You can’t go wrong making these 3 simple DIY Christmas ornaments. Not only are they easy, but cheap, fun to make and my favorite- not the average! 
Like many others, Christmas is my number one favorite holiday! I just can’t get enough of the entire month of December. The lights, the decor, and the atmosphere in general are enough to warm this Christmas loving soul of mine right up!
One of the most magical parts of Christmas (aside from Christ himself of course!) is the gorgeous trees. Although the perfectly matched trees are breathtaking, what really draws this sentimental heart of mine is the ones made with love. Nothing warms my heart more than to hang up ornaments year after year and knowing where each and every one came from.
If you really want to sweeten me up then handmade ornaments are surely the way to go. Last year I made some Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments for the first time. I just love em! Although we always set up a small one, this year will be the first that we are setting up a good sized tree. I am SUPER excited to deck it all out with these 3 DIY Christmas Ornaments.
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3 DIY Christmas Ornaments Video
Salt Dough Ornaments
You simply can’t go wrong with salt dough! It’s a very easy recipe that I’ve been wanting to try for years now but never got around to it. I’m not sure why I didn’t give it a shot sooner though because it’s no big deal at all to make them.
Simple Salt Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Whisk the dry ingredients together.
- Add the water to the dry ingredients and combine.
- Knead the dough with your hands until well formed.
- Sprinkle a cutting board with flour and lay out your dough.
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until 1/4-1/2 inch thick. It will depend on personal preference to how you'd like the ornaments to look.
- Cut out with cookie cutters and poke a hole through the top of each for your string. You can use a toothpick, skewer or a straw.
- Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about 2 hours.
- Paint, seal with modge podge, or leave as it!
Notes
Adding Prints
After rolling out your dough sometimes it’s fun to add a few different prints! My mom has a cedarwood tree in her front yard and I decided to lay a few of the small branches over each cut out to create some interesting designs.
Something I also decided on was printing with a doily. This one is probably my favorite so far!
Painting and Sealing The Salt Dough
After your dough has baked in the oven and cooled, next comes the fun part! You can leave them as is, but for some of mine I had to give them a bit of a paint job. For the FOX ornament below I started off by adding two coats of white acrylic paint.
Next, using a fine tip paint brush I wrote our last name, FOX with metallic gold paint and then outlined with black acrylic. Also using the metallic, I painted around the outside edge and added some dots.
Once everything dried I sealed it all with Mod Podge and added metallic gold ribbon.
They Can Double As Gift Tags!
Use Air Dry Clay As A Quick Alternative
An easy and quick alternative to making salt dough is to buy air dry clay. It’s already made and will air dry within about 24 hours so no oven is needed. This may be a good option if you have kids or want a less messy experience.
Air dry clay also makes great essential oil diffusers! Simply add a few drops to your ornament and it will make your Christmas tree smell SO good! I’m going to do a few drops of Christmas Spirit for sure!
Simple Pine Cone Ornaments
For an even more simple ornament you can make some out of pinecones. I also stole these out of my mom’s front yard. It seems like I get everything from mom these days. Ha! If you have an abundance of pinecones laying around in your yard too then take advantage of them and make some super cool ornaments.
All I did for these was make a simple bow out of red satin ribbon and hot glued to the top of my pinecones. Then using natural hemp cord I made a small loop and hot glued that to the back of the pinecone.
All done!
Dried Orange Slice Ornaments
For my last DIY Christmas ornament, you’ll need oranges and whole cloves. The first time I seen this I was blown away! I had never once thought to dehydrate fruit and use that for decorations but hey, it works and its beautiful.
For these you’ll just need to thinly slice up oranges. They seem a bit harder to dry out if they are on the thicker side but too thin and you’ll risk them being too brittle. I just guessed at it, honestly! I arranged the cloves around the center of each orange slice but they are optional. I’m doing a few with clove and a few without. They just smell really good and I love the way they look with the clove personally!
I poked a small hole through the top of each, just enough to slide my hemp cord through and tie it off so I could hang up the ornaments.
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Do You Make DIY Christmas Ornaments Too?
Let me know in the comments if you prefer store bought ornaments or enjoy making your own!
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So much fun! Homemade ornaments are the best!
Yes! I love them!
I love the nostalgic, sentimental value of homemade ornaments too! I made lots for our newlywed tree. I’m planning on trying the cinnamon ones this year!
The sentimental is my favorite ones! I did the cinnamon last year and they still smell so wonderful.
I love the idea of making gift tags with salt dough. Great ideas!
Thanks, Sylvia!
Love all three ornament ideas- fun to make with the kids too!
Thank you! The kids loved it so much.
I love the handmade and rustic look of these ornaments! Great idea and nice tutorial!!
Thank you!!!