Easy glass ball ornaments for kids to make at Christmas time.
You know how much we love making easy, inexpensive Christmas ornaments that look GREAT. Well, these certainly fit the bill.
This glass ball ornament craft was inspired by THESE easy glass ornaments over at B-InspiredMama, which were (don’t laugh at the irony here), inspired by MY clear glass Christmas Balls from last Christmas!
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I had a lot of fun with the prep for these glass ball ornaments because it was like a bit of a treasure hunt. A day or two in advance, I told the Hooligans they’d be making a coloured glass ball for their parents and I asked them what colour they wanted theirs to be. Then I spent an evening rummaging through my craft cupboards, collecting every imaginable item that I could find in those colours.
Items to put in a clear glass ball ornament:
- tissue paper
- Easter grass
- yarn
- buttons
- beads
- pipe cleaners
- foam bits
- artificial flowers
- jems/jewels
- ribbon
- pom poms
- plastic straws
- each ball got a tuft of a white cotton ball for a bit of contrast
- and lastly, each ball got a shot of (are you ready for it?) white and coloured GLITTER!!
For those of you who know about my aversion to glitter, you may be truly shocked by this! And for all of my fellow bloggers, who know about my glitter-phobic ways, I hope I’ve done you proud. 🙂
Actually, I wasn’t terribly brave about the whole glitter thing. I mean, it IS completely contained in the glass ball, but hey – baby steps, folks. Baby steps.
Now, for this ornament, you can use clear glass or plastic balls. The ones you see here are are actually plastic. I got them on sale for about 80 cents a piece back in November.
How to make your glass ball ornament:
To start, pop the top off your ornament.
Next, stuff all of your goodies inside. Use a craft stick or a pencil to poke the bits and pieces in if necessary.
Now, pour in your glitter (artificial snow also works well), and give it a good shake. Go easy on the glitter, and I’m not just saying that. Too much glitter, and it clings to the inside of the ball, making it difficult to see the what’s inside.
To finish, pop the top back on your glass ball (you may want to run a little glue around the top to secure it), and attach a ribbon so the ornament can be hung on your Christmas tree.
I absolutely LOVE the way they turned out!
And that, my friends, is it for our Christmas Crafting this year. The hooligans are off for two weeks, and at home with their parents until January 7th.
All in all, we created 18 new easy and inexpensive Christmas crafts this holiday season. Most were homemade ornaments for the Christmas tree, and quite often they were made from recycleable materials and craft scraps.
You can find them all, along with those from past years, on my Hooligans’ Christmas Creations pinboard.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for following along with us, and for all of the lovely comments you leave on my blog and facebook page. I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to share what we do here, knowing how much you appreciate it, and it honestly thrills me when I hear that you’ve been inspired to do one of our crafts or activities with your own children or students. Thank you for your loyal support, and for making a difference in the lives of the little people in your world.
I wish you all the very, very best for the holiday season.
See you 2013!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. In 1997, Jackie stepped out of the corporate world to start a family and to open her own home daycare. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Valerie @ Glittering Muffins
Pretty 🙂 (good job on the glitter)
Tiffany Auvinen
Gorgeous idea!
happyhooligans
Thank you, Tiffany!
happyhooligans
Heehee! Thank you! I have to say, it was less scary than I thought it would be. Still not sure if I could use it “loose” in a project though. For now the contained glitter will have to do. lol
BInspiredMama
These turned out beautiful! Love how you let them choose a color.
akane
These are beautiful! I’m going to have to make something similar with my kids!
happyhooligans
Thanks, Akane! Glad you liked them!
Becky
These are great! I share your aversion to glitter!
anna
Um, this is awesome! We just got our first full sized Christmas tree and our small amount of ornaments will look sparse and sad on it, so I was looking up ornament ideas. No kids at our house but I can make the ornaments anyway, right?! :o)
happyhooligans
Of course! Kids shouldn’t get to have ALL the fun, should they?
anna
I made 6 of these tonight in different colors! Most of the contents were extra craft things I already had. Lots of ribbon, rick rack, buttons, and the like. I used slightly bigger than normal ball ornaments. They turned out pretty cute (if I may say), but I really regret my glitter choice. Stopped at the craft store tonight and for about $4 got a multi-pack of about 10 different colors. Unfortunately, the glitter is SUPER fine. Only put it into 2 of my 6 ornaments. It somehow managed to not be especially shiny while also making it hard to see through the plastic. My other 4 I did not add glitter to and I like them better. To anyone who reads this, I suggest using bigger glitter like Jackie did, not the super fine stuff. Jackie, yours look great!