Victorian Christmas Ornament

If you’re into making your own homemade Christmas tree ornaments then this unique Christmas ornament is worthy of a true artist and yet an elementary school child can also end up with a beautiful ornament.

Note: because this easy Christmas ornament uses a glass light bulb please do not leave your child unsupervised while working on this project.

Materials:

  • burned out incandescent light bulb
  • dishwashing liquid cap
  • water or soda bottle plastic cap
  • decoupage items such as photos, magazine pictures, etc.
  • ribbon and decorative trim scraps
  • gold, silver or copper wire
  • heavy duty crafters or jewelry glue
  • metallic paint pen or metallic paint to match your wire
  • acrylic enamel paint
  • crackle medium (optional)
  • clear shellac or varnich
  • hot glue
  • old color beads of choice (1 for the bottom of ornament and 1 flat bead for the top center)
  • rubbing Alcohol or white Vinegar

Wipe the light bulb with a little rubbing alcohol or white vinegar and a piece of cotton from a vitamin or med bottle or a soft cloth. Allow to dry.

Wash bottle caps with hot soapy water and allow to dry.

Using a small nail, poke a small hole in the center of the soda cap. Bend wire into a U-shape and thread both ends through the hole in the cap. Secure the wire ends on the inside by twisting together. Now you have a hanger for your ornament.

Using heavy duty craft or jewelry glue, glue the soda cap to the socket of the light bulb and the dishwashing liquid cap to the bottom center of the bottle cap. Allow the glue to dry.

Paint the glass portion of the light bulb with enamel paint. Paint the socket section, the bottle cap and dishwashing liquid cap with a metallic paint. Allow paint to dry and apply additional coats if needed.

Glue your decoupage items to the painted light bulb.

Follow the manufacturers instructions to apply a crackle finish. When crackle finish is done apply a small amount of an antiquing medium such as burnt umber paint. Allow this to dry and then apply 2 to 3 coats clear shellac or varnish. Do not apply clear protectant to the metallic painted areas, as the varnish will dull the metallic paint.

Use hot glue to apply small pieces of decorative trim to hide the socket area and disguise the dish-washing cap.

Glue a bead to the bottom center of the ornament.

Note: you can leave the dish-washing liquid cap either open or closed. If you decide to leave it open, place a dot of glue inside the cap to keep it from closing.

Leftover Halloween Candy

With all the candy oriented holidays in our culture it’s no surprise we end up with an overload of all sorts of different candies. As we move from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years to Valentine’s to Easter we can use the excess candy from one holiday to supply the next holiday looming on the horizon.

Storing Candy

Most candy can be kept at room temperature without spoiling, with the exception of chocolate. Because fat can turn rancid (ever detect a slight soapy smell on your chocolate?) any chocolate candy that you plan to use thirty days or more from the date of purchase is best stored in an airtight container in the freezer.

RePurpose Candy

Use candy corns to decorate Thanksgiving baked goods, or fill a cornucopia with them.

All types of candy bars can be buzzed into milk-shakes, chopped and stirred into home-made ice-cream, as an ice-cream topping, chopped and stirred into baked goods batter, chopped or sliced and used to decorate the top of a frosted cake …

Gum drops, gummie shapes, candy corns, peppermints, Lifesavers, lollypops – all kinds of candies can be used to decorate Christmas gingerbread houses.

Any red candies can be saved for Valentine’s Day.

Any chocolate candies that can melt down completely can be stirred into hot chocolate or coffee.