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Easy DIY Christmas Ornaments The Kids Can Make for the Holidays

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November 24, 2014 By Rebecca D. Dillon

Your family will love this easy Christmas decor idea for the holiday season. Learn how to craft these easy DIY Christmas ornaments with your kids for holiday inspired DIY Christmas decor this winter.

These easy DIY Christmas ornaments are made from shrink plastic Shrinky Dink paper. Not only will these ornaments look great on your Christmas tree, they make fun necklaces for kids to wear! Or give them as DIY holiday gifts for family and friends.

Fun DIY Christmas Ornaments for Kids

If you’re looking for fun winter activities for your kids for Christmas, then be sure to try this shrink plastic craft idea. It’s so easy to make DIY Christmas tree ornaments to decorate your Christmas tree for the holiday season with these fun homemade ornaments. Kids of every age – and adults too! – will love this winter holiday craft.

Learn how to make these easy DIY Christmas ornaments using Shrinky Dink Shrinkable Plastic to decorate your tree or wear as a necklace to get into the holiday spirit. You’ll find the tutorial for this Christmas decor idea below along with a free printable pattern to make your own Christmas tree ornaments for the holidays!

Easy DIY Christmas Ornaments

What you’ll need:

Rough & Ready Shrinky Dinks Shrinkable Plastic
embroidery floss
kraft paper or parchment paper
cookie sheet or baking pan
markers and/or paint pens
colored pencils
hole punch
copy paper, optional
scissors

Instructions:

Begin by drawing out the Christmas tree shapes onto a plain sheet of copy paper until you get a design you like. Alternately you can search for Christmas tree clip art online. I drew all of my Christmas tree shapes free hand.

You’ll want your trees to take up anywhere from half to three-quarters of the page.

Now place one sheet of Shrinky Dink plastic on top of your design with the rough side up. Trace the outline of the tree with a marker.

Now use markers or colored pencils to color in the trees. I used Prismacolor Colored Pencils for their bold pigments and ability to blend easily. If you like you can use gold and silver paint pens to add accents to your trees once they are colored.

Now use a pair of scissors to cut out the Christmas tree shapes. Punch holes in the top of each tree using a hole punch, then place the shapes rough/colored side up on a baking or cookie sheet on top of either Kraft paper or parchment paper. Place in a preheated 350°F oven for approximately 3-3 1/2 minutes or until the trees have completely shrunk.

If your trees start to curl while in the oven, use a spatula to flatten them back out as they shrink.

Now remove your Christmas tree ornaments from the oven and allow to cool. Remove them from the baking sheet then thread embroidery floss through the holes at the top. Use shorter pieces of floss for ornaments or longer pieces of embroidery floss for Christmas necklaces. Alternately you could also use these as gift tags for your homemade Christmas gifts.

Now all that’s left is to enjoy your new creations!

If you enjoyed making these easy DIY Christmas ornaments using shrink plastic, then be sure to try my DIY alcohol ink Christmas ornaments. Another fun family activity for the winter holiday season, these DIY Christmas ornaments are quick, fun and easy to make. You can find the tutorial along with video instruction at Soap Deli News blog here.

For more easy DIY Christmas ornaments and ideas for your Christmas tree this holiday season, be sure to check out and DIY Christmas tree ornaments & inspiration Pinterest board. You can also follow my other Pinterest boards for homemade Christmas gift ideas as well as bath and beauty recipes and more.

For more seasonally inspired holiday ideas, be sure to follow Soap Deli News blog on Blog Lovin’, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Or sign up to receive my newsletter.

Filed Under: DIY Craft Project, Holiday DIY Tagged With: christmas, Christmas ornament, craft project, crafts, diy, easy, holidays, kids, kids project, shrinky dink

DIY Herb Markers or Garden Stakes for Summer Fun Gardening

May 15, 2012 By Rebecca D. Dillon

Now that the threat of frost is finally over here in Southwestern Virginia, I can start some serious outdoor planting. For marking my rows of vegetables and herbs, I thought it’d be fun to craft my own DIY Herb Markers. Not only are these garden plant or row markers easy to craft, but they also make a great kids’ project! Make some for yourself or as a gift for mom tucked inside a pot of herbs for Mother’s Day or her birthday. Or bundle some together for Dad on Father’s Day as a gift to line his garden rows! They also make great party favors or gifts for your favorite gardeners!

This project is relatively simple and isn’t very time consuming. You will need a few supplies for this project though.

Here’s what you need:

Frosted Ruff & Ready Shrinky Dink Paper

Colored Pencils

Permanent Black Marker

Herb Marker Template

Imagination

Oven

Brown Paper

Cookie Sheet

Scissors

Clear Acrylic Spray, Optional

Here’s what you do:

1. Print out the provided herb garden marker template. Place a blank page of your Shrinky Dink paper on top of the template, rough side up.

