*NUO Snowy Wonderland Christmas Ornament

I love the use of Epsom Salt in this ornament; I wonder what other ways I could craft with it? –Erin

Thanks so much for having me here to share this ornament I made for our tree last year. It was fun to make, and maybe one of my current favorites. I really like how painting the front and back of the ornament gives it some dimension. It's almost like you're looking across a snowy field to some trees in the distance.

Snowy Wonderland Christmas Ornament

Supplies

• Glass or plastic Christmas ornament with removable top (mine is a flat circle, but a sphere could work, too)
• Martha Stewart self-adhesive holiday stencil pack
• Paintbrushes
• Paint in the following colors:
  • Green 
  • Green glitter
  • Metallic silver
  • Red
  • Clear with white or clear glitter (like 'sugar cube' from the Martha Stewart line)
• Epsom salt
• Funnel
• Glass or craft adhesive ( I used E-6000)

How to Make It:

Obviously, not all the supplies are pictured, but this is what the stencil pack and the kind of ornaments I used to look like (in case you need them for reference when you go shopping to make your own awesome ornament!). All these supplies are available at Michael's.

Paint the Tree Line

I cleaned the ornament, so no grime would keep the stencil or paint from sticking. I took the tree line stencil of the sheet and stuck it on the back of the ornament. The baseline of the trees was about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. The self-adhesive qualities of these stencils are great. They stuck to the curved surface really nicely and kept the paint from seeping under.

I painted the trees with green satin paint and then painted over it with the green glitter paint while it was still wet. Then I peeled up the stencil and moved it over to do a second set of trees.

After I peeled off the stencil, I used my paintbrush to fill in the gaps between the groups of trees, so it was one continuous foresty line.

Paint the Front

Normal people would have waited for the back to dry first, but I'm impatient. So I just carefully held the ornament at the top and bottom so I would not smudge the paint on the back (that tissue you see is actually on the floor...it's not touching the ornament).

I took the large tree and the "Merry Christmas" stencils from the same pack and placed them on the front. The tree line you see in the picture above are trees that are actually painted on the other side of the ornament...I didn't place the big tree on top of them.

I used the same satin green and glitter paint from the previous step. Painting on glass requires a little extra paint than when you paint to paper or wood, so I made sure to use my visible brush strokes to my advantage by feathering them out in layers to make it look like layers of branches on the tree.

I peeled away the tree stencil and painted the Merry Christmas with metallic silver. Once I removed the stencil, I filled in some of the gaps with a fine paintbrush.

Once that stencil had been peeled off, I painted a thin coat of glitter paint to simulate snow (it's the "Sugar Cube" paint from Martha's glitter paint line) on the shoulders and across the back of the ornament. And by thin, I mean really thin. I dipped into the paint, wiped it off on a paper towel, and blotted any glitter that remained onto the ornament. So kind of like dry brushing. But with glitter paint.

Let it, Snow!

I carefully removed the top and used a funnel to fill the ornament with Epsom salt up to the tree line's level along the back.

Finishing Touches

Once the salt was in, I decided the front looked a little bit too plain, so I added the date freehand using a thin detail brush and red pearl paint.

And while it probably would have been fine, I was a little nervous about how much more the ornament weighed now that it was 1/3 full of salt, so I used glass and metal glue (E-6000) to glue the cap down once I reinserted the top/pin.

Pacific Northwest Winter in an Ornament!

Thanks again, Erin, for having me! I hope you guys have fun making snowy wonderland ornaments of your own.

Carissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two-year-old son, and way too many craft supplies. She blogs at Carissa's Creativity Space, where she "explains it all" about her latest craft projects, recipes, and other frugal (and often green) DIY adventures. Keep up with Carissa by following her on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest.