Simple DIY Nature Themed Christmas Ornaments

As pretty as all the glittery Christmas ornaments you can buy at the store are, I have an appreciation for hand-made ornaments, especially if my kids make them. I also really love ornaments made with nature, so the kids and I have been busy making lots of nature themed Christmas tree ornaments recently. Here are instructions for a few of our favorites:

Pressed Flower Bulbs

You can make really simple but beautiful Christmas ornaments with some pressed flowers, Modge Podge, and plain glass Christmas bulbs. Just brush a thin layer of Modge Podge on the bulb. Stick a few pressed flowers onto the bulb, and brush a layer of Modge Podge over them. Then set it aside to dry.

Another way to make pressed flower bulbs is just to fill clear plastic or glass bulbs with small pressed flowers or pressed flower petals. These turn out really beautiful and even really young children can make them.

Stick Stars

To make stick star ornaments you will need:

- 5 dry sticks that are the same length and that are fairly straight

-Hot glue

-Twine or yarn

Start by laying out your sticks out into a star shape. Apply some hot glue to each point of the star where the sticks meet. Once the glue is dry, wrap each point with a little twine or yarn to strengthen it up. You can also add some twine or yarn to the spots where the sticks cross each other if you feel like it needs more support.

Add a loop of yarn to one point so that you can hang it from your tree.

Stick Trees

To make these you will need:

-Dry sticks or twigs

-Hot glue

-Something to decorate your tree with- buttons, pompoms, acrylic paint, glitter and glue, sequins, whatever you want or happen to have on hand

Start by choosing a good strong stick to be your tree trunk. Cut or break a thin stick or twing so that you have a small section about 2cm long. Cut or break more sections of stick so that each piece is slightly longer than the previous one. Hot glue your smallest section to the top of your tree trunk stick. Work your way down your tree trunk, gluing progressively longer sticks as you go.

Add decorations to your tree with craft glue.

You can make another version of a stick tree by hot gluing three sticks into a triangle shape and adding string and buttons or pompoms for decorations.

Acorn Christmas Bells

This ornament is best for older kids and adults, as it requires the use of the hot glue gun.

For this ornament you will need: some acorn tops, some Christmas craft bells that are the right size to fit snugly inside the acorn tops, some thin red ribbon, and some hot glue.

Carefully glue bells inside the acorn tops using a hot glue gun.

Glue a loop of ribbon to the top of each one so that they can be hung from the tree.

Marbles hot glued inside acorn caps also make lovely ornaments!

Painted Acorn Ornaments

Collect some whole acorns and make them into fancy tree ornaments by decorating them with things like, puffy paint, glitter, and craft rhinestones. Then hot glue a loop of ribbon to the top so that they can be hung from the Christmas tree.

Nature Print Salt Dough Ornaments

This is another young kid friendly one. My kids love making salt dough ornaments and they always turn out really cool.

To make these ornaments you will need: flour; salt; water; a rolling pin; a round cookie cutter or a round plastic cup; some nature items for making prints like leaves, pinecones, and shells; paint (watercolors or tempera); and a sharp pencil.

Start by making a batch of salt dough. It's really simple- just 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of water. Mix until you have a soft workable dough.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until the dough is about an 1/8 of an inch thick. Use the cookie cutter or a round plastic cup to cut out round pieces of dough. Make prints in the dough circles by gently pressing nature items into the dough and then carefully removing them. Leaves, shells, and pinecones are our favorite nature items for making prints.

Poke a small hole near the top of each ornament with a sharp pencil. Then set them aside to dry out for several days flipping them over each day. If you'd like to dry them faster, you can dry them out in a few hours in an oven set to 150 degrees. Flip them every 30 minutes.

Once they are dry you can add a little color with some watercolor or tempera paints. Use just a little though because you don't want your ornaments getting too wet.

Thread a ribbon through the hole in the top of each ornament and tie them in loops so that they can be hung from the Christmas tree.