DIY Embossed Christmas Ornaments

Last week, I shared this DIY Embroidery ornament using the wood burning tool. This week, are you ready to make another interesting ornament for your Christmas tree? It is so simple and easy to make. All you need is puffy paint, acrylic paint and of course a plain plastic or glass Christmas ornament. Let's see how.

DIY Embroidery Ornaments

When I get a craft tool, I would think that I should get the most use out of it instead of just one or two projects. With that said, I always think about various uses for the wood burning tool I have. I have already shown you around 5 to 6 projects using the tool and I also showed you my first try with the wood burning tool. Today, I have come up with another idea of using embroidery and wood burning together to make DIY embroidery ornaments. Let's see how.

DIY Coasters using popsicle sticks - 2 ways (Wood burning & Painting)

I have 2 sets of agate coasters but they are small in size for most of the flat bottom vessels I own. So I thought I need another pair of coasters which are big enough to protect the dining table from the hot dishes. Today I am going to show a simple method to make coasters out of popsicle sticks and also 2 ways to spruce them up.

Materials Used :
Popsicle sticks
E6000
Scissors
Wood burning tool and different points/tips (Optional)
White paint and paint pens(Optional)
Clear Varnish

Step 1: Arrange the popsicle sticks one after the other as shown. I used eight big popsicle sticks for one coasters and two sticks at the back to secure.

Step 2: Cut the rounded edges of the popsicle sticks using scissors. Apply a line of E6000 glue and secure the sticks. I used two sticks one on each side.You can also use one more in the center if desired. Allow it to dry.

 Now your coasters are ready! To spruce them up,  I got two ways. One is to use wood burning tool to add some designs or to paint them and use paint pens to free hand some designs. 

For wood-burning :

Step 3: Use the shading point to create flower-like shapes on the coasters. I like to call them a leaf point as it looks like that. So first, use the leaf point and create/burn a flower with four petals facing all the four directions then fill each gap between with another four petals to create a flower shape. 

Step 4: Use the Texture n Tone point to create diamond print coasters. I like to call them a diamond point as the outer shape looks like it. I used this tip in side ways for one stick and repeated the design and used them in straight ways for the second stick and repeated the same. I used another popsicle stick in the middle at the back while burning the design to give some evenness and stability when pressing the tip to burn. Your coasters are now ready to use. 

If you are using the universal point, here are some design ideas to try. 

For Butterfly design, press the point in an angle towards the left to create a left-wing and towards the right to create a right wing. Use the point straight upwards to create two antenna. 

For a dandelion, use the tip straight upward and keep burning the lines all around to create a circle. Use the tip of the point to create a dots. 

For chevron and triangle, just turn the direction of the burning to the left and right accordingly to create a chevron or triangle. 

Are you new to the wood-burning craft, check these tips & techniques to give you clear understanding of the craft. 

For painting:

Step 3: Use a white acrylic paint or chalky finish paint (I used the leftover from my Bookshelf makeover) to make the coasters white.Allow it to dry. Use paint pens to create your own designs. As mandalas are in trend right now, I just drew my own mandala design using the paint pen. Why paint pens? you may ask. It gives a nice opaque look to the design compared to using a normal sharpie marker. 

Step 4: Seal the coasters with clear varnish to protect the design. Allow it to dry and your coasters are ready to use. 

Hope you like this easy to do coasters. I have linked to the walnut hollow site for better understanding of the point/tips I used for creating the design. This post is however not sponsored.I have the special technique point II  set which has all of these tips and helps in creating a lot of designs for various projects like this bracelets, ornaments, wood sign, etc. I think this is a great project do with kids this summer. There are lot of creative ways to customize these coasters. I am sure you will try these techniques in your own creative way. 

Share what you think about these coasters in the comment below. As always I will be happy to hear from you. If you make these coasters, don't forget to tag me in any of the social media shown above(Top right corner). 

DIY Reusable gift tags using air dry clay

Paper gift tags are often thrown away once the recipient consumes the gift . How about making gift tags that can be reused as ornaments next year or as fridge magnets, will it not be a cool idea? This gift tag idea is suitable around the year and it is so easy and quick to make. Let's see how.

Materials Required :

• ACTÍVA Products Plus Air Dry Clay in white
• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutter in desired shapes
• Ribbon
• Ball tool (optional)
• Rhinestones (optional)
• Paint pens
• 
• 
  
• 
  

Step 1: Take a piece of clay from the package and roll it flat using a rolling pin.

Step 2: Use cookie cutter to cut a shape for making gift tags. Or you can even use blade and cut any simple geometric shape to make your gift tag.

Step 3: As Christmas is approaching, I made few Christmas themed gift tags.

Step 4: To make it more interesting, add few rhinestones to the gift tags. Just press them wherever you think they are appropriate. Glue is not required. Use a ball tool to engrave your personalized message, add details like eyes and other decorative elements. Use a straw or a small cookie cutter to make a hole on top to string a ribbon. Allow the gift tags to dry. It will take a day to dry completely (depending on the thickness). String a piece of ribbon on top and secure it with a knot.Your gift tag is now ready !!

Here is the close up of the snowflake gift tag. If you don't have ball tool, you can even use a toothpick or even a bobby pin to add finer details as shown here.

If you know someone who is celebrating their birthday on Christmas day, you can also use the ball tool and engrave "Happy Birthday".

And use paint pens to decorate the front of the gift tags.

I also tried the image transfer technique to add more personalization to the gift tag. To do this, just print your photo on plain copy paper using an inkjet printer. Just press the photo on the wet clay and leave it for 20- 30 seconds and remove them.You will get a light imprint of the image on the clay. Be sure to flip the image before printing. You can use markers or paint pens to add any message on top once it is dry. Add a ribbon on the back with a piece of tape so that the recipient can use them as fridge magnets if they want to.

