Easy DIY (Very Sentimental) Ornaments

Katie, Sherry, Ana & Erin are co-hosting the fall pinterest challenge and I am excited to join in the fun. 

Today, I'm sharing some easy DIY ornaments that are meaningful keepsakes. Here is how they turned out:

Did I mention that each ornament cost about 80 cents to make? 

I think they're totally cute and love how meaningful they are, even if saying that risks sounding braggy. Shoot, I hope I don't sound braggy. 

Anyway, let me rewind and give you the step-by-step. 

Lately I've been pinning all kinds of holiday ideas, especially easy DIY ornaments. I absolutely love Christmas. I'm also a total sentimental sap. So when I spied this pretty little bauble on pinterest, I repinned it right away (you can find the pin here). 

The ornament was originally created by Christy at From Glitter to Gumdrops. She did such a beautiful job. I decided to use a similar method to Christy with my own tweaks.

The first one I decided to try was to make a little present for Matt. Instead of our invitation, I opted to fill the ornament with swirly strips cut from our ceremony program. Here is how it turned out.

I really loved our programs, which took hours for us to design ourselves and included the full text of readings from the service. This, along with the names of all those involved, places, etc., made for some great text to fill my little memory-stuffed ornament with. Anyway, I have a bunch of programs stored in a box of wedding mementos at my parents' house and repurposed some for this project. Here's what I was working with...

I cut them up into strips, which I purposely varied the size of. I then wrapped the strips into tight coils around a pen ("swirling" them), just as Christy did, and popped 'em into the ornament. They then naturally loosen up and stretch out a bit once inside. They look awesome inside the ornament and the whole thing seriously could not be easier. You should totally try this. 

Since the pages were double sided, I knew that both sides would be visible from different angles once I swirled (yes, swirled is the description I'm going with) the strips and I was extra psyched about that.

Just because I'm extra-sentimental, I opted to use the ribbon from the original program to hang the ornament. Though it was a little creased, it felt way more special than adding a new ribbon. 

From different angles and as it moves, you can see all kinds of different names, lines from readings, places, etc.

Oh, and I added little glittery stickers (in silver to match the top of the ornament) for the year we got married. Find these stickers in any scrap book or sticker aisle at a craft shop. 

Next, I decided to make one for my friend Jamie who is getting married in three weeks to her awesome fiance, Jamie. Yep, you read that right. Jamie and Jamie are getting hitched. I think this will be a sweet addition to their wedding gift from us. 

To see all the details and a few more ornaments, click "Read More" on the bottom left.

I also made one for my sister Shannon to commemorate 2011 as the year she got engaged. I used the  invitation I had designed for their engagement party (if it looks blurry, that is because I blurred things like addresses/phone #s... But, you can check out the big party right here if you missed it). I embellished the ornament with stickers that said 2011 in glittery silver.  

Finally, I decided to make a goofy one (although it is also a meaningful one). For four years,  I lived in NYC. Matt and I adored it there. We'll always have a big giant soft spot for it. So, when I was cleaning out boxes of old cards to recycle the ones I didn't want/save the really good ones, I found this little card and decided to try it out as one of these ornaments. 

I hope Matt will like it. 

I'm on the hunt for sheet music for our wedding song, That's How Strong My Love Is by Otis Redding, to make another for Matt (if you know where to find it, let me know!). I think that one could look very much like a Miss Mustard Seed ornament. I also have plans to cut up little maps of Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles & NYC (all the places we've lived together) to fill one last ornament. I'll probably print the maps double sided onto cardstock to do this. Saving that for a rainy day...

This ornament set (wedding program, NYC, our song & the maps) will probably end up in his stocking. Since I spent $7 on a pack of 8 pearlized clear ornaments and nothing on the filler, it is a very budget-friendly little gift. It was so easy to do, and I think you should try it. If you do, let me know so I can come check out your creation!

A big thank you to Christy for her very inspiring ornament, and to the four lovely gals hosting the pinterest challenge! Can't wait to see what others were inspired to make.

Love Jenny

P.S. You might notice this post was posted at 4:44 am. It was not prescheduled. I sometimes blog while I'm up nursing the baby and totally exhausted -- it keeps me wide awake. Anyone else do this? Anyway, back to bed for us :)


Linking to the pinterest challenge as well as these great parties, I Gotta Create, Handmade Holiday, Lisa's Christmas Craft Marathon, Hi Sugarplum and at Christmas Craft Tutorial. Hope to see you there!