2. Trace the template with a permanent black marker onto your Shrinky Dink plastic.

3. Color in your garden marker as desired with colored pencils. The darker you color, the more vibrant your finished herb marker will be. (My favorite pencils to use are PrismaColor Pencilsfor their rich, bold and blend-able color.

4. Once you’ve colored in your garden stakes to your liking, cut them out along the outer edge. Then place on brown paper on a cookie sheet.

5. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 minutes and remove from the oven.

6. Allow your shrunk herb marker to cool for a minute or two then remove from the cookie sheet.

7. If desired, you may spray your finished piece with a clear acrylic spray for extra protection.

8. Place your completed herb marker in a pot to mark your plant or in your garden to mark your rows.

For more fun DIY shrinky dink projects, be sure to check out the blog post, DIY Shrinky Dink Magnets – Great Weekend Kids’ Craft Project.

Do you garden? If so, what types of thing have you used to mark your plants or garden rows?

Filed Under: DIY Craft Project, Gardening Tagged With: craft project, crafts, diy, Father's Day gift, favors, garden, garden marker, garden stake, gardening, gift ideas, herb marker, kids project, Mother's Day gifts, shrink plastic, shrinky dink, tutorial

DIY Shrinky Dinks Magnets – Great Rainy Day Weekend Kids’ Craft Project

April 16, 2012 By Rebecca D. Dillon

I was recently inspired by some lovely, handmade shrink film jewelry I discovered through Painting Bliss blog. It in turn led to my son and I crafting our own DIY shrinky dinks magnets for the fridge!

Ashlie Blake, author of Painting Bliss blog (since defunct) is also the designer behind the lovely necklace pictured above. She makes a variety of beautiful, shrink film necklaces and earrings that I have just fallen in love with. I am really hoping she decides to put these beauties up for sale in her Etsy shop.

Easy DIY Shrinky Dinks Magnets! A simple fun rainy day kids craft project. Learn how to craft your own DIY shrinky dinks magnets to decorate your fridge! This is a great kids craft project and it's perfect for a rainy weekend!

In the meantime, I was so inspired by Ashlie’s work, I decided to pull out some shrinky dinks paper I have had stashed away and give my son a little weekend project. He used this concept to make me some new refrigerator magnets.

Because I love dragonflies, he made me a dragonfly in a jar magnet. (He also crafted a butterfly magnet for my fridge and a bracelet for his girlfriend by punching holes in the shrinky dinks paper before shrinking then stringing together on string.)

If you were a child of the 80s then you may remember just how awesome shrinky dinks were. Well, they still are. Except rather than coloring in pre-printed designs, now you get to design your own!

This is a terrific kids project and adults love making shrinky dinks too! There are so many applications from jewelry and magnets to mobiles and herb markers!

DIY Shrinky Dinks Magnets

Here’s what you need:

Frosted Ruff & Ready Shrinky Dinks Paper
Colored Pencils
Imagination
Oven
Brown Paper
Cookie Sheet
Scissors
E6000 Glue
Rare Earth Magnets

Here’s what you do:

1. Either trace an image you like or design your own image and draw it onto the rough side of a shrinky dinks plastic sheet using colored pencils. Regular colored pencils work fine, but if you want a really rich color, opt for PrismaColor pencils. They’re pricey, but they’re good!

2. Color your image in completely. Don’t be afraid to press hard. The richer the color on the plastic, the more vivid your final piece. You can outline the edges with a permanent black marker for a bolder look if you like.

3. Cut your image out of the shrinky dinks plastic with scissors.

4. Place the shrinky dinks image on brown paper – I used a brown paper bag – on a cookie sheet.

5. Bake the shrinky dinks in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-3 minutes. If the edges curl badly, you can quickly flatten them down with a spatula or chopstick.

6. Remove your shrunken art from the oven and allow to cool for a minute. Then remove your shrinky dinks from the paper and pan.

7. To turn your shrink dinks into DIY shrinky dinks magnets, simply glue a rare earth magnet onto the back with some E6000 glue. Allow to dry.

8. Then stick your new DIY shrinky dinks magnets on the fridge or other magnetic surface to enjoy! These are not only fun for everyday, but also make great gifts from the kids for Mother’s Day!

For more kids craft projects and ideas, be sure to check out my Kids Craft Projects board on Pinterest.

Filed Under: DIY Craft Project, Fashion & Accessories DIY, Homemade Gift Ideas Tagged With: craft project, crafts, diy, how to, kids, kids project, magnet, shrink plastic, shrinky dink, tutorial