My family does hand-made ornaments in a BIG way, so when I heard about the 2015 Ornament Exchange, hosted by Erlene at My Pinterventures, I had to jump on the craft wagon! (That’s like the band wagon only with more glue and fewer wrong notes.)

The Ornament Exchange has over 80 participating bloggers, who have each created or purchased an ornament for $10 or less. Those of us who have made our ornaments have been posting the tutorials over the past ten days, and each day has featured new and interesting ways to create hand-made decorations for your tree.

The 2015 Ornament Exchange | flourishandknot.com

Once all the tutorials are posted, we will mail our beautiful ornaments to our assigned partners (you have no idea how much organization Erlene has put into this!) and we will proudly display each others’ creations on our trees, or in our holiday decor. My ornament partner hails from my hometown of Ottawa, Canada! Hilary, from Raising Fairies and Knights, created an amazing Outlander-themed ornament for me! I snuck a peek a couple of days ago when she posted her tutorial… And you all know just how much I like love am obsessed with Outlander.

Hilary told me her basic wish list for an ornament: no orange, lots of blue, silver is good, nothing breakable (she has toddlers). That made my job pretty easy, because blue and silver are also staples of MY holiday decorating! I love me some blue…

I was scouring the internet, searching for inspiration, and came across some images of the turn-of-the-century Fabergé ornaments and eggs from Imperial Russia. I was struck by the beauty of some of the designs, such as this gorgeous one:

Mieks Fabergé Egg in blues, silver, and gold

Mieks Fabergé Egg

And with that, I was off and running! Here’s how you can make your own Fabergé-inspired Christmas ornament, for less than $10.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

Materials

  • 1 medium or large round clear plastic (or glass) ornament
  • clear matte or glossy varnish or sealant (I used Dura Clear)
  • white, silver, or gold glitter (very fine)
  • tacky craft or fabric glue (I like Hi-Tak)
  • glue gun and glue (you could forgo this if you only have the craft glue)
  • 2 lengths (depends on the size of the ornament) medium-width ribbon (I used navy blue)
  • 4 lengths (depends on the size of the ornament) small braid (I used white)
  • stick-on half pearls in varying sizes (you could also use rhinestones or beads)

Part of what makes this a frugal craft is that you can use supplies you already own. Since you need relatively little ribbon and braid, even if you have to buy 1 meter of each, it will still be inexpensive. All my other supplies were purchased at the dollar store!

Directions

1. Clean the ornament well, inside and out. Allow it to dry fully! I propped mine up in a small section of cardboard tube that I had cut.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

2. Pour a small amount of varnish into the ornament and swirl it around, coating evenly. Add more varnish if it does not cover the entire inside of the ornament. Once the ornament is coated, use a funnel to pour a small amount of glitter inside. Shake the ornament to distribute the glitter. Add more glitter if need be.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

3. Once the varnish has dried, hot-glue the ribbon to the ornament, crossing the two lengths at the bottom. Make sure to line them up so that they create even quadrants. I put a dab of hot-glue inside the neck of the ornament to secure each of the ends of the pieces.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

4. Use the craft or fabric glue to glue two of the lengths of braid to the ribbon, crossing at the bottom of the ornament. I secured mine at the top, centre, and bottom.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

5. Add two more length of braid, intersecting the four quadrants.  Try to keep the ribbon and braid glued tightly to the top of the neck of the ornament. You’ll need to replace the closure of the ornament, and you don’t want the neck to be too bulky.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

6. Add some embellishments, such as stick-on pearls. I began with a large pearl in the centre of each ribbon-and-braid length, and glued on progressively smaller pearls, keeping an equal distance between them.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

7. Replace the closure, pressing down the flaps as tightly as you can. Attach another length of ribbon and display your lovely ornament with pride!

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

And in case you are Pinterest users (did you know that you can follow Flourish & Knot on Pinterest?), here is a handy-dandy cheat sheet with the steps to create this ornament. I know it’s early to be thinking of Christmas decor, but now is the time to get in some DIYing, before things get too busy! Please feel free to pin and share it.

A Faberge-Inspired DIY Ornament (for $10!) | flourishandknot.com

Now comes the part where you get to hop around from blog to blog and see the other bloggers’ beautiful ornaments. Here are the lovely ladies who are posting today:

Try it – Like it | Gypsy Road | Playfully Tacky | Wife Mommy Me | Ash and Crafts

I hope you’ll take a minute or two (maybe over a second cup of coffee?) and peruse their posts. You can find ALL of the links to the ornament posts at My Pinterventures.