Personalized Polka Dot Ornaments

What is happier than making your own ornamnets and watching them thinking of the moments you made them? I say gifting your creations to dear friends and share those moments with them. That is what I did with this set of ornaments - Made them, decorated them and even personalized them with their initials. Happy right!

I wanted a classy look because this particular friend loves things classic - be it a story, be it accessories - so I went for white and gold and red. But other than the color choices ( for which I though long and hard) everything else about this DIY is simple and is done under an hour.

Supplies

Ceramic Ornaments
The zot transfer dots
Gold foil Paper
E6000 Glue
Foil Transfer Letters (Michaels )

It all started with the white ceramic ornaments I spotted at Michaels. I had the Gold Foil transfer sheets. I knew the combination would be classic. Besides I haven't known a girl who didn't love polka dots yet -  What was tricky in my plan? Finding a way to make perfect dots. I tried with hole punches and sticking them to the ornament - but that was messy and fussy and glue all over. I searched for an alternative - that was also the time I came across Therm O Web products ( remember the posts here and here) and I found the Zots adhesive Dots perfect for my project. I ordered them through Amazon though ( free shipping is hard to pass up!).

Once you have the adhesive dots - it is fairly simple. You have to ensure you don't touch the dots with your hands - instead use the ornament itself to adhere it directly. Once you have the dots on the ornaments - cut down small strips of the foil sheets and press it on the glue dot, metallic side up.

I used the same technique with the transfer letters - Only i had to use E6000 glue to stick it to the ornament. Simple and easy diy project for a quiet afternoon - right!

Have you finalized your gift giving plans for the year? do you think DIY ornaments make a cool gift for a dear one?

DIY : Glitter Dipped Snowflake Ornaments

Christmas trees are definitely festive and fun. I agree completely. But you have to also agree with me that they don't come cheap. You get a real tree or fake it does drain your wallet. Do you know what drains your wallet more? The decorations and ornaments. They are a dollar or two a piece - but think how quickly they add up!

What drains me more is the fact that kids demand different things every year - putting up the very same set every year is not something they are not crazy about. I do have a set of special ornaments that I repeat everyyears - but then, they are special because they were made by us or gifted.

Now since I have been doing it for past three years, I know better and do better. I make them at home as much as possible. They are not super fancy or take up a ton of time and effort. On the other hand I am going for simple - that I can customize a different way come next year. So here I am sharing some of my favorite ones over the next few days. They are super simple and you can easily replicate or even take it to much fancier level.

First up is glittered snow flake ornaments.

Materials

Snowflake Gift Tags ( you can even cut out papers)
Acrylic Paint
Mod Podge
Glitter Dust

To start off I painted them white, since I have a white and gold theme going on. Once the paint is dry, which takes about 10 minutes - tape off some part of the snow flake and apply a thin layer of mod podge. Generously spread a layer of glitter dust and let it sit for a few minutes.

 Shake off the excess dust and let dry for thirty minutes. Apply another thin layer of mod podge to seal off the glitter. and you are good to go.

Simple right! I bought 2 bags of the tags from target for a dollar each, I had rest of the supply in hand. that means 12 glittery home made ornaments for 2 dollars - I am not counting the precious time I spend with my daughter to make those here.

Hope that was easy peasy to inspire you to splatter some glitter dust fun around. Do let me know.

Non Traditional Tree with Photo Prints.

This was originally conceived and executed for a feature for Malayali Magazine. This one was for December edition and we needed something in X'Mas theme. Since the traditional tree and ornaments and their all imaginable varieties are playing all around us, I thought I would skip it and do something non-traditional. Thus was my photo print tree born.This one is not only non-traditional but also can last through seasons and festivals yet bring back beautiful memories every time you look at it.

It is simple to make. You would need :

1. Photos printed in 4*4 or 3*3 grids ( Basically wallet sized or smaller pictures ). I created a photo collage with iPiccy.com  and printed them out in our home printer in A4 sized paper. Then I cut them out in circles.

2. Cork tiles in circle shape. I bought a bunch of them after the Halloween clearance from Michaels. If you don't have it, cutting down packing card board boxes or shoe boxes would do the trick.

3. Mod Podge

4. Washi Tape or marker to mark border of the tree.

5. Branches from backyard for stems.

6. Scotch Glue Dots. 

How- To :

This is simple and kid friendly craft. First you decide on the size of the tree you need to create and number of photo circles you would need to make it. I have done 8 Circles for the bottom grid and reduced one each for the next layer, working from bottom of the tree to top until I had exactly one at the top. I had to have 36 tiles for my tree of reasonable size.

Once I arranged this roughly on the floor, I cut down the photos and glued them on to the cork tiles. I gave a thin layer of mod podge treatment for added sheen and protection.

This is most of the work you have.  To make the tree itself, I marked a small line to hold 8 corks for the bottom line. You can use yarn or tape to mark of straight lines. I chose the scotch glue dots for getting the tiles on the wall. The glue dots are re-usable and they don't leave a mark. This also helps if you need re-arranging.

Once the tree was done, I used the washi tape ( They can be pricey, especially if you look for patterned designs.I grab them when ever I have 50% off coupons for Michales) had in hand to mark the borders and glued the branches for stem.

That's it, your memory tree is ready. So print out some of your favorite moments of the year and make one. I am sure it will bring a smile on your face every time you look at them.

How did my tree fit in grand scheme of things ? That is the whole feature in December Edition of Malayali Magazine and some more.

Hope all of you are doing great.
Keep Smiling,
Anima

Christmas Ornaments - The DIY Way

We don't have big Christmas plans this year. There is one and only one reason for that - We are going to my parent's home in India this week end, which I have known for a few months now. So no big plans. For that reason I haven't put up the tree either.

But I did take out my smaller table top tree for a feature for the magazine I write for. I couldn't put it back though because its presence is festive, pure happiness and when it lights up, our little girl is ecstatic. I had ornaments from last year, pink and purple and blue which I used up to make a wreath for the magazine feature. I had left the tree bare (it is too small for that to be bothersome) but when Vidya and her blogger friends started this 12 days of ornaments series, I was inspired.It helped that I have some clear plastic ones I bought way back in September.

I had no plans to spend any money, meaning "none at all", on Christmas this year for the reasons mentioned above - So I just used what I had in my craft supply to whip up some, for bonus it was fun for the little one who loves glitter and gluing.

So here we go,

1. Washi Taped Ornaments

The only supply I used are the clear glass ornaments I had from Michaels, They have made an apperance multiple times here on the blog, like here and the ones shown above. To turn them into tree worthy, I just spray painted two in white and wrapped them around with washi tape.

2. Frosted Glass Ornament

This set also has spray paint involved. I had frosted glass paint in my stash for a long time, so tried that with the first one. I just used the frosted glass paint just the way you use regular spray paint. Let it cure for a day and then painted over with regular craft paint. It will be better if you have a roller brush, I believe. Once the paint thoroughly dried, apply the mod podge and use glitter powder and let it rest for a few hours.

3. Spray Paint & Glitter Ornaments

The rest of them are done the same way. Spray paint-->tape off a pattern to glitter-->mod podge--> glitter-->dry time.

I believe Akshara loved the second set more with the glitter involved.

So that's the start for a handmade holiday season. We did make some clay ornaments to gift Akshara's best friend and few more crafts for the magazine feature- more on that later.

So are you all set for the holiday season? Lights, glitter, Santa, tree, yummy food, gifts, merry & bright?

Keep Smiling,
Anima