A dollar and an idea { quick ornament DIY }

So I found these ornaments for $1 each at my AC Moore store. I normally try not to buy things I don't need, but I haven't seen this type of ornament so inexpensive before. At only a dollar each, I have a little license to play...

I reimagined these boring ornaments in to something fabulous. First up was removing that, ahem, hideous gold string. (Oops, I forgot to take a pic of a circle ornament. I'm showing an oval shape I bought instead)

Next I found the rosette image. The Ribbons Galore site has a digital custom rosette maker that lets you change colors and styles. I made one I liked and saved the image. Next I layered that image with a circle button image and my horse image.

After grouping the image, I printed it out on my inkjet printer with regular paper. I found my inkjet was okay and smearless for this project if you don't go crazy with the glue. If you'd rather use a color laser print, your local copy shop can help. I used regular paper for this. Using cardstock works well and is easier to work with when you smooth things out (less likely to tear); it's your choice.

Trim around the image (perfection isn't needed for this step). (TIP: working on top of wax paper for this next step is helpful. If glue gets anywhere it pulls easily off the wax paper, not taking parts of your image with it). With a foam brush, I used Matte Modge Podge decoupage medium and applied it to the FRONT side of the image. I then placed the glass ornament ON TOP of the image, making sure the glue was evenly distributed. Turn the ornament to its back side and smooth the paper out, or use a brayer or bone folder. Check the front of the ornament to ensure the image didn't shift when you were smoothing it out. Set the ornament aside to dry (TIP: putting wax paper and then a book on top is helpful). This picture is of the back side, trimmed up and drying.

After the ornament was dry, I put two coats of black acrylic paint on the back. When those were dry, I did a quick coat of spray sealer. If you have any bits of dried Mod Podge on the front of your glass at this point, a straight edge razor blade will take care of 'em.

Poke a hole through the ornament. I used my cake tester to push 13" of ribbon through the hole. I'm showing another ornament here where I purposely left some of the glass border around the edges.

Here is one of the ornaments before it's ribbon, but it's all done and super cute!

I played around with some free leather and plaid textures and added my horse images to create these, which are in the process of drying (sorry for the glare)...

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and it inspires you to create something of your own!

I'm linking this up to Under the Table and Dreaming's Sunday Showcase Party.