These styrofoam ball self-portrait ornaments are fun and easy for tweens and teens who love making self-portrait art. All you need to make this craft is a styrofoam ball and a little paint and yarn, and voila – you’ll have an adorable likeness of yourself to hang on your Christmas tree.
The older kids in my daycare love making self-portrait art, so when I was brainstorming ideas for this year’s Christmas crafts, I thought a self-portrait Christmas ornament would be fun.
You may also like our mason jar lid photo ornaments.
I rummaged through the craft cupboards to figure out what they could use for a head, and I came across a container of styrofoam balls.
Perfect! All we would need to transform them was some paint, yarn and ribbons.
The kids were thrilled when I told them we were making self-portrait ornaments. I mean, these kids LOVE any kind of Christmas craft, but like I said, they adore making self-portrait art, and this was the perfect combination of the two.
I was thrilled too, with the way they turned out. They’re right up there with our cardboard gingerbread ornaments for being the cutest ornaments we’ve made this year.
I’ll show you how easy they are to make.
For your conviencience, this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Supplies:
- 2-inch styrofoam balls
- wooden skewer (*to hold the ornament while painting it)
- acrylic craft paint
- paintbrushes
- yarn
- glue (or low heat glue gun)
- thread for hanging
- ribbon
Instructions:
Time needed: 45 minutes
How To Make A Styrofoam Ball Self Portrait Ornament
- Paint the styrofoam ball
Insert a wooden skewer into the styrofoam ball and hold the ornament by the skewer when painting. Give your ornament 2 coats of flesh coloured paint. (Allow paint to dry between coats.)
TIP: You can use a hairdryer to speed up the drying time of the paint.
- Add facial features
When the paint is dry, use a fine liner brush to paint on the facial features.
TIP: Freckles are easy to paint when you dip the end of the paintbrush into some paint and dot it on the ornament. - Add hair
Snip lengths of yarn for the hair, and glue them to the ornament using white glue or a low-heat glue gun. Use a glue gun to add any ribbons or bows to the hair.
- Add a thread for hanging
To hang your ornament, slip a length of metallic thread underneath one of the strands of yarn hair, make a loop, and secure with a knot.
Your ornament is now ready for hanging.
How cute is it to see these adorable little faces smiling at you when you walk by the Christmas tree?!
You may also like our:
- Tinfoil and Tissue Paper Ornaments with Styrofoam Balls
- Styrofoam Ball Mosaic Ornaments with Old CDs and DVDs
- Styrofoam Head Self-Portrait Craft
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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. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
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