Here is another close up shot of how I used the image transfer technique to make a personalized gift tag for an "Anniversary gift".

If you want, you can also highlight the engraved details using marker or paint pens. I hope you enjoyed these easy peasy reusable gift tags using ACTÍVA Products Plus air dry clay.

I made these using air dry clay but you can use the same technique to do gift tags using polymer clay if you want to make colorful and quick gift tags. As air dry clay takes a while to dry , you can use polymer clay and bake to make it hard if you want a quick gift tag using this technique. You can even use thumb prints of yours or even hand prints of babies(May be for grand parents :)) if you want to take the personalization to the next level.

Hope you will give this a try and add more personal touch to your gifts this holiday season. Share what you think about this idea in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you. Be sure to share a picture with me in any of my social media if you happen to make these. I would love to see your creations and share it with other readers. 

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Activa products for making a guide in guidecentral.However all the ideas shared are my own. 

DIY "JOY" Christmas garland using perler beads

Well, its only two more days to go and then everyone will be ready to decorate your home for holidays.Today I am going to showing you an easy way to make a perler beads christmas garland.You  can put together this garland in minutes or teach your kids to make them so that they take do these while you are putting up the christmas decorations. Let's see how. 

Materials Required :

Perler bead peg board in round and square shape

Perler beads in christmas colors

Ironing paper or parchment paper

Iron

Ribbon or any kind of thread

Pom-pom(Optional)

Hot glue gun

Needle (Optional)

Step 1: Take the round peg board and arrange the beads in the shape you desire. I went with ornament shape. You can also use square peg board to make circle shape of the ornament however the edges will give pixelated look and not smooth as you do with round peg board. To make the ornament shape, I used 13 beads as diameter of a single ornament. 

Step 2: Once you have arranged the beads in the shape you want, cover it with ironing paper. Usually the beads comes with the ironing paper if not you can use parchment paper or wax paper. Iron on the top of the ironing paper in circular motion until you see all the beads melted . Don't try to lift the paper when you are in the middle of the ironing process to check if the beads has melted. The beads may get distorted and you have to assemble the beads again. Nobody wants to do that, right? You can very well see whether the beads have melted without removing the ironing paper.(see the second picture below).

Step 3: Allow it to rest for sometime and remove the ironing paper. You can stop here or you can repeat the same steps to the other side too. I did not want to repeat the steps as I loved how the non-ironed side looked(second picture) so I went with that. Repeat the same steps to make two more ornaments. 

Step 4: Now take the square peg board and arrange the letters using white perler beads.I decided to go with the word "JOY". Repeat the ironing process as you did in the previous steps to melt the beads. 

Step 5: Now attach the letters to the ornaments using hot glue.

Step 6: Take ribbon or any thread and glue the ornaments to them. I wanted add some white pom pom's in between to give the white snow look so I used needle at the end of the ribbon to add the pom pom then glue the ornament ,then add the pom pom's and so on.But you can directly just glue the ornaments alone and complete the garland. It's up to you.Isn't that so easy?

 So why do you need needle when you can just hot glue the pom pom? Well when you hot glue the pom pom on the the thread or ribbon it kind of looks ugly with glue showing outwards and pom pom's rolling all over the way you don't want. So it is better to attach them this way. Your perler bead "JOY" garland is now complete and ready to decorate your home . 

What do you think ? This is such a easy craft to make and there are endless possibilities to do them. Personalize them in the way you want. You can even spell" Merry Christmas" or any other christmas themed words to suit you theme decoration. Use different colors to match your decor instead of traditional christmas colors. You can make them in shape of santa hat or christmas tree and spell the words on the top.If you are doing this garland, in what shape and colors will you make? Share with me in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you. 

DIY Christmas Ornament using Temporary Tattoos

This post may contain affiliate links.By clicking the link and purchasing items through my links doesn't cost you anything but I receive a small commission.The money helps me buy craft supplies to bring you new creative ideas each week. 

On Monday I shared a DIY christmas ornament which is travel inspired, today I am going to share with you an easy ornament idea that you can make it in minutes and the end result is just amazing. Without much ado, lets start.

Materials Required :
Clear ornament
Acrylic paint
Temporary Tattoos
Tissue paper or towel

Step 1: As shown in my previous ornament post, pour some paint into the ornament and swirl the ornament to distribute the paint all over and transfer the remaining part into the paint bottle itself.Allow it to dry and close the ornament. For more details and picture , refer step 1 here. Now you will have an colorful painted ornament.

Step 2: Cut a piece of temporary tattoo, place the tattoo side down on the ornament and press it. Take a damp tissue paper or towel and dab it all over the tattoo till it gets wet. This isn't something new, we all would have done this step at some point in our life. Isn't it ?

Step 3: Wait for 20- 30 seconds and remove the sheet to be amazed at the beautifully transferred design on to the ornament. If you found the whole ornament is not covered, cut a small piece of the same design and repeat the steps to cover that part of the ornament . Now , your colorful ornament is ready.

These are metallic temporary tattoos which are used as fake jewelry that people used to wear for music festivals, carnivals, etc.But your options are limitless.If these type of tattoos doesn't suit your style, make your own using a printable tattoo paper to make these ornaments. It just took few minutes for me to make all these colorful ornaments. You can watch how I made these ornaments and  my travel inspired ornament in this video.

Let me know what you think of these easy and quick DIY ornament idea in the comments below.

Other Ornament ideas you might like:

DIY wood animal ornaments

DIY Embossed Christmas Ornaments

DIY Embroidery Ornaments

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave