Christmas is coming early!

Happy Monday y'all!

I'm home-home this week since I'm on Thanksgiving break and I've already made my Christmas gifts for my teacher friends :) I made them at my aunt's house today and we had lots of fun!

I just wanted to share with y'all the ornaments my aunt and I made and how we did it just in case you'd like to make them for your friends or family for Christmas!

Here's what you'll need:

...pictures printed/copied in black and white or color with laser ink or toner (not with ink because the picture will bleed)...

...glass ornaments...

...arts and crafts supplies like ribbon, glitter, and a special liquid glue...

Here are the steps to make your very own ornament :)...

1. Mix a couple of tablespoons of bleach with a cup of water to rinse out the glass ornament. This prevents the ornament from molding. Let the ornament drip dry so it will be ready to decorate the next day.

2. After your ornament has dried, you are ready to begin designing and decorating your ornament! After you've copied your picture and made it the right size to fit your ornament, you will need to use a straight pin to poke tiny holes through the picture. Make sure to not poke holes in the faces! The holes allow air to get through so the pictures won't wrinkle up after they're glued.

{If you look closely, you can see the little holes.}

3. Now you pour in the liquid glue in the ornament. I used Magic Bubbles which my aunt found at Michael's a few years ago. You roll the ornament around so that the glue coats the entire interior of the ornament. You then pour the excess glue in a small cup to use for later.

4. Roll the picture into a cylinder making sure the outside of the picture is the outside of the cylinder. Then, put the rolled picture into the top of the ornament.

5. You then use a special kind of brush to get your picture in the right place. I can't remember where my aunt got the brush (probably Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or another craft store) but it's a tiny brush with bristles on the end that reminds me of an eyebrow brush. You use this brush to smooth out the picture and to get it in the correct position.

*This is the most stressful part because you have to be careful not to rip the picture while you're moving it around! This is the part when air bubbles like to form so you have to be careful when using the brush to get them out!*

6. Once you've got the picture where you want it, squirt/pour in a little more glue to coat the inside of the ornament. Pour out the excess glue and then pour in your glitter. My aunt and I have found that the finer glitter works better than chunkier/bigger glitter. Shake the glitter around until the ornament is covered with glitter.

7. Now comes the easy part...decorating the outside! I got my ribbon and decorative trim and found that the flatter ribbon and trim glues down better. We used Tacky Glue because it dries clear and fast!

8. We like to add more decoration to the top by making pretty bows :)

Now your ornament is finished!

Here are the other ornaments I made for my team...

{I used pink glitter on this one so since it's obviously darker than the white it shows through a little bit. But in person it looks so cute!}

{The same with the gold...since it's darker it kind of shows through the picture but it still looks great!}

I didn't tell them what I was doing with their pictures so I sure hope they like them!

I sure hope these instructions made sense! If you have any questions about the directions, how to make the ornaments, or where to get any of the supplies, please let me know and I'll be glad to answer them :)

Hope everyone has had a marvelous day!