Winter Wonderlands

Now you have a bunch of clear glass ornaments left over, what to do? There’s a variety of things you can do but one of my favorites is to take transparency film (which is clear) and paint a scene on it. I did this with a Young Women’s group and they really enjoyed it.

You can do lots of things with transparency film, especially if it’s made to go in an ink jet printer. The steps mentioned in this craft are for you to paint a scene but you can print photographs, words and clipart and use those just as easily.

Glass Ornament Scenes:

Materials and Supplies:

~Acrylic paints—you can buy a cheap set of paints and get 20 or so colors or you can buy the small containers that are around 60 cents at the store

~Paint brushes

~Clear Glass Ornaments

~Transparency film for ink jet printers

~Fake snow

~copy paper

~Scissors

~Tweezers

~Pencil or chopstick

~Ribbon

Directions:

1. Find the measurement of your ornaments. Hopefully it’s on the box; otherwise there’ll be a lot of math involved! The thing to remember is if you’re using a 3 inch ornament, you need to trim the circle of transparency just a bit smaller than that. You can use a piece of copy paper to begin with so you don’t waste a lot of transparency film. The tweezers will help you pluck it back out of the ornament.

2. Cut out the circles of transparency. I do several at a time for practice and to have some on hand for several ornaments.

3. Find an image you want to paint that’s small enough to look amazing in the mini-winter wonderland. I used clipart from Word for the Young Women to copy. They just put the images under the transparency and painted away. Whatever you paint, make sure to let the image dry really well before trying to do anything with it. This is where doing lots comes in handy!

4. Once dry, carefully roll the transparency into a tube (like a burrito) making sure the painted part is on the inside. This will protect the paint from getting scraped off by the edge of the glass ornament. Adjust with the tweezers or pencil eraser so that the image is straight.

5. Add fake snow by taking a rolled up piece of paper (like a funnel) and placing it in the mouth of the ornament. You may need to use a pencil to push the snow into the ornament. Make sure you get the snow on both sides of the transparency.

6. Add the cap back on and tie on a pretty ribbon for decoration.

Extra gift idea?

Attempt a great challenge! Do the twelve days of Christmas but with your own special flare or memories. "My true love gave to me..." There are sweet poems on line that you can search out, too.

Like I mentioned, you can do so much with clear glass ornaments. If you aren’t up to the task of painting and you don’t want to purchase the transparencies, find a really pretty ribbon, or maybe two, and fill the ornament. You need to find one that’s not too wide and doesn’t have wires along the edges so you can get it into the ornament. Make sure when you’re feeding the ribbon in, you twist it now and then so that it fills the sphere and doesn’t just lie against the sides. Don’t skimp on ribbon! Really fill the ornament so that it looks nice and full.

Marble Madness

Have lots of little ones visiting and have nothing to do with them? These ornaments go great with the “magic” marbleized stationery from yesterday’s project!

These ornaments are super easy and look super expensive when you’re done. The cool thing is that each will be completely unique.

Clear glass ornaments are easy to find at craft stores like Hobby Lobby (noticing a trend?). The paints for this project are the little containers you can get for around 59 cents. These are the best because they have the little hole in the top to squeeze out the perfect amount.

Marbleized Glass Ornaments:

Materials and Supplies:

~3 to 4 (or more!) colors of Acrylic paints—metallic paints look really pretty.

~Clear Glass Ornaments (any size will do. Michael's and Hobby Lobby)

~Paper cups (4 ounce size. Optional. You can use the ornament box instead)

~Rubbing Alcohol or vinegar

~Ribbon

~Scissors

Directions:

1. Remove the hanger and cap from the ornament. BE CAREFUL! You are working with glass—it can break or the top might be rough from the manufacturer. Clean the inside with rubbing alcohol or a solution of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Let dry.

2. Squeeze a small amount of paint into the ornament so it goes down the inside. Rotate the ornament and do it again and again. There should only be about a dime’s worth of pooling at the bottom so don’t be overzealous with squeezing.

3. Repeat with 2 to 3 other colors.

4. There are two techniques to marbleize. Quick and changing and slow and steady. Quick and changing means you continuously rotate the ornament until everything is coated and then pour out the excess. It will continue to change looks until it completely dries (which could take up to four days). Slow and steady means you coat the ornament and let it sit for five minutes on a paper cup. Rotate the ornament a quarter turn and let it sit. Repeat until everything is cover. Pour out excess paint. Neither way is wrong! If you’re working with children, make sure they don’t tip the ornament over, pouring out the paint all over them.

