Christmas Ornaments: Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and the Elves

This Christmas craft makes beautiful holiday ornaments that you can personalize with your child’s drawings for the facial features!  Make Santa, Mrs. Claus and some of their elves to hang on your tree.   Transform clear Christmas balls into these cute figures made with a recyclable that most of us have at home to make perfect gifts for teachers, grandparents etc.- who doesn’t like a handmade, child created ornament!?

Materials

• Clear holiday Christmas baubles (these come in both glass and plastic- chose which one is best for the age of your child)
• Paint
• Paint brush
• Egg cartons
• Scissors
• Pom poms
• Ribbon
• Paint Pens (our favourite brand is Posca)
• Needle with a large eye

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

Elves

• Carefully take the top off of your ornament and squirt in your paint to match the skin tone of your choice for Santa and your elves.  Replace the top.  Rotate the ball to get coverage of the interior of the bauble.  Leave the top off your ornament to allow for drying and then carefully put it back on.  You may need a little adult help for this.

• Cut off the peak of an egg carton.  This will make the elf’s hat!  You may need an adult’s help for this and good scissors make a significant difference.  Make sure to trim the edges and have an adult help you poke a hole in the top if there isn’t already one in your peak.  Paint this and allow it to dry.

• Out of the top/ flat portion of your egg carton, cut out a pair of elf ears, based on the size of your bauble. Paint them the same skin tone that you chose for your elf.  We did both sides.

• Draw the face of your elf with paint pens.  (Be sure to pick sides that do not have the seams of your ball)  You could always embellish this if you like with googly eyes and/or pom poms for the cheeks etc.

• Glue your ears onto the sides of your elf’s face.  We used the seams to help us figure out where to put them.

• Loop your thin ribbon or embroidery floss through the loop of your ornament, then thread it through a needle with a larger eye.  Then put this through the egg carton peak (as seen in the video), through your pom pom (you could substitute a bead if you have those on hand) and then make a knot.  Create a loop with your excess ribbon, knot it and then trim it.

Santa 

• Glue some mini pom poms around Santa’s mouth and as trim on his beard.

Mrs. Claus 

• Use the egg cup portion of the carton and paint it white.  You can use this as a hat or as bun for Mrs. Claus, trimming it with pom poms!  You could add any number of details to personalize your ornament, like our daughter did, with the earrings.  We’d love to see your variations of the ornaments- please tag us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/make_it_your_own_/

Give your ornaments to a friend or hang them on your tree!  (Be sure to write your name and the date on the bottom)

Pin this idea

Purpose

• Recognizing characters that are significant to holiday traditions.
• Re-purposing recyclables for creating.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Small items such as pom poms and beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.