Simple Ornaments, Three Ways

The holiday season is the time of year when I feel most like creating but have the least amount of free time to do so. Every year I have grand dreams of creating new decorations and making the majority of the gifts I’ll be giving. And every year I find myself already well into December and wondering where the time has gone.

We switched to a larger Christmas tree this year, and I found myself needing a few more ornaments to fill it. Fortunately, I didn’t need much to create a few really easy yet charming ornaments. I even made a few extra to include as gift-toppers.

Test Tube Ornaments

The great thing about these is that you can put anything you’d like inside the test tubes, like pearls, beads, fake snow, glitter, etc. I chose to put dried greenery inside each tube. I then glued a strip of vintage text around the base of the tube. Once I inserted the cork, I then used hot-glue to cover it, while also adding twine to hang it from. I like that the hot glue gives it a waxy look.

Spool Scroll Ornaments

This one has a lot of fun potential. While I typed up a little letter to Santa on the computer, you could also cut a strip of your child’s Christmas list. I cut the paper to size, and glued the top portion to a wooden spool. I then sponged ink onto the spool, and added ribbon for hanging.

Tart Tin Ornaments

While I have used these tart tins as molds for soap and candles, I wondered if I could turn them into ornaments. It was really quite simple. First, use a mallet to flatted the tin. (You could also leave it in its original shape.) Then, use metal stamps to create a message in the middle. You can darken the stamping with a permanent marker. To take away a little of the shininess, I brushed permanent marker long the ridges and then rubbed it off with a paper towel.