Glitter Ornaments
Glitter ornaments are sooo much fun to make. In fact, the first year we made them, my BFF, her sons, and a few guy friends got so addicted that we made about 200. BFF and I went back to the craft store to restock. What you need:
plastic or glass clear ornaments from a craft store
(I prefer plastic, I've had some break in storage, and plastic is better if you're doing this craft with young kids)
Future floor wax or Polycrylic. Both have worked fine for me.
paper funnels (Cut a piece of cardstock in half to make 2 funnels. Roll into a funnel shape, small enough to fit in the hole in the top of an ornament, and tape it to secure.)
small paper cups (You really need these. Styrofoam cups don't work. The wax eats through it.)
glitter (any kind, but our favorite is TINSEL glitter. Looks like little fibers. We found it at TJMaxx, Michael's and Walmart)
a cake decorating bottle is very good to have, it's perfect for pouring floor wax into an ornament. Use a sharpie and write FLOOR WAX on it.
Technique & Tips:
You'll probably want to cover your work table with roll-paper, an old vinyl tablecloth, drop cloth, or something you can throw away. It will have glitter on it forever.
Use a Sharpie and write WAX on one paper cup, and GLITTER on another. You'll use these to dump excess into.
Remove the top of the ornament.
Pour about 1.5 Tablespoons of floor wax/polycrylic into an ornament. We like to use a cake decorating bottle to hold the liquid... the pour spout is good for pouring into the ornament easily.
Swirl the wax all around, making sure to cover EVERY bit of the inside of the ornament... go all the way up to the opening at the top. Place your palm or thumb over the opening to swirl the wax/polycrylic around the top.
Set the ornament upside down into a dixie cup for just a moment, to let excess liquid drip out....but be sure enough remains inside that it's fully coated. You can reuse this liquid when enough gets into the cup.
Using a paper funnel, pour about 1 Tablespoon of glitter into the ornament. Put your thumb over the top, and shake it gently all around, covering the inside with glitter.
* * CAUTION * * If you are using glass ornaments, they sometimes have a jagged glass edge at the top where you cover it with your thumb! Check first, and carefully break any jagged edges off. Make sure it's not sharp before covering with anyone's thumb.
When your ornament is all coated with glitter, turn the ornament over the GLITTER Dixie cup and tap gently to knock the excess glitter into the cup. This cup will eventually have a nice mess of multicolored glitter and you can make an ornament with that excess.
Set your ornament upright into its original carton to dry. Replace the tops. They are ready to hang!
You can get creative and try covering the bottom half with one color glitter, and a different color on the top half, etc. We even made camo ornaments by putting just a small amount of glitter in at a time, using several colors.
You can also decorate the outside, then, with sticker-letters for a monogram, etc. Wipe the outside first with a paper towel, sprayed lightly with window cleaner, to clean it. Let dry. Then apply stickers, or vinyl cutouts.
