decorate a plain Christmas ornament with glitter

I bought this book about a year ago:

…and after all this time, I finally got around to trying out one of the ornament ideas in it. Actually, it was the ornament on the cover that I was dying to try, because the picture was just too pretty to resist. Isn’t it gorgeous?

(Here’s the link to the book on Amazon, by the way… it’s cheap, and it’s a beautiful book. There are a BUNCH of super pretty ornament ideas in it: Christmas Ornaments to Make: 101 Sparkling Holiday Trims by Better Homes & Gardens)

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a gold ornament, so I didn’t make mine in the same color scheme (though I found a site that has every possible color and size of glass ornaments, for future reference, right HERE). I like how mine came out, but I still love the one on the cover of the book more, and I definitely still want to try one just like it.

Also, my ornament was smaller… I think a bigger size would definitely be better.

I think it took me so long to try making this ornament because it looked kinda… not really so easy. But actually, it wasn’t nearly as intimidating or messy as I thought it would be. Mine just didn’t come out as pretty, but I am planning to try it again, in the colors from the book (I’ll update this site when I do it).

All it took to make it was:

• a glass ball ornament
• a few colors of glitter
• glue (the book said “thick white craft glue.” I actually used 2 different glues, glitter glue in a fine tipped bottle for drawing my lines, and then I just used plain ol’ Mod Podge for everything else, and it worked great.)
• seed beads
• a small flat paintbrush, and another super fine bristled paint brush.
• pencil

The instructions said to draw little dots with a pencil around the neck of the ornament to make guides to go by when adding the  glue lines. I used the little dots on the ornament cap to help me keep them all even:

Then I used the fine tipped glue bottle to draw lines about 2″ down the ball. I think this was a little easier for me than trying to paint them on with a paintbrush (even though I got them a little gloppy).

(By the way, if you mess up, it’s better to just leave it than to try and wipe it off. I ruined an ornament thinking I could just wipe the glue off and start over. The glue eats right through the coating on the ornament.)

Then you just connect the bottoms of each line with a little “V”. Jeez, I was getting this thing REALLY gloppy, wasn’t I? Maybe I should have used a paintbrush after all. Or not drank a Corona while I was doing this.

After this, the book says to continue drawing diamonds to cover the rest of the ornament. I lost my nerve though, so I decided to quit while I was (kinda) ahead and sprinkle the lines I already had with glitter. The gloppiness looked way better once the glitter was covering it. (So did the Corona):

After this has dried for awhile, you can just use a really fine bristled brush to sweep away the excess glitter:

Use the flat paint brush to cover the inside of one of the sections with a layer of glue (this is where I used Mod Podge, and it worked great). The book says to do one section at a time, but I cheated a little and did all the sections that I knew were going to be in my first color of glitter.

And then cover that with glitter:

The good thing about using Mod Podge is that it dries SO fast.  I didn’t have to wait too long (which is great, because I’m impatient) in between each section:

At this point, it started looking really pretty, and I regretted not doing the rest of the diamonds around the bottom of the ornament. I will do it next time though. :)

Then, after all the glitter is dry, just glue on a bead at the bottom of each “V” (or you could do sequins or something else!):

And done!

I’m going to try out a few more of the ideas in the book… I will post them when I’m done. :) (Here’s the link to it again: Christmas Ornaments to Make: 101 Sparkling Holiday Trims by Better Homes & Gardens)