December DIY: Hanging Ornaments

I thought I would start us off nice and easy for my first Holiday DIY project:

Found Object Ornaments

Even if you don't have a crafty bone in your body you will be able to tackle this project! I promise!

Here's what you will need:

Ribbon

Any kind is good, vintage, new, expensive, from the dollarstore, or remnants.

Scissors

This is for cutting your ribbon into lengths

Found Objects

This is what you will hang on your ribbon. Make sure your found objects have somewhere to loop the ribbon through. Here I've got a selection to get your creative juices flowing. I've got some vintage and thrifted brooches, some jewelry parts and pendants and a chandelier crystal.
Your imagination is your only obstacle!



Here's what you do.
1. Collect your found objects
2. Collect your ribbon
3. Cut your ribbon into lengths. Long enough to loop through your ribbon and tie. 6"-10" is plenty.
4. Thread the length of ribbon through your found object (with the brooches I just looped it though the pin on the back!)
5. Tie the ribbon. I like the simple look of a knot, but you could cut the ribbon much longer and tie the ribbon in a bow.
6. Hang your new ornament on your tree, or wherever!

I came up with this idea last year when The Boy bought me a new, taller Christmas tree and I found myself short on ornaments to hang on it and short on cash to buy more. I remembered I had a bag of chandelier crystals and an entire roll of blue vintage ribbon in my craft supplies. In less than an hour I had more than 2 dozen new pretty, shiny ornaments for my tree!

Here are the objects above paired with some ribbon in my stash:

This brooch is vintage. Imagine a tree covered in vintage and thrifted brooch ornaments? So pretty! You could unify the collection by using the same coloured ribbon on all of the brooches.

 This brooch is not vintage, it's thrifted, but the green colour and the snowflake shape said Holidays to me.

 This is a chandelier crystal I had in my stash. This one is a little modern, but something faceted would be beautiful too! Mine look great on my tree. I make sure to hang them in front of a light for maximum sparkle.

 This leaf is part of a broken necklace. I think it's really cute with the polka dotted ribbon. I can picture many of these ornaments on a white tree with sparkly tinsel on it!

This is a shell pendant in my broken jewelry stash. If you had a collection of shells and pendants on mossy green ribbon like this on your tree with some rafia garland it would be amazing!

Ok, I know this is a necklace, but as I was putting these ornaments together I was looking at the "chain" on this one and thought I would hang this on my tree as is it's so pretty! Imagine a tree covered in pretty necklaces! You don't even have to cut ribbon!

Here's the ornaments I made last year. Simple and pretty. I love them! They are very subtle on my tree, definitely not the stars, but very important supporting players.

Well I hope that got your creative juices flowing! I love the idea of making your own ornaments. It's an easy, cost effective way to spruce and personalize your holiday decor. And with the cost of vintage ornaments on the rise, this is a great way to add some vintage touches to your home for the holidays.

If you tackle this little project I would LOVE to see your ornaments!

I've got two more DIY projects planned so Stay Tuned!

Lisa.xo