Does your family make any of their own Christmas tree ornaments? Making your own is a great way to have a very personal tree and it can help cut down on the cost of buying ornaments at the store. We have a small tree in our house dedicated to nothing but handmade ornaments – either made by family and friends or purchased from holiday craft fairs. If your children are hoping to add their own one-of-a-kind ornament to the tree this year, it’s time to get out the craft supplies.
I often find loose jar lids after an empty jar has been cleaned and either recycled or put to use somewhere else in our house. Clean jar lids are the basis for sweet Christmas tree ornaments. Ranging from big to small, any size will work! I saved this larger lid from a double-wick candle that had been used up. All it needed was a quick clean to become a Christmas tree ornament frame.
Materials
- Clean jar lids – your choice of size
- Bottle brush craft Christmas trees – sized to pair with your selected jar lid
- White cardstock
- Pencil
- Gold or silver glitter glue
- Paintbrush
- Double-sided tape
- Mini pompoms
- All-purpose craft glue
- Baker’s twine
- Scissors
- Hot glue and glue gun
- Button
- Cotton balls or polyester craft stuffing
- Circle shape paper punch (optional)
Instructions
To get started you’ll need a piece of white cardstock to fit inside your jar lid. You can either use a paper punch, like I did, or your can trace around the lid and cut out the circle yourself. Cut it just smaller than the inside of the jar.
Next, paint a very thin layer of glitter glue on one side of the paper circle. You don’t need a lot to make an impact. Let the glitter glue dry completely.
Once the glitter glue has dried, apply several pieces of double-sided tape to the non-glitter side of your paper circle. The more tape the better this time around! Press the paper circle firmly into the jar lid.
Decorate the glittered circle with the mini pompoms. Just a small dot of glue on the back of the fuzzy pompom is all that’s needed to stick to the paper. Let the pompoms dry completely.
It’s time to add the bottle brush tree! Parents, this step is for you if you’ve got little crafters at home. Apply a liberal amount of hot glue and place the tree base into it. Let the glue cool to make sure the tree is secured.
With the tree in place, add a bit of craft stuffing or a pulled-apart cotton ball to the bottom of the tree. The fuzzy fibers will stay close to the bottle brush tree, but if it looks like it’s moving around too much, add a small drop of glue to help keep it in place.
To help create a secure ornament holder on the back of the jar, cut a length of baker’s twine and feed it through two holes of a button. Tie a knot at the other end. Apply another liberal dose of hot glue to the top back of the jar lid and place your button into position. Let cool.
With an ornament hanger added your new DIY decoration is ready to be shown off on the Christmas tree! An optional finishing touch for this is to have your child sign his name on the back and the year it was made.
