Crafty.

I try not to do any real work this time of year, so that I can enjoy all the fun little crafty things I keep bookmarking in my brain under the “when I have more time” category.  Here is one of them.  It’s quick, easy, cheap and anybody can do it.  Camera not required.

I wanted a meaningful & elegant gift to make for my group of mom-friends this year, and was inspired by Pinterest to incorporate something into a glass ornament.  I had a really specific idea in mind, and it turned out well, so I thought I’d share.  I wanted a sort of word circle encased in the ornament, and I wanted the verbiage to be personal and heartfelt.  Since most of my friends are also Air-Force-Wives (btw – most of my friends & I really don’t care for  that term- but it illustrates my point) I wanted something that they could take with them down the road and use in their future homes.  This is what I came up with:

The message on the inside says “May your home always be too small to hold all of your friends” and it actually is printed on both sides of the paper, so you can sort of see the words from all angles, but that’s not clear in this picture.  Of course, you can write whatever you want.  A bible verse, a little Christmas saying, your anniversary, a joke, whatever – make it personal.  I did create mine in photoshop, and used a font called “urania czech”  from Eaglefonts at about 20 point.  If anyone wants the .jpg I used, just email me – I’d be happy to send it to you. I printed it off on BOTH SIDES of a piece of parchment (the parchment is important  to use – otherwise the paper won’t work as well, and it looks much more elegant).  Then, I just cut the paper into little strips with a scrapbook scissors.  If you don’t have one, I got mine at Ben Franklin for about $2.  I worked each strip into each glass ornament so that it sort of cradles and clings in a circle around the  inside, and held either end in place with the little wire bows of the ornament topper thing that you insert into the top.  Then, I added a bow.  For 8 of them, it took about an hour or so, and cost under $20.  They are so much more elegant and pretty in person, I really haven’t done them justice in these images.

They also look really pretty as accents to my tablescape:

Next year, or maybe later this year, I’m going to fill a bowl with them, sans ribbon, and use a different quote or greeting as the verbiage for the inside of each.  I’ll probably also use them as teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, etc.

A couple tips to make it easier:

1.) I purchased a package of bulbs from both Michaels & Ben Franklin.  Don’t ask me why, but the Ben Franklin ones were much easier to work with.  They had less “grip” on the inside.

2.) Make sure you print your message on both sides of the same piece of paper.  You’ll have to mess around with your printer a bit to do this, but it’s pretty easy.  You’ll also need each side to sort of “mirror” the other side.  And use parchment – this makes a big difference.  I bought a whole notepad of it, for about $6, from Ben Franklin, but you can still find it by the sheet at some office supply stores.

3.) If I was to do this again, I would probably put the quote on one side, and then something like “Merry Christmas 2001, Love the Brown Family” on the other side.  I think that would be even sweeter.

4.) This isn’t really for kids.  I didn’t, but I could see someone cutting their fingers a bit on the insides of the glass.  Be careful.

I hope I’ve inspired someone out there to have some fun during their off time!  If so, I’d love to hear from you. Enjoy! – PB