5. You can wait for it to fully dry (this can be sped up with a hair dryer) or do like I do and let it do the boring part while it looks pretty on the tree (who likes to watch paint dry?).

6. Place the hanger and cap back on…but now they look so cheap! So hide it with a pretty ribbon! Have a girl who only likes pink? Pink and white paint (metallics!) and a pink and white bow will by so pretty! Kentucky fan?... :) And you can use a Q-Tip to paint a monogram on the outside of the ornament with one of the inside colors.

Extra gift idea?

Take pictures of the little ones while they make the ornaments. Print them out wallet-sized (either at home on the printer or at Walmart) and put them in little ornament frames. You know what would make them perfect and match? The marbleized paper from yesterday!

Frosted Window Panes and Candle Jars

Candles make great gifts that last a long while and fill the home with yummy scents. But they usually aren’t very pretty. That’s easy to fix!

Coming in a variety of shapes, sizes and smells, and price points, candles can be as unique as the giftee. You can use any candle at any cost for this project so long as it is a glass jar candle with a sticker label and not with the ink stamped onto the glass (Yankee Candles, Kroger’s and Walmart all have sticker type labels).

The material that you use for this project is called vellum.

vellum (the frosty snowflake part)

If you’re not familiar with vellum, no worries. It has actually undergone quite a change from its early years as calfskin to the translucent (think frosty) to opaque paper we use today. Scrapbook and hobby stores have a great variety of colors and textures that you can buy in single sheets (8.5” x 11”) and fit perfectly in an inkjet printer.

Vellum Candle:

Materials and Supplies:

~Glass Jar Candle

~Sheet of 8.5” x 11” Vellum

~Scissors

~Ruler

~Glue stick, Elmers glue or clear tape

~Computer with Printer

~Ribbon (optional)

Directions:

1. Peel the sticker off of the glass jar. If there is any residue left over, remove with Goof-Off, Goo-Gone or rubbing alcohol.

2. Measure the height of the jar. This can be tricky if the jar starts to curve near the top and bottom. You want to measure just the straightest part of the jar. Then subtract about 1/2” (or 1/4” from top and bottom).

3. Measure the circumference of the jar. If you want the vellum to go all the way around with one seam, you’ll need a jar that’s less than 11”. You can take a piece of copy paper with you candle shopping to measure (that won’t look too weird!). If you don’t mind seams, your candle can be bigger

4. Figure out what to print on the vellum. You will do this in a Word document so you can change the font type, color, and size. You may need to orient the document “landscape” if your candle is wider than 8.5”. Make sure the font size doesn’t exceed the height you measured in step 2 (use the ruler at the side of the document guide to check).

Ideas:

Word definitions (i.e.: love, light, warmth, peace, harmony, joy)

Quote

We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our

adventure to discover our own special light. ~Mary Dunbar

When you possess light within, you see it externally. ~Anaïs Nin

Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what

may never happen. Keep in the light. ~Benjamin Franklin

Date

Initials or Monogram

You can do images too! There are loads of free images online that you can use and print onto the vellum or even family pictures. Just make sure you give the ink enough time to dry before trying to work with it.

4. Print onto the vellum. Let dry. To be safe, I let mine dry about 10 minutes.

5. Lightly draw out the dimension you need to cut out. I use scissors with vellum and go slowly because xacto-knives never cut it correctly.

6. Glue the vellum onto the jar using your glue of choice. Try to be clean because it will show through (you can secure it just at the seam).

7. Add a ribbon, tie a bow. This doesn’t have to be permanent but adds a nice element.

Don’t want to do a candle? Use a regular glass jar or drinking glass and fill it with candy, cinnamon sticks, or cocoa mix.

Don’t have a printer? Vellum comes with sparkles, glitter and patterns, too! Grab a cheap bottle of metallic paint and use a Q-Tip to paint on a monogram or your own pattern of polka dots or stripes. You can even paint a wintery scene!

Extra gift idea? Gift your candle with one of those warming plates that they sell all over (Hobby Lobby and Michael’s sell them cheap) with extra bottles of scents that your giftee can add in when the smell-‘ems are gone from the candle.