Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Merry marbled ornaments, oh my!

Sooooo, I love my kids. Really I do. More than anything on earth, but sometimes I can't wait for them to grow up. I know, it's not right. They'll grow up before I know it and I'll wish they were little again, etc, etc, but really- I'd like to sleep through the night. Just once. And not have to be constantly concerned with Wyatt choking or falling or otherwise getting into trouble. And I'm really looking forward to crafting with Finley. I'm sure she'll be completely uninterested by the time I can trust the girl with a pair of scissors, but I have this vision of us hanging out, chatting it up, crafting our hearts out. And she shows potential- really she does. Well, we did some crafting yesterday and aside from a bit of paint on her shirt. and the counter. and the floor. It went pretty well!
My friend, Jen, is pretty awesome. She's one of my most favorite people. She's super quirky- in a good way. She's really into Christmas. She's had a big beautiful wreath on her front door since before Halloween. If you ask her, she'll tell you it's a Georgia Bulldog wreath- not a Christmas wreath, but it's totally a Georgia Bulldog Christmas wreath. And she's gone a little nuts shopping for her two girls. But her tree. Well, her tree is sadly neglected. Well, the majority of the tree. The bottom is adorned with a super lush tree skirt. SUPER lush. Gorgeous. Fantastic. Skirt. And then she has white lights, a star on top and about 10 ornaments. Yeah- 10. 10 ornaments on a 7 foot tree. I know! So, Fin and I decided to make Ms. Jenn some ornaments. We picked up some of the clear glass ornaments, popped the tops off and squirted in about a tsp each of red, white and green paint. I taped over the opening and let Finley go to town shaking and swirling the ornament until the inside was completely (err, mostly) covered. We placed each upside down in a dixie cup so the excess paint could drip out and let them dry (err, mostly) before putting the cap back on each. It gives the ornaments a marbled look.
 If you add a tiny bit of water before it's fully coated and shake it up, you'll get a speckled effect:

We did another six with blue, white, and a metallic pewter. 


 Fin and I had a great time and Fin can't wait to give Ms. Jenn her new ornaments! Now she'll have a whopping 25 ornaments on her tree! Woot!
This is a great craft to do with your kiddos- and turn out pretty fantastic looking. Soooo, if you're looking for a gift for Grandma and Grandpa from the kiddos, give it a shot :) Not that they don't deserve sherpa slippers or a cashmere throw, but if you're looking for something sentimental, this is great- and won't fall apart like the sandpaper gingerbread man with googly eyes or clothespin Rudolph- although, they're pretty dang cute, too.
Merry Christmas, y'all!

7 comments:

  1. YES! we've been looking for easy-ish ornaments to make as gifts and came up with a great one using model magic, cookie cutters, paints, glitters yada yada, but we'll definitely do these with the grams to give out with our cookie baskets. you're saw-sum (as my one year old puts it)!

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  2. Oooh- I want to see your creations!
    Michaels has the larger ones in packs of 6 for 4.99 and they're all 50% off! Annnnnd, If you buy them on Saturday, they're an additional 15% off :D

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  3. sah-weet!!! great info!

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  4. And I LOVE them! They are already on my tree and have taken it from sad to GLAD! You and Fin are Da Bomb!

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  5. ok, i gotta ask, since a nosy lady at the store stopped me and described her dilemma. she said the night before they looked great and wonderful, then all the paint oozed out together and made icky brown. not pretty. what did she do wrong and how can i avoid that?? i'm going to use acrylic paint, but i did not buy the plain balls, i bought the iridescent glass ones, cuz believe it or not, they were cheaper (and sparklier!). could that be the mistake, cuz i think she used the same balls? i think i'll try it with one and see what happens. also, another cute idea: spray adhesive inside the balls, pour glitter in, shake and dry. drop in cute little feather (i'm doing blues, whites and silvers for my shades) if you want, do swirly sparkly glittery glue designs on the outside of the ball, and use a pretty ribbon to hang.

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  6. I haven't used the irridescent ones, so that could be it. Also could be that she didn't drain them. After swirling and coating set them upside down on a dixie cup and let all the excess paint drain out. Leave them there to dry. Also, don't use more than three colors or more than a teaspoon of each. You can always add more if you can't get it to fully coat. We're going to try the glitter ones! Fin is a sucker for sparkly anything. She'll love it :)

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