Today, I’m joining 30+ bloggers for a fun Handmade Christmas Ornament Blog Hop.  I love to be crafty at Christmas, so I jumped at the opportunity to participate.  I’m just in awe of all of the creativity.

I have difficulty throwing away Christmas cards when I receive them, so I have quite a stash.  I did pare it down a little bit last year, but I still had plenty.  I figured some day I would do something with them.  The day finally came after I got a whole container of popsicle sticks at a yard sale.  The lady was moving and had many crafting supplies, so once I showed interest in any of them, she was offering them all to me.  I actually didn’t take all of the popsicle sticks, but it was still plenty.

I know pallets and anything you make out of them are quite trendy, and I don’t normally follow trends, but it did inspire these mini pallet ornaments.

I started by cutting the cards I selected down to show only the image I wanted to feature.

Then, I began gluing together the popsicle sticks; I used my craft glue.  I only made two sizes because I was trying to simplify.  The only glue I used was on the sticks I glued to the back to hold everything in place.  For the smaller size, I had to break a popsicle stick so that I could secure more area of the back.

I let the glue dry, and then I chose to stain some of the sticks.  I had these Minwax Wood Finishing cloths in my supplies…it was free swag from Haven.  Staining the sticks could not have been easier.  I put on gloves and just used one cloth and wiped one coat over the front and edges of the popsicle sticks.

For the remaining sticks, I used my craft acrylic paint to paint them a few different colors.  I chose my colors to coordinate with the cards I had picked out.

To attached the Christmas cards, I used my matte Mod Podge and also coated the card with a layer of Mod Podge.  I’ll give you two notes from my mistakes:  I put on too much Mod Podge as my topcoat for some of them.  And, don’t get the Mod Podge on the sticks.  The snowman one in the bottom left shows I was too messy and after it dried you can see the Mod Podge on the sticks and it looks bad.  On the other ones I had wiped off the excess with a paper towel, which worked great.

After the ornaments dried I attached a piece of jute twine or metallic cord to the back and hung them on the tree.

I really love how they turned out.  Each one is now a memory of the card and the friends or family who sent it to me.

And, this is just the life of a blogger…..I had to share because it is so much of reality.  I had my mini tree sitting by the door to the patio to get natural light and Puddy always has to check out what I’m doing.  He’s too cute not to share! 🙂

Do you keep the Christmas cards you receive?

Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers for more ornament inspiration!  Click on the links below to be taken to their site.

Thank you to The Girl Creative for coordinating all of the bloggers to provide such great ornament inspiration!

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