by Janelle Rafaele

Created on: November 17, 2009   Last Updated: November 19, 2009

This is a quick and easy craft. It doesn't take prep time and the end product is spectacular hanging on the Christmas tree. Clear glass bauble ornaments have a variety of uses, but this is my favorite. The idea is simple and has many varieties that can be used to adjust to any decor or age group. Simply fill the ornaments with paint and let dry!

To start, you will need the glass or plastic pre-made bauble ornaments that can be bought in most arts and crafts stores. These are generally sold in packages of six and cost anywhere from $3-$6. Also, paint is needed. Acrylic paint works the best, but different paints will make different texture and looks. Each ornament comes with a cap on the top of it. Remove the cap and squirt in paint. There needs to be enough paint to cover the entire inside of the bauble ornament. Use numerous colors if desired. After the paint is in the ornament, roll the ornament slowly from side to side. The paint will slowly work its way all over the inside of the ornament as you roll. After the ornament is finished replace the cap and let dry.

This is very simple and easy to do with children. My niece and nephew thought it was the neatest thing; they even wanted to watch the paint dry! I'm a big kid and I thought it was a blast, also. It is a win/win. You get to play with paint and not get dirty! I have also tried glitter in the ornaments and glass paint. The textures come out differently. Acrylic is my favorite to use, but using whatever you have around is just fine. If you put glitter in make sure that is put in first, before the paint, so it is closest to the glass. I also tried putting a string in the bauble with the end coming out of the top. I then poured the paint in and used the string as a brush to push the paint around. The colors were more mixed this way and still entertaining, but a little messier, also.

This is happy accident art. You don't know exactly what you are going to get. This is part of the fun! Sometimes the best realizations and originality comes when focus is broad. My niece used quite the color combinations and poured in oodles of paint. Her ornaments were generally one color blobs but they were still interesting. They took on a look all their own: One solid color with a thin line of pink running through the center, or a dark color covering one side and blended mixture of paint on the other half. I was a little leery about hanging her ornaments on the tree, in fear that they would bend the tree over because of their weight, but even with all the paint inside they hung just fine. No Christmas catastrophes to speak of!

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