DIY Cupcake Ornaments

My boys have a little Christmas tree in their bedroom.  Each morning they open a small box that holds an ornament to put on the tree.  The ornaments are small, simple things I've made over the years.  One of my absolute favorites has been these cupcake ornaments.

I saw these somewhere (Pinterest maybe, but it could have been before Pinterest days) once upon a time, and knew they'd be the perfect addition to my boys' tree.  They're so, so simple to make, and who doesn't love little cupcakes (even if they're not edible)?

SUPPLIES

cotton balls

mini cupcake liners

sparkly pom pom

glitter

spray adhesive

hot glue

needle 

thread

HOW TO

Start by puffing your cotton ball a bit.  I like to do this so it fills in the cupcake liner, and doesn't just look like a cotton ball sitting in the bottom of the liner.

Add a strip of hot glue around the inside of your liner, then put your cotton ball in and hold until dry.

Spray your cotton ball with spray adhesive (I've been known to use hairspray before) and then shake glitter on top.

Hot glue the pom pom to the top of the cotton ball, and allow to dry.

Run a needle and thread through the tip of the pom pom, and tie a knot.  This will create the loop for hanging your cupcake ornament. 

  I have a small cupcake liner addiction, so I have quite the stash to draw from.  My boys' tree is red, white, and green, but wouldn't pink, blue, yellow,or any color be adorable?  You can adapt the color combination to fit your tree's color scheme.

And  here it is dangling from the tree.  They're even cuter hanging than sitting!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

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Dollar Store Cookie Ornaments

My boys and I were at Dollar Tree a few days ago.  We were looking for a Christmas card to send their cousin who recently moved to Georgia.  While we were looking at the cards, a cute little older man started talking to my three-year-old.  He noticed my three-year-old was holding a fifty cent piece.  The sweet  man reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills.  He then gave a dollar bill to my three-year-old (I guess he was worried that the fifty cent piece wasn't going to cut it at the dollar store).  He handed another dollar to one of my twins.  I told the older man he didn't need to do that, but thanked him graciously.  What a kind thing to do!  My boys were in awe- a complete stranger had given them two whole dollars!  

We left the card isle, and a few minutes later the cute old man was back with his wad of money.  He must have gone up to the register to get change, because he had one more dollar bill for my other twin.  My boys were beaming!  He made their day!!  Three dollars isn't a lot, but the kind act of giving (to complete strangers) meant so much.  I was smiling all day because of him.

After many, many, many minutes of agonizing decision making (apparently, spending a stranger's dollar carries a lot of responsibility with it), my boys ending up choosing the cookies you see above.  I was thinking it was an interesting choice, but was glad they'd finally made a decision!  We left the dollar store with three boxes of cookies.  

When we got home, we opened the boxes of cookies.  My boys were thrilled!  Inside the box, they found about eight little compartments, each filled with about five cookies.  They couldn't believe how many cookies!  I couldn't believe how cute a few of the cookie shapes were.  The cookies in the picture above reminded me of little wreaths.  I decided I needed my own box of cookies too!  

Once I had my box of cookies, I started making ornaments.  I got started and couldn't stop!  I added stickers, yarn, evergreen sprigs, fabric covered brads, my favorite pearl embellishments, and even spray glitter.  I also used one of my layered flower stickers from my Christmas bookmarks.  It was so much fun coming up with new possibilities!  The more I looked, the more I found to use.  I even liked the cookies without anything on them.  They looked like cute gingerbread wreaths hanging on the tree.  

I hot glued a small string to the back of all my cookies, then hot glued the embellishments on the front.  Oh, and the glitter I used was Krylon's Glitter Blast in Orange Burst.  I wanted red or green, but the Orange Burst was all I had.  It actually turned out to be the perfect color!  It matched the color of the cookie exactly and gave it just a bit of shine and elegance.  I'm not sure how a different color of glitter would work, but it definitely would be worth a try.

I only used two of the shapes in the cookie box.  There were one or two others that may have worked, but these two were by far my favorite!  I love a cute craft for hardly any money.  I made (from one box) 8-10 ornaments.  Not bad for one dollar!  I can't wait to go buy more and make a whole set of ornaments.  So, get yourself a box of dollar store cookies and go crazy!  Let me know what you come up with.  I can't wait to go buy more and make a whole set of ornaments.

Happy Monday!

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