Homemade Christmas Tree Ornaments

It can be all too easy during the busy run up to Christmas to be content with purchasing expensive decorations for your Christmas Tree. Why not make a change this year and make your own. There are lots of stunning ideas to help you to create a tree that reflects you and your family and can become a special feature in the Christmas celebrations

Here are a few ideas to get you started and to help you to have a tree with an individualized theme

Pinecone Ornaments

You will need

* Pine Cone
* Paint
* Beads, glitter or sequins, yarn and small buttons to decorate
* Ribbon
* Glue

What to do

* Cut a 6" length of ribbon.
* Tie into a circle and glue the tied part to the pointy tip of the pine cone.
* Paint the cone green
* While the paint is still wet sprinkle with the glitter.
* Once the paint is dry you can decorate with beads and sequins to look like ornaments on the tree.
* You can paint the tips white to look like snow.

You can hang on your Christmas tree as an ornament or you can place it on a shelf by putting it into a small clay decorated pot. Alternatively you can use it as part of a table decoration.

Ice Cream Cone Ornament

These are fun to make and anyone over 3 yrs of age can make these.

You will need

* Either the cake or the sugar ice cream cones
* A solid colored ball ornament big enough to sit on the cones
* White acrylic pain
* Tiny glass beads
* Glue or hot glue
* Spray acrylic
* Ribbon

What to do:

* Hold the cone by the base
* Place glue all along the inside rim of the cone.
* Place the ball ornament on the cone with the hanging side up
* Make sure the ornament is dry before doing the next part. (hot glue works faster).
* Drizzle white paint on top of the ball
* Sprinkle glass beads on top of the wet white paint.
* Let this dry overnight
* Lightly spray the cone part with acrylic.
* DO NOT GET TOO CLOSE TO THE CONE WHILE SPRAYING as this may melt the cone.
* This will seal the cone.
* Tie a colorful ribbon through the loop of the ornament



Balloon Tree Ornaments

You will need:

* Balloons that are small and round
* Liquid Starch
* Newspaper cut into little pieces
* Corn seeds
* Glue
* Gold paint
* Matches
* Lace
* Pin

What to do:

* Blow up the balloons until they are the size to fit into the palm of your hand.
* Smear the starch all over the balloon (you can use paper mache if you want)
* Put the pieces of newspaper all over the starch and then let dry
* Repeat this procedure until you have 3 layers.
* Once the newspaper is completely dry you can use a pin to pop the balloons.
* Decorate using the seeds and glue.
* Paint it with the gold paint.
* Tie lace onto the match
* Put the match inside the ornament to be the hanger.

Tie the ornament onto the Christmas tree.

These are just a few ideas of homemade Christmas ornaments to get you going