Hi, Erin here! There is just something about this time of year that makes me want to get out the scissors and glue and make things.  Maybe it is the festive spirit, or maybe it is the extra time with family, I don’t know, but I just can’t help myself.

This last week I was playing with You Melt my Heart and my daughter was looking over my shoulder.  Being the animal lover of the family, she got very excited about all the cute little critters in that kit.  She begged me to print them out for her.  When I asked why she answered, “To make ornaments!” Of course, why did I not think of that.

So that is what we did.  I want to share it with you today in case you find yourself in need of some crafty activity to get through an afternoon, or something simple to keep the kids busy now that they are out of school.  It is quick and simple, but still gives you a really cute result.

What you need:

Print out of animals (or other images to make into ornaments)

Tape (foam tape adds extra dimension, but good old double sided tape – or even regular old scotch tape – will work just fine)

String or ribbon or both

Extra goodies for embellishing (optional)

So first you want to collect and print the images you want to use.  We pulled all the animals from You Melt my Heart out and put them on one 8×10 sized canvas in PSCS.  I had to resize some to get them all to fit, but it worked well and the finished products were just right for our tree.  Once I had my image ready I saved it to print.  (I had them printed at a photo print shop so that they would be water fast and fade resistant, but you can print them at home just as easily.)

NOTE: if you want your ornaments to be two sided (the same image on both sides) you will need to make two images of each piece – BUT, one needs to be a mirror image.  For our ornaments I made one 8×10 contact sheet with all the animals on it.  Then I duplicated the image onto another canvas and flipped it horizontally so that I had a mirror image of the first sheet.  I printed 2 8×10 pages that were exactly the same just mirror opposites.

This is very important.  If you simply print the same image twice the two pieces will not line up when you fit them together. (If you don’t want to mess with mirror images or double printing then another option is just to print a single image, mount it on card stock and write a message, such as name and date, on the back.)

Once I have all my images printed and cut out I am ready to start assembling the ornaments.

If you are doing double-sided ornaments you might need to trim the edges a bit.  I know when I cut out my shapes I had them a little uneven.

Next we tied a knot in our string and fixed it to the ornament back with some tape.  There are fancier ways of doing it, but this works just fine too.

Then we put the two pieces together. This could be the two mirror images, or simply adhering the image to a piece of cardstock. You can glue them, use double sided tape, or foam tape if you want the pieces to stand out from each other a bit.

Finally you can add a little extra embellishment if you want, buttons, glitter glue, or if you are like my daughter, a bow or two.

And there you go, some fun and simple ornaments any kid would love to add to your Christmas decorations.

Or, if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you could stick them to a popsicle stick and make some simple little puppets to play with.

 

I hope you enjoy your coming holidays and let me know in the comments if you make something – I would love to see it.