Christmas Ornament How-to, Blog News & Cute Vase

Haaayyyyy!!! Are you as excited for the upcoming Holidays as I am? Oh, WOW, I can’t wait! I love Christmas so, so, soooo much! In the Spirit of Christmas, I’ve started doing my Christmas video tutorials and in this very first one I show you how to make these awesome Christmas tree ball ornaments! 

Aren’t they lovely? And the best part is they are customized to show whatever photo you want on them, which makes them a very special homemade Christmas gift idea that your loved ones will be so touched to receive!  I’ve made them for several people in the past and everyone displays them with fondness on their trees each Christmas. A great idea, which I did for my boyfriend’s parents, is to make a set of 6 showing a different special moment on each. In the case of his parents, I did one of their first dance together at their wedding, and then one of each of their 5 children. For my own Mom I did a set of 4; one of each of us 4 kids. And then I’ve done variations of those ideas for others. But, obviously, you can do anything; funny moments with a sibling or best friend(s)/partner, photos of Christmases past, your favourite quotes, etc… The sky’s the limit really!

So, before I get the things you’ll need to make these awesome ornaments, I wanted to show you some photos of another one of my Mom’s vases she did using my Decorative Vase Tutorial (click here for that video). She’s gotten really creative with this one and added sparkles to her glue, giving it a frosted look and shimmer at the same time. It turned out really pretty! She made this Christmas vase as a gift for a friend. No, I’m not ruining a Christmas gift surprise, she’s already given it to her. :)

Oh, and some other exciting news!! I’ve made the decision to do an extra blog post each week to start showing you guys some of my art work like drawings, paintings, or sketches! I think that’s the one thing that is still missing from my blog posts, I’ve been doing beauty, home décor, crafts but haven’t featured art yet and it really is what I love to do most of all. Over the past couple years I’ve been struggling to just sit down and draw or paint, so I feel blogging about it once a week will really help me and I can’t wait! Sometimes I’ll post pieces I’ve done in the past, but I’m going to try to show as much new stuff as I can. I’m not sure what day of the week those posts will come out on yet, but look for one starting next week! ;) Here is a teaser of what you can expect:

This is a drawing I did using Graphite. Only a standard HB Pencil.

Okay, and, finally, on to the Christmas Ornament tutorial I’ve done for you guys this week.

Things You’ll Need

-          Light Colored Christmas Tree Ball Ornaments (Preferably Glass – Classier
     [but if you have children to worry about, plastic will do just fine])
     (I got mine at Michael’s for $13.99 – 8 pack)

-          Laser Printout of Photo(s) (1.5”w x 1”h, several of each image)

-          Dish of Clean Water

-          Mod Podge – Glossy (Walmart for about $6/$7

-          Paint Brush – 1/2" (Walmart for about $5.99/pkg)

-          Frog Tape – Delicate Surfaces (Yellow one, Walmart $7.99)

-          Ribbon (price range 99 cents to $5.99 – depending where you buy and
     what kind)

-          Illustration Pen, 0.3mm – Staedtler Pigment Liner Sketch Pens 4 Pack
     (Staples for $13.64, can find these just about anywhere they sell stationery,
     especially art stores. Price may vary. Can also purchase individually)

-          **Not in video** Mod Podge – Dimensional Magic (I didn’t show this in the
     video because it was an after-thought. See further details below)

** A Note Before the Video** 
I did not show this product (image below) in my video since it was something I thought of after the fact. I ended up having to re-do my ball because, like a fool, I wasn’t careful enough and smudged the writing.

So, to ensure you don’t do the same, once your writing has dried a little bit, blot it very gently and firmly a few times using a finger to remove any excess ink that may take longer to dry than desired. So since I re-did it, I decided to add this product to the image on my Ball after the Mod Podge dried but before removing the tape. If you decide to do this, and I, after using this product, recommend you do, make sure to layer it evenly and as thin as you can so that the tape isn’t too hard to remove. I’d also recommend letting it dry overnight before attempting to, very gently while holding down the edges, remove the tape. This stuff made the finish on the image so much more tough and durable feeling and left the image looking so clear. The images of the ball at the beginning of this post are the final one with this product on it. And now, here’s the video! :) Enjoy!

Well, that’s it for my first of many Christmas video tutorial! Hope you all liked it and and I hope it’s inspired you to create an amazing and thoughtful Christmas gift for someone on your list. As usual, if you do, I’d love to see your results and use them in a future blog post. So please head over to my facebook page and attach them in a private message which I check all the time…or maybe you just want to say “Hi”. Also, if you haven’t already, while you’re there hit that little thumbs up icon to like my page! You can also find me on twitter if you prefer AND my YouTube channel where you can check out all the rest of my awesome videos and don’t forget to subscribe and like!

Love, as always, and wishing you all to be filled to bursting with the Holiday Spirit,
Samantha  xoxo