for this bunting (I'm pretty sure it's not homemade, but who knows?), but I decided that I could make it anyway.  So I went to a couple different crafting stores (it's all about the coupons, baby!) and came up with a plan. 

No-Sew Burlap Bunting

What You'll Need

Burlap. Mine came from a roll.  If you want your triangles to be bigger than mine, you might want to use a sheet of burlap instead.

Twine.  Go thin, but not too thin. 

Good scissors

Paint. I used white, but you don't have to.

Sponge paint brush

Round sponge

Stencils. Technically you don't have to have them, but I , trust myself to free-hand when it came to paint. I used one with a sticky backing.

Hot glue gun

What You'll Do

1.  Cut your burlap into triangles. I free handed a triangle on a piece of cardstock and used that as a guide.  They aren't perfect, but we're talking about burlap and twine, so they don't really need to be.  I do think it's important to make sure you have at least one finishe edge.  The top of each of my triangles had a finished edge.

2.  Cut out your stencils and place them on your triangles. Place the triangle on something on which you don't mind getting paint.  Using your brush, dab the paint over the stencil.  Don't use brush strokes because you might get paint under the stencil.

3.  Remove the stencil. I did this while it was still wet but I don't imagine you would have to.

4.  Useing the round sponge and paint, polka dot two of your triangles and then let dry. 

5.  Measure and cut a piece of twine.  I just unfurled mine form the spool and held it up to the doorway where my bunting will hang.

5.  After everything is dry, line your triangles up along the twine.  There are several ways you could attach your twine.  I decided that hot glue would be best.

6.  Using a hot glue gun, I applied a thin strip of glue along the top of the center triangle and then laid the twin on top.  I starte with my middle triangle and then worke my way out. 

7.  Hang up your country chic creation! 

My triangles aren't perfect, and neither is the spacing, but I really love this sucker.  The best part is that storage is going to be a breeze.  All the triangles fold over on themselves, so this is how much room it will take up:

How awesome is that?  I hate when Christmas decorations take up a lot of storage space so this one makes me really happy. I'm really excited for December now so I can hang this baby up.

Grownups Have Dining Room Tables

Growing up, there were a  few things that I felt all adults had in common.  Adults have matching plates.  Adults hae junk drawers that, at any given time, have scissors, matches, a black marker, and several different sizes of batteries.  And adults?  Adults have dining room tables.  This weekend Paul and I took one step closer to becoming adults.  We finally bought a dining room table.  For the past two years we have been using a small table that barely seats four, and forget about there being food on that table if four people are sitting at it. 

Paul is the manager-in-training at a furniture store and this weekend they were having a pretty big sale.  We picked up this beauty for an amazing price.

Paul brought it home that day and we ate at the table the next night to celebrate.  And we probably won't eat there again until there are other people here with us. 

After picking out the table I headed home to Wytheville.  My brother was playing in an alumni football game and I wasn't about to pass up an oppurtunity to sit in the cold and watch my brother play football like it was 2001.  Our team lost, but it was fun to see my brother in uniform again and I got to spend time with my parents and friends, which is always nice. Here's a few shots from the night thanks to Instagram. 

That last picture might be a little blurr, but I kind of love it.  Follow along with more Instagram fun. My name is tristayopp.