For the last five years, I have made ornaments for my students for Christmas. My first year, I made a ruler with their names made out of Scrabble tiles. Next, I made melted snowmen Christmas ornaments. Then, I started making glitter Christmas ornaments. Of course, I would always personalize each ornament with my students’ names. This year I wanted to do something a little different, so I decided to make personalized glitter ornaments for my seniors. Don’t get me wrong, my Juniors got their personalized ornaments as well, but the Seniors’ ornaments were special.
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Get Your Supplies
In order to make this craft, you are going to need to have your supplies handy. While you will be doing this project in two parts, it is helpful to get your supplies first.
For the first part of this project, you are going to need clear ornaments (preferably the plastic ones, but glass will work), fine glitter (it gives the best coverage), polyacrylic, a small funnel, and small plastic cups (the ones you get to rinse your mouth after brushing your teeth). You will also want some paper towels and newspaper (or something to cover your workstation).
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For the second part of this project, you will need your cricut, permanent vinyl (white works best, but choose the color you want), weeding tool, transfer tape (I found that blue painters’ tape worked best for me), and rubbing alcohol (to clean your ornaments).
Glitterizing Your Personalized Glitter Ornaments for Seniors
Glitterizing your personalized ornaments is a fairly simple process. However, you will want to prepare your work area before you begin so the glitterizing of the ornaments runs as smoothly as possible. To prepare, you will need to cover your work area with newspaper, set out six cups, open and stir your polycrylic, and remove the caps from the ornaments.
Now it’s time to glitterize your ornaments! To start, fill your syringe with polycrylic, then slowly empty the syringe into your ornament. With the polycrylic in the ornament, rotate the ornament so the polycrylic covers the entire inside of the ornament. Set that ornament upside down on one of the cups and repeat the process on two more ornaments. Only do three at a time so the polycrylic doesn’t dry out.
Now, take the first ornament and add your glitter using a funnel. Rotate your ornament until the glitter is covering most of the ornament. Once you have the glitter covering close to the top of the ornament, place your thumb or paper towel over the opening and shake your ornament until the glitter is covering all of the inside. Poor the excess glitter back into the glitter container.
Preparing and cutting the Vinyl
This is probably the easiest part of the process. You will want to prepare your design in Design Space (or equivalent program) and let your cutting machine cut it out for you. You can either create the design yourself, or you can purchase one online. I get my designs from Jennifermaker.com and from designbundles.net.
Once you have your design uploaded or created, cut it out on your Cricut or cutting machine. How many you are cutting will determine how long it takes to cut them out. Once they are completely cut, you will want to weed them out. Be careful with this process so you don’t ruin your creation.
Putting Your Personalized Glitter Ornaments for Seniors Together
Take your rubbing alcohol and clean the surface of the ornaments before you start adding your vinyl. Using transfer tape (painters’ tape ended up working better for me), you will want to carefully move your design from the vinyl paper to your ornament. Do not rush this part of the process. Your design could have small parts that you don’t want to lose.
Inspect the vinyl once you have it on the ornament to make sure there aren’t any bubbles or creases. Finally, you can add a hook, ribbon, bows, or anything you desire to hang your personalized glitter ornaments for seniors on the tree.
Your Seniors Will Love Them
My Seniors absolutely loved their ornaments! All of my students loved their ornaments and some even told me they still had theirs from previous years. I don’t know about you, but that completely warms my heart and soul!
I would love to see your glitterized ornaments! Please share them with me in the comments below.