Glittery Christmas Ornament with Swarovski Crystals

Welcome (again) to the 2017 Ornament Exchange & Blog Hop! This year, there are 47 amazing bloggers participating in the exchange. The rules of the challenge were simple: be partnered with a fellow blogger, create a handmade ornament for $15 or under, create a tutorial, and ship the ornament off to a new home! I was also partnered with Anne from Orange Bettie and chose to make her a Glittery Christmas Ornament with Swarovski Crystals.  Like me, Anne has several Christmas trees, one of which features bright colors including fuchsia. Well, she has the right partner! Look around our website and tell me what color we love very much…

Bonus: I have a second ornament partner!  I made her a Swarovski Crystal Handmade Snowflake Ornament you might want to check out as well.

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Glittery Christmas Ornament with Swarovski Crystals Steps

Meet the 2017 Ornament Exchange Hosts

Erlene ⋅ My Pinterventures Kim · Made In A Day Amanda · Domestically Creative

Shirley · Intelligent Domesticatons Michelle · Our Crafty Mom

Beverly · Across the Blvd. Christene · Key to Inspiration Pili ⋅ My Sweet Things

Nicki · Sweet Parrish Place Megan · C’mon Get Crafty

Hilary · Raising Fairies and Knights Emily · Two Purple Couches

Tina · One Crafty Mess Marie · The Inspiration Vault Debra · Shoppe No. 5

Trisha · Rosewood and Grace Jeanie · Create and Babble Katrin ⋅ Kreativ K

Terri · Christmas Tree Lane Maureen · Red Cottage Chronicles

Toni ⋅ Small Home Soul Ula ⋅ Lulu & Celeste Sue ⋅ A Purdy Little House

Pamela · Home On The Corner Lorelai ⋅ Life with Lorelai Cindy ⋅ DIY Beautify

Debbie ⋅ Tweak and Style Stephanie ⋅ Swoodson Says Chelc ⋅ Inside the Fox Den

Susan ⋅ Super Mom – No Cape! Molly ⋅ Just a Little Creativity

Roseann ⋅ This Autoimmune Life Angela ⋅ Simply Beautiful by Angela

Vicki and Jenn ⋅ 2 Bees in a Pod Joanne ⋅ Our Unschooling Journey

Tylynn ⋅ Bitterroot DIY Sam ⋅ Raggedy Bits Mary ⋅ The Boondocks Blog

Cyn ⋅ Creative Cynchronicity Dione ⋅ Clever Chameleon Quilting

Erica ⋅ Erica Ever After Chelsea ⋅ Love Paper Crafts Evija ⋅ From Evija with Love

Samantha ⋅ Little Bits of Home Hope ⋅ Hopes Crafty Niche Anne ⋅ Orange Bettie

Pam · P.S. I Love You Crafts

Glittery Christmas Ornament with Swarovski Crystals

Materials

• Paper Mache Ornament Form with Sections
• Metallic Paint
• Fine Glitter
• Metallic Embroidery Thread
• Coordinating Bits & Baubles Jewelry Piece
• 4 mm Swarovski Crystals Flat Back Gems
• Mod Podge Gloss Finish
• Paintbrush
• Foam Brush
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Ultra Stix All Glue
• Tweezers
• Scissors

Glittery Christmas Ornament with Swarovski Crystals Steps

1. Paint the ornament white and let it dry completely. I painted two coats.

2. Paint the ornament with the metallic paint and let it dry completely. I painted five coats. Five coats that each took hours to dry. I won’t be getting that paint again! It is a pretty color though.

Tip: If they have a color you like in spray paint (my new favorite), that route might be way faster. I don’t know if it was this paint brand or what, but it took too many layers for full coverage.

3. Use the foam brush to apply Mod Podge to one section of the ornament. Liberally apply the fine glitter to the Mod Podged area and then shake off any loose glitter pieces. See our Glittered Easter Bunny Decoration for more tips on applying glitter with Mod Podge. Once that section is dry, skip the next section and glitter the next using the steps above. Repeat again until you have glittered every other section of the ornament.

4. Starting in one of the un-glittered sections, apply a drop of glue and then place one of the Swarovski Crystals to it. Repeat making a vertical line as shown. You can put on as many as you like, but I put 12 crystals in each section.

5. Most of the paper mache ornaments come with an embedded string hanger. Sure I could leave it as is, but I like things fancy, lol.  Take a deep breath and cut the string off at the base.

6. Cut three 10-inch pieces of the embroidery thread. Braid the three strands together. Apply a tiny bit of glue to the ends to keep it from unraveling.

7. Glue one end of the braided thread to the tip of the ornament, facing down as shown. Only glue 1/2 inch. Let it dry completely.

8. Now glue the braid around the end of the ornament in a spiral, leaving the last little bit unglued.

9. Loop the braided thread long enough to make a hanger and cut off the extra. Tuck and glue this end under the braided loop, finishing it off.

10. Slide one of the coordinating bauble pieces over the braided loop and adhere it with a small dot of glue.

11. (Optional) If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can use the remaining thread to make a tassel for the hanger. You can find a great tutorial on that at The Kim Six Fix just leave out the lobster claw and wrap it around the hanger.

That’s it! I am super pleased with how this Glittery Christmas Ornament with Swarovski Crystals turned out. I love all of the different elements from the glitter to the crystals to the little tassel at the end. In fact, I plan to make a silver version for myself so I’ll be sure to post photos of that one, too. I just heard from Anne today and she says she loves it and that makes me happiest of all. This ornament exchange has been so much fun! I can’t wait to see what I get in return.

Do you want to see even more DIY Ornament Inspiration? You might get a kick out of my Whimsically Lighted Birdhouse Ornament or if you want hundreds of ideas, visit All Free Christmas Crafts to see all of their fabulous ornaments!

FIND ALL 47 HANDMADE ORNAMENT TUTORIALS BELOW AND SHARE YOURS TOO! Use Hashtag #2017OrnamentExchange so we can see your creations on social media.