i wanted to be able to give everyone a little something, to show them how much i appreciate them-- but without breaking the bank. painting your own ornaments is a pretty cost effective way to go. whats more, i chose to purchase plastic ball ornaments instead of glass- for one, they are cheaper, and two, i am a giant klutz... i didn't know how i would get through painting and transporting 20 glass ornaments to the salon without a major catastrophe.
the easiest way to go about this, really, is to paint the inside. paint the outside, do whatever the hell that you want, i just know that i love the idea of the glitter being contained inside of the ornament, so that it doesn't get EVERYWHERE!! glitter truly is the herpes of craft supplies.
so, on we go...
purchased empty balls to start...
plus, the giant giant box of paint and glitter that i already had...you just have to pull off the cap, and squirt the paint on in!!! there are a million different ways to do this, as well as tutorials on youtube. you just want to get enough paint in there and swirled around to get the ornament covered without pooling , and drain the excess out in an egg carton, or whatever works for you. i will warn you though, that if you put too much paint in there, you will have a mess on your hands... i had a couple of flops, where the paint was too thick, semi-dried in a huge chunk, and then decided to slide and leave a big empty space. the plus side of using glass ornaments would be that you could swish some acetone around in there and start over... its ok though because i had purchased a few extra balls juuuuust in case!!!
round one... now, they don't look too interesting. after you let the paint drain out of them for 10-20 minutes or so, you are going to want to rotate their position, however often you want. this will create a marbeled effect. if this is what you are going to do, i would advise you to pick contrasting colors, and if you are going to do say red and green, put white or something else as a buffer in the middle... otherwise when you shake it up, it will have yucky brown splotches
round two.... some adventures with glitter and fabric paint.
this was the last bunch. i know that they look kind of blotchy at first glance, but i PROMISE you when you rotate them they end up marbled. just try and check it out in the final photo!once your ornaments are completely dry, throw the cap back on, and then add the rest of embellishments as you please!!! i started the first round of ornaments around the first week of december, and then did a batch more once a week for two more weeks. if you are going to do this, do it a little bit farther in advance... sometimes they can take a long long time to dry. plain paint ones arent so bad, but the ones that i had fabric paint and glitter/glitter glue in took a little longer, and i did end up having to take a hair dryer to them in the end.
i chose to glue a piece of ribbon around the top of each of mine with the ever trusty fabri-tac and tie it in a cute little bow. the great thing about being a craft supply hoarder is that i was able to find the perfect ribbon for each one of my little ornaments, matching colors and styles and everything... and i had just kind of made the ornaments randomly. i added little tags to each one, to say who they were for, and looooove mary, and the like. voila! it was a really fun little project.everyone at the salon really loved their little gifts, and upon first look thought that they were glass ornaments. they all seemed really excited about them and had a million questions about how they were made. the best thing that someone said to me was today when riva texted me to say thank you, and said "its like christmas and easter all rolled into one!"
