Since Christmas
is only a few days away I thought it would be a great time to share some
Christmas ornaments I’ve made. As you
will see, they’re very simple to make but I’m still proud of the idea and the
finished product. As a side note, I
think this would be a great project for someone who is spending their first Christmas
away from home and doesn’t want to spend a lot of time and money shopping for
decorations. Of course it would also be a great project for parents to do with young children.
Even as an
adult I still associate Christmas with toys. I still remember many of the toys I received from
Santa Claus as a child and I’m sure many of you do too. It is for this reason that I think old toys
make wonderful Christmas tree ornaments – they are as much a part of Christmas
as snowmen, reindeer, angels, and bells, and seeing them on the tree brings
back memories of childhood. In fact,
just as I was describing my craft idea to my mom, she started telling me about
how she loved playing with ABC blocks as a child. She never had any when she was young, so
whenever she would get to school she would go straight to the blocks and began building
a castle. She even showed me how she
constructed it!
You can follow the steps above using other kinds of toys. I made more ornaments using Legos and I’m also happy with the result. Again, I think this would look great using an assortment of colours and sizes.
ABC Block Ornaments
For this
project you will need the following:
- a hot glue gun
- assorted ABC blocks
- scissors
- butter knife (or other item to press ribbon
onto the hot glue)
- ribbon or string*
* If you prefer, you can use metal Christmas
tree hooks instead of the ribbon or string.
Step 1
Cut
approximately 6 inches of ribbon and fold it so that the two ends are
together. If you like, you can even tie
the two ends.
Step 2
Using the
hot glue gun, add enough hot glue on the top of an ABC Block so that it will
secure the ribbon to the block.
Step 3
Quickly press
the two ends of the ribbon into the hot glue and use a butter knife to flatten
the ribbon, ensuring that the glue will secure it to the block.
Repeat the
process with the remaining blocks, or if you like you can make some
adjustments. Gluing the ribbon to the
corner of the block as opposed to the top creates a slightly different affect.
You can also make some ornaments using two or
even three blocks. When I add a second
or third block, I like to use different colours and I stack them so they are at
slightly different angles.
You can follow the steps above using other kinds of toys. I made more ornaments using Legos and I’m also happy with the result. Again, I think this would look great using an assortment of colours and sizes.
If you don’t
have any old toys that can be used for this project I would suggest looking at
a dollar store or second hand store – after all, you are purchasing these items
as raw materials, so it wouldn’t make sense to buy brand new toys.
There are lots of other toys you can use to
make Christmas tree ornaments, such as:
- puzzle
pieces
- crayons
- toy cars
- toy
airplanes
- small
dolls
- small
teddy bears
- doll house
furniture
- toy tea
cups (preferably plastic)
- action
figures
The only
other suggestion I can make to improve your ornaments is to have a special
helper participate in your festive projects.
I realize some will not have the option of including a special friend,
but with a helper like mine, I didn’t exactly have the option not to include
her!
Well, that’s
it for now. I welcome any comments or
suggestions and as always, I’d love to see pictures of your own crafts so feel
free to send me a link. You can also
send me a link to anything similar you think I would like. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and, if I don't write back for a while, a happy New Year!
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