Countdown to Christmas - Easy Ball Ornament DIYs

When we got some of my Christmas boxes out of storage the other day, I found some of my items I have not seen in awhile. I did not have space to use them in my apartment, but I was not ready to get rid of them either. It has literally been just like Christmas (LOL!!)  opening the boxes and finding the treasures that are inside them. 

The Christmas before moving from my house to an apartment, I did a craft show. In the boxes from storage, I found several ornaments that I had made for the show. When I was looking through them, I thought they would make a great Christmas countdown DIY post.  They are easy to make, and would make great gifts.

Buddy was very happy I found his favorite elf inspired ornaments again.  It's been awhile since he had seen them. You can see them in this post, Elf on the Shelf Ideas and Dollar Tree accessories.

It is a dreary, overcast day here in Ohio, so it was hard to get good photos.  I tried to use different types of lights, but since these ornaments are glass, I kept getting weird reflections.  

**these are affiliate links 

If you would try to make these ornaments yourself, the Dollar Tree has clear plastic ornaments in a 2 pack of smaller ornaments, a 4 inch, and a larger 5 inch ball.

The first thing I did with this ornament was fill it half way with faux snow. I then took a thin paintbrush, and painted on white birch trees and a few cardinals.  I also added a red ribbon to hang it on the tree.  I now have them on my Woodland themed Christmas tree.

This melted snowman ornament is very easy to make.  I pulled up my original photo from 2012, because you could see it better than the ones I took today. In my original ornament, I used craft foam for the nose, eyes, and buttons.  In the updated version, I used a little bit of orange air dry clay to make the carrot nose. I then used peppercorns for the rest, because they look more like tiny pieces of coal.  In both, I used a small piece of red felt fringed on the ends for the scarf. Fill the half full with faux snow before added the snowman pieces.  

All you need to make the elf inspired ornaments are some red ball ornaments like these currently available at Dollar Tree in small quantities, and a wooden or paper mache stocking.  Paint them red, and add white felt. 

e

When we had the craft show, the movie Frozen was still very popular.  At the show we sold a lot of snow wands, a few tulle skirts in Anna and Elsa colors, and these hand painted Olaf ornaments  I filled the ornament completely full with faux snow and then painted Olaf's face. If you prefer not to paint it, you might be able to make an Olaf face using a Cricut machine. 

I also sold hand painted Christmas Tree ornaments.  If you would like to see how to paint one of your own, here is my step by step tutorial from a post in 2013.  It is easier to do than you think! 

I recently had someone email me asking me about this  ornament.  I looked through the entire blog (11 years worth) looking for it.  I could not find a post, nor did I remember making it. Fast forward to a week later, I find the box of forgotten ornaments.  Now I understand why I could not remember it, they have been in storage since 2015. 😀 This Santa themed ornament is very easy to make.  I filled the ornament with red metallic basket filler. The belt is make from a strip of faux leather, which you can now find in the Crafters Square aisle of Dollar Tree. Santa's belt buckle is a rhinestone that had been glued on with hot glue. 

While looking for older pictures, I found a BONUS ornament. 

This ornament is probably still packed away with some Christmas decorations we did not get out yet.  I added blue glitter to the faux snow and painted on some snow paint on top that looked like real snow when it dried.  It turned out so pretty.  

Happy Crafting!