How to make glitter Christmas ornaments | DIY
(You can download a free PDF file of this tutorial…just click HERE)
UPDATES:
- I tried these with plastic bulbs, and they look great! Read about it HERE.
- The Pledge product I used in this project is now called: Pledge floor care multi-surface finish. One of our lovely readers contacted Pledge and found out that this is the same exact product…she didn’t leave her name, but I sincerely thank her for clearing this up for us!
I’ve had lots of people asking me how I made my glitter birthstone ornaments, so I thought doing a tutorial would be a good idea. This would also be a GREAT project to do with kids, for an awesome handmade Christmas gift idea, because they are so quick and easy.
And the best part? The glitter is inside the glass ball, so you can admire them all you want without becoming sparkly head to toe yourself.
Unless you want to be sparkly head to toe, and in that case, I can’t help you. At least not in this blog post.
You will need:
- clear glass ornaments (Joann’s and Michael’s carry them during the Christmas season, or you can get them online right HERE).
- glitter (this is my favorite glitter).
- okay, are you ready for this one? floor wax. (sounds weird, yes, but this is the amazing secret ingredient.)
First, make sure you start with a clean ornament. I use rubbing alcohol to clean them, and I explain how and why in a previous blog post I wrote about how to make these glass Easter ornaments.
Now, about the floor cleaner…I read about this idea more than a year ago when I was reading a crafting forum somewhere, and I completely dismissed it. I had visions of bald-headed men and toxic looking yellow Lysol-like stuff, and decided that whoever had had this idea must have been a little cuckoo. Then one day I was shopping in the cleaning products section of the black hole of doom, oops I mean Walmart, and I saw this:
I immediately realized that this was exactly what that person must have been talking about, so I decided to try it out…and I am so glad I did, because it works a-MAAAzing.
(ps. The look of the bottle has changed… you can see what it looks like now, right HERE.)
So pour a little bit into the ornament, and swirl it around. I don’t shake it, because then it gets kind of bubbly.
Then pour the excess back into the bottle. This stuff is a little bit expensive, but it goes a long way. In fact, this bottle is the only bottle I’ve bought…and look how little I’ve used. I might even use it to clean my floors one day.
Now pour in your glitter and swirl it around the same way as you did with the floor cleaner. You could shake it, but for some unexplainable reason, I don’t like to…I like to swirl it all nice and evenly around the glass. (I guess I’m weird.)
And voila!
oops, sorry. You wanted to see the ornament…
Let it dry for a little while before putting the cap back on…I always take the little wire out of the cap, and put the cap on first (put a little glue around the inside of the cap for security):
and then stick the wire back in…this will keep it from scratching off the glitter on the way in.
All done!
But wait!
Look at what a few little scrapbook stickers and some rhinestones can do…
There are endless ways you could dress these up…any other ideas?
UPDATES:
- I tried these with plastic bulbs, and they look great! Read about it HERE.
- The Pledge product I used in this project is now called: Pledge floor care multi-surface finish. One of our lovely readers contacted Pledge and found out that this is the same exact product…she didn’t leave her name, but I sincerely thank her for clearing this up for us!
What can you do if the glitter is not very thin can you redo the glitter a second time
How do i only glitter part of the ornament so that I can hang a charm inside of it?
I’m actually not sure how that would be possible. I don’t believe I’ve seen that done before on our site. If I find out a way to do it, I’ll be sure to let you know. Thanks!
I would purchase the clear ornaments that snap together. You could glitter one side, and it would accommodate any size charm up to the size of the ball. And you could wrap a ribbon around it to hide the seam.
Maybe you could pour the liquid in but instead of swirling it all the way around just do one side and the bottom. Do the same with the glitter. No idea if this would work though. The split ornaments would probably work better.
Maybe use a q-tip dipped in the glue and rub on the part you want the glitter to stick?
Put more floor wax in and roll it around, dump out (a bunch of glitter will be wasted), then refill with a bunch of glitter and shake it up again. It’s ok to use too much glitter and shake out the extra onto a paper plate, then sift it back in the container if you want or reuse as you’re making them. This just happened to me yesterday!
Can you do a second coat? And how can I fix where the wire scratched the inside of the ornament? :(
These are great, going to make for my GS troop – how much glitter do you need per ornament? If you buy the kit you recommended how many ornaments will the tube make? Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi Lisa, we really don’t know the exact amount, but we do know it doesn’t take much. And once you’ve got the inside of the Ornament covered, you can dump out the excess and reuse it. If you were to buy that big package that I’ve got linked in the blog post, that would do a whole bunch of ornaments. But we are sorry, we don’t know exactly how many, and it’s been a pretty long time since we’ve made those. Should we guess, we’d say at least 5 ornaments per vial of glitter that is in the package. I hope this helps!
So helpful. I was trying to figure out, how to prevent the caps from taking the glue from my ornaments. What glue have you used with your caps?
Hi Nic, Staci uses beacons three in one advance craft glue on the caps, and the caps are actually going over the outside of the neck of the ornament, so it doesn’t mess with the glitter at all. What does mess with the glitter sometimes though is the little wire hanger on the cap. You have to pinch them together to keep them from scratching the glitter on the inside of the Ornament as you slide it on. I hope this helps! Janelle
Will The yellow Lysol work?
Hi Ashley, I spoke with the team and we haven’t heard of anyone using Lysol. The product we recommend (Pledge floor care multi-surface finish) is linked on the page though so I hope that helps you? Will you let me know if you need anything else? I’m happy to help. Thanks!
Hi, wondering if you can do a second coat, to even out the glitter?
[…] ? https://theornamentgirl.com/blog/being-crafty/how-to-make-glitter-christmas-ornaments-diy/ […]
I have had trouble with the paint drying. I’ve had ornaments drying upside down in egg crates for over 48 hours and the paint is still wet! I have tried blow drying them and putting them in the oven on 200 for a while, but nothing seems to help. Any tips?
[…] Learn how to make DIY Glitter Bulb Ornaments here […]