Hey you guys!! We’re back with another installment of our (insert announcer voice) Monthly DIY Challenge. For any newbys, this is a challenge where my bloggy friends and I must each create something using the same predesignated item. You can check out the DIY crate bench that I created for our first monthly challenge and the wood slice tray from last month. This month, the item of choice was (da-da-da-DAH!!)…
Clear Glass Ornaments
Mission: Just make something with them.
Now, I’ll admit, this time of year is crazy. Thus, time is definitely of the essence. So, I wanted something useful, quick, and pretty. And what I came up with were a few variations on gift tags, which then can be used as ornaments later. “Multi-purpose” is music to my little ears. Plus, a project that can be done in 5 minutes (plus dry time) is a total bonus. I played around with a few different mediums for variety and here are the three that I ended up with.
First, I utilized paint. I simply squirted some blue and white craft paint into the ornament, and swirled it around, which left me with this…
Reminiscent of the ocean, no? Then, I simply used a metallic paint pen which I purchased at Michaels…
…to write my gift recipient’s initial on it. I was sure to let the paint dry overnight before putting the ornament’s top back on. (Sorry guys, I got so involved with my little project, that I kind of blanked out on taking progress shots. This’ll make more sense in a minute… ). 
Next, I played with feathers. I began by stuffing one of the ornaments with white feathers…
This would be for Joey so I simply drew a gold “J” on the ornament with my metallic paint pen. There was nothing special about my lettering technique… I just simply free-handed the letters since I wanted the ornaments to seem kind of homemade and special.
Next, I decided to add a touch of rustic texture, so I used these cute wooden snowflakes (also purchased from Michaels)…
…and tied one onto each ornament with gold cording and red suede cording, respectively….
Here’s midway through the process, prior to me attaching the red suede cording onto the blue ornament (Aaaaand finally, you get to see my lettering… Haha! Sorry.).
Lastly, I stuffed my final ornament with green feathers…
This guy would be transformed into a Ninja Turtle for Lucas. I mean, it only makes sense. The boy is completely OBSESSED. We’re now only allowed to call him “Michelangelo”. He dresses like a ninja turtle daily. It’s just normal now. Get up. Don ninja turtle garb. Carry on with daily activities. So, I thought he’d appreciate a little ninja turtle action for his name tag. Well… it’s not a “name tag”, per say, but since there’s absolutely no doubt who it’s for, we’ll call it a “metaphorical name tag”.
I started by taping off the ornament with painters tape…
And used red multi-surface craft paint to create the mask….
The smears on the bottom of my stripe were no biggie since I knew that once the paint dried, I could simply use a razor to clean up the edge. Once the red was dry, I straightened out that schmear and added white ovals for the eyes. This is with coat #1…
I went back with white again, then black craft paint for the pupils once that dried, which left this….
And that was it! This was a super simple, quick, and easy project that totally floats my boat…
And here are my feather “name tags” in action…
As for the blue ornament, I wanted to demonstrate a cute teachers gift idea using an inexpensive grocery store candle. I simply threaded my ornament through some feather boa cord and tied it below the candle’s lip….
Super cute, right?? In the future, I may either get a larger candle or a smaller ornament for better scale, but you know I like to use what I got. Waste not, want not. 😉
Here is my little trio befriending each other beneath the tree…
Lucas already got all excited when he saw the ninja turtle ornament. Success in my book.
So, that’s my Monthly DIY Challenge project. Now check out what my other homies came up with….
Operation Home 