Hand Painted Christmas Ornaments

I saw these ornaments a couple of days ago at Pandora’s Box and loved them. Patti did such a great job on them and I love the color combinations she used so much that my daughter and I did the exact same thing. We needed a fun and somewhat easy craft for the First Year College Student because she wanted to make something for her friends. With all the snow that came down we weren’t going anywhere so the timing was perfect as we spent most of the afternoon and evening indoors and painted these funky Christmas bulbs. She surprised me with her painting skills, patience, and talent! :) We personalized each one with an initial. We made 3 “K”s, 2 “M”s, and an “A”, and I think they turned out great!

I stopped by “Michael’s” early in the morning before the snow started falling for my supplies. I found a box of white Christmas bulbs on sale for $3.99 which was half price. You can use any bulbs you might have on hand and Patty over at Pandora’s Box used clear bulbs. Here are the “Delta Ceramcoat” paint colors that I used: Lime Green, Black, Fuchsia, and Magnolia White. ($1.39 each). I picked up a Sharpie Pen but ended up not using it (will explain why in a minute! ) I found some cute ribbon also half off at $1.50.

First step was to paint each bulb with the Lime Green paint. We used chop sticks to suspend over some glasses so that the bulbs could dry. (It took 3 coats to get solid coverage.)

Then we painted round polka-dots with the Magnolia White. (It took 3 coats and a slanted brush worked best for the circles. We made the white polka dots approximately the size of nickels.)

Then we painted pink polka-dots inside the white circles. (The pink polka dots were about the size of dimes and also required 3 coats of paint.)

After all of the polka dots dried, we painted on the initials free-hand with black paint. My first bulb I thought I would save time and use a black sharpie pen. It looked great until it came time to spray on the sealer and when I did all of the black Sharpie ink began to run!!! :( I had to make a new one after all that work was ruined!!

Warning: DO NOT USE A SHARPIE PEN ON THIS PROJECT AND IF YOU DO…..DO NOT SPRAY WITH A SEALER!!!

After all the initials dried, I used the round end of the chop stick to paint on the white polka dots by dipping the end of the chop stick into the paint and then touching it on to the bulb. Find something small and round for this step, the end of a pen, the end of a chop stick and I also used the end of one of the paint brushes. I also dipped a larger round end in the black paint at all of the end points on the initial. We then sprayed each bulb with a clear sealer to protect it and to give it a nice sheen. Than AFTER the sealer dried I used a fine tip Sharpie pen to write the year 2009 on the bulb. (Do not spray with sealer again or the date will run!)

We tied each bulb with a cute pink ribbon and they are ready for delivery! I saw some cute individual ornament sized boxes at Pier One Imports that will be perfect for these. I also think that those cute Chinese Food Containers would also be a cute means of delivery for these as well. And my daughter came up with another good idea. The individual cup cake boxes that you can now buy (I think they are made by Wilton) would also work here and be the perfect size for these. After the roads clear and the snow starts to melt it should be safe driving so that we can get some Christmas shopping in and get our boxes. Thanks to Patti at Pandora’s Box for posting these ornaments on her blog. This project saved us from wandering aimlessly store to store looking for a little something for my daughter’s friends. She is so happy to be able to give these as gifts!

I am linking this post up to Make It For Monday over at Cottage Instincts. Stop by won't you?!