Ball Ornaments

[MadClikr]

Making your own Christmas ornaments is an easy and fun for all ages craft project any day of the week! They make great gifts, and treasured memories, for years to come.

To get started, all you need is some plain ball ornaments - any size or color will do - and the decorations of your choice. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Use glitter and glue to draw simple or intricate patterns that sparkle
• If glitter and glue seem a bit too messy, try acrylic paints instead - you can paint anything from simple colorful dots to your favorite holiday scene!
• Glue on small craft items such as jewels, sequins, buttons, or even wiggly eyes for a fun project with the kids
• Dried Flowers: Remove the top from a clear ornament and fill with dried flowers or potpourri
• Shadow Balls: If flowers aren't your thing, fill the clear balls with pom-poms, very small sea shells, sequins, buttons, crumbled colored tissue paper, or anything else which will fit inside!
• Stained Glass: Use colored glue (or plain white glue colored with food coloring) for a beautiful stained glass effect
• Santa Clause Ornament: Select a red ornament, and paint the front side with a flesh colored craft paint. Once dried, glue on cotton balls for a beard and hair, and wiggly eyes to give him life!
• Photo Ball: remove the top from a clear ornament, and cut a photo to the same diameter as your ball. Once cut, on the back of the photo, using a photo safe pen, write any information you like such as who the photo is of, the date it was taken, the date the ornament was made, etc. Then, loosely roll the photo into a tube, just small enough to fit it inside the ornament. Once inside, straighten it back out with a cotton swab or pencil (it may not straighten completely). Replace the top, and decorate the outside of the ornament, as desired.

When drying the ornaments, you'll want to make sure that you select a location which is out of the way, where the ornaments won't bump into each other (or your walls!). I'd suggest using some ribbon or string and temporarily tying them up on a shower curtain rod to dry.

[MadClikr]

Want even more great ball ornament ideas? Check out this page on the Michael's Craft store - they have tons!

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/p...tegoryid=64582