My Christmas Ornament Tradition

The first Christmas I celebrated with my husband I decided to start my own holiday traditions that I could continue throughout the years. The one that I have enjoyed tackling every year has been to make a handcrafted ornament. I try hard to make one for everyone in the family, but as my extended family has grown by quite a bit over the last several years, I have settled on just giving out one per family. This year I have decided to make a hand-painted Santa Ornament out of light bulbs.

My son started Cub Scouts this year, and we have had some activities that have involved recycling. So what better way to continue a valuable lesson then to recycle an old lightbulb? you can collect them throughout the year, and paint them anytime the mood strikes you and with crafting supplies you have around the house.I had allot of fun searching the internet for the perfect light bulb ornament to make this year, and thought this would be a great opportunity to show you a few of the ideas I have found and hope that it will inspire you to start your own

Christmas Tradition.

This is a photo from the website I got the idea from, and not an actual photo of the finished design that I created. I changed the hat on Santa from Green to Red, and used less brown for the rim of the hat. The green hat reminded me more of a Garden Gnome, then Santa.

You can find the instructions at:

http://www.your-decorative-painting-resource.com/painted-light-bulb.html

This is the finished ornament that I painted and changed to my preferences. I think it turned out cute! After I painted the light bulb the way I wanted it, I took it a step further and added a hat!

This is another variation on the painted light bulb that I thought was cute, and would be easy to make especially if you have to make several of them in a pinch. The instructions can be found at:
http://www.betterbudgeting.com/christmasornaments/reindeerlightbulbs.htm

I decided to make some of the reindeer ornaments as well and came up with these! My husband was so great, he helped me make bows for them as well.

If you are in search of an easier Santa to paint with your kids here is a cute variation that the kiddos will be able to handle with little trouble.

The instructions and materials list can be found at:

http://crafts.kaboose.com/light-bulb-santa.html

There are so many designs on the internet to choose from but the last one I wanted to share is a Snowman. I think this one is absolutely adorable and if I hadn't waited until the last minute I would have made a few up for myself. I might just give it a try after Christmas for next year. It never hurts to get a jump start on crafts!

http://www.familycorner.com/homegarden/crafts/lightbulb_snowman.html

If you have any painted lightbulb projects that you have created that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you!Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!