Christmas is the best time of year to get out your craft supplies and just play. There are so many excuses to make things—and none better than ornaments. You can make quick and easy ones to fill up your tree with a fresh new color palette, or go slow and create special ornaments for friends and family. Looking for inspiration? Get some DIY ornament ideas from the group of Hallmark artists we turned loose in our workshop. 

DIY ORNAMENTS: WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Blank ornaments: We used matte white balls and wood rounds
• Acrylic paint in your chosen color palette
• Paint brushes
• Paint pens/markers
• Plastic paint palette (optional)
• Bakers twine (for hanging)
• Pencil (remove the cap from a ball ornament and pop it on the pencil while you paint)
• Muffin tin (for drying ball ornaments)
• Drill (if wood ornaments aren’t pre-drilled)

Pro-tip

For a collection of ornaments that holds together, limit your colors: pick three or four you love. Need inspiration? Look to your favorite holiday gift wrap or fabric.

DIY ORNAMENT IDEAS AND INSPIRATION

• Try making simple marks and patterns. (Get ideas from our designers here and here.)
• Experiment with overlapping brush strokes—just be sure to let one color dry before adding another.
• Use different brushes to make different marks. Load a small brush to make dots, or try a dry-brush technique with a wide one. Practice on paper first.
• Use markers and paint pens to create patterns over solid color ornaments.

DIY WOODEN DECORATION IDEAS AND INSPIRATION

• Choose super-simple holiday patterns, icons, and phrases to paint.
• Try a really limited palette—just one color. (See the red ones above, and the black designs below.)
• Give your paintings solid-color backgrounds that go to just inside the edge.
• Doodle. Fill in the spaces around your main subject with dots and stars and squiggles.

We’d love to see your hand-painted Christmas tree ornaments! Share your homemade ornaments and your DIY ornament ideas on Instagram at @think.make.share or on our Facebook page.

— Tobe R.