by Erika Mourar

Created on: December 09, 2007

Making Christmas tree ornaments is a great way to get the family together in a creative activity. Besides beautiful decorations full of sentimental value you will have time to find out about wishes, dreams and expectations of the holiday season. The more members of the family get involved the more the creations will mean to you in years to come. While you are at it, why not make a few extra as party favors, presents or to attach to presents instead of bows.

It's critical to find a project that is age and skill appropriate, fun to make and attractive. When planning leave some room for the imagination. It is great to have some extra glitter, sparkles, ribbons and colored paper on hand. Don't limit yourself to the traditional Christmas colors, especially children sometimes have different ideas about style and you want them to enjoy the task at hand.

Always make one sample before you prepare all ornaments to be made. Do this a few days before the planned crafting session. This will allow you to work out kinks, purchase extra material needed and test if your proposed craft is even feasible to make. You can make last minute adjustments in size, color or style as well.

One of the most traditional ornaments are straw stars. They are pretty, easy to make and match any color of decoration you may already have. All you need are scissors, paper, glue, string and some straw. Cut little stars out of the paper which will hide the glue and make it easier for little fingers to accomplish a clean looking craft. Paste some glue on a star and lay straw across it to form a star. Also glue a loop of string to the star. Finish it by gluing the other star on the other side so it looks symmetrical. The stars can be left blank, be colored or adorned with glitter. To be truly traditional omit the paper and glue, lay the straw out as stars and bind them in place with red string. This looks really nice but is a bit tricky.

One of the fastest to make ornaments are spray painted works of art. Gather some holly, poinsettias or pine cones. Spray paint them snowy white, silver, gold or bronze. You can give it more sparkle by adding a coat of glitter spray if you like. After drying tie a ribbon and attach a loop for hanging. Make sure you spray paint outside or in a well ventilated area and cover anything that you don't want sprayed. Wear old clothing as spray paint can splatter quite a distance and always finds the most inopportune place to land. These make great additions for a festive table center

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