DIY Christmas Ornament

Oh my goodness gracious it has been awhile! It seems I have abandoned this little blog of mine.  With the busyness of school and getting ready for Christmas, I've had very little time.  But, if you're a last minute shopper like me this year (oops!), and still need a gift for someone, I have the perfect DIY ornament!

When Morgan from New Found Love emailed me and asked to do a homemade ornament exchange I immediately said yes! Thank you so much for thinking of me, Morgan! Hop on over to her blog and check out her sweet ornament she made for me.  It has a bow and sparkles, so of course it's perfect!

I found the tutorial for the ornament I made for her on Jessica Jane: Handmade and it was so easy to follow along.  Here's my tutorial of the ornament:

You will need: Fimo or Polymer Clay, wire, wire cutters, small beads, paint, glitter, stamps, paintbrush.

Step 1: Knead clay into a ball.  (You REAAALLLLY have to work with it here.  Getting the clay into a ball is probably the hardest part of the whole ornament.) The ball should be around 1 1/2" in diameter.

Step 2: Form the ball into an egg shape.  I did this by making my fingers into a ring and slightly pinch from the middle of the ball on up to make the egg shape.

Step 3: With the "fat" part of the egg, form the end into a tail.

Step 4: Start to make the top part of the egg into the birds head.  I did this by pressing down slightly on the top so there was a clear distinction between the head and the body.

Step 5: Pinch part of the head of the bird into a beak.

Step 6: Try to make sure there aren't any unnecessary bumps or finger prints.
Now, the good thing about clay is if you don't like what you've molded you can just re-do it.  I really had to work with the clay for awhile molding it to get it exactly how I wanted it!

Step 7: Choose a word and stamp it on the bird.  I also stamped some snowflakes.

Step 8: Cut a wire (not one that's too thin) about 4 inches long.  Take a toothpick and stick it through the bird from top to bottom.  This is so the wire is easily able to go through the bird.

Step 9: Make a loop with the wire at the bottom (I added beads to mine) and use your fingers to wrap the remaining wire around the loop (you can also use wire tools here).

Step 10: Bake your ornament as directed on the clay packaging.  (Mine baked for about 20 minutes).

Step 11: Paint and decorate your bird! Add ribbon in order to hang your bird!

AND YOU'RE DONE! 

I hope you all have the merriest of Christmases! Can you believe that it's Christmas on Wednesday?? Time flies. 

Hugs!

{Katie}