DIY Rustic Yulemas Tree Ornaments

My first ever DIY ornaments!

The day after Halloween, Andrew and I went Yulemas shopping.

I know. I am now that person.

I just couldn't resist, there were these gorgeous, rustic, woodland type ornaments... and I fell in love... so we bought four. Sigh. I will admit that I am a sucker for fancy, coordinated Yulemas trees. I love the organized pretty, the match-y colours or themes. It's awful, I know.

I've also grown up watching my mom slowly amass a few ornaments a year for her tree- since the really nice ones are so darn expensive. So... I could just do that.

OR- as my bestie Heather pointed out, I could just make my own!!!

I then spent HOURS on pinterest, came up with some ideas, fabricated a reason to go to Michael's and OH: how convenient, all the Christmas stuff is 50% including clear glass ornaments?? PERFECT.

Tonight I finished my first six and I will say that a) it wasn't as easy as I had hoped and b) they don't look AS classy as the ones I bought at Thornbloom. Still... I like them!

So I thought I'd share here what I did and what I learned:

Lessons:

1. Reusing styrofoam that came in moving stuff as "snow" might *seem* like a good idea... but the end result is just an ornament with styrofoam balls inside. You aren't fooling anyone.
2. Glitter literally gets everywhere. You have been warned.
3. A funnel is your best friend.
4. You can't shred paper in tiny, perfect, "snow" pieces using a nutmeg grater. That just results in paper dust that you will need to sweep. Actually, it is basically impossible to do anyway, so let that dream go.
5. Shaking the ornament to distribute the epsom "snow" salts is a BAD idea.

First step- branches!

For these ornaments I used weeping birch branches I had cut for my Halloween branch drink tag tree. It's important that you choose a type of tree that is bendy and won't easily snap. I pre-bent them carefully to make sure that any "break-y" pieces would snap pre-ornament insertion and so I could get a cool spiral look. I also tried to choose pieces that had some interesting aspects like a few extra branches or buds.

Styrofoam as "snow" looks exactly like styrofoam as snow... #snowfail

I decided on epsom salts for my fake snow- but seriously, don't shake them! I'm now super paranoid that they will get shaken and look all cloudy.... If anyone has a way to shred paper into tiny bits, please let me know! #Ineedpapersnow

(don't shake the ornament! this one is my winner, I will hide the cloudy one on the side of the tree... in it's cloudy shame)

I also had some little fake berries that had fallen off another decoration that I used to drop into the snow+branch themed ones which I thought looked super cute!

ouuuu glitter!

Originally I had glitter remorse when I realized that the glitter I had purchased was the larger flakes... except for these ornaments they are perfect! The glitter tends to stick very well with a little shake and remind me of a more modern type style. 

There you have it! I also have more of larger styles that I plan on trying terrariums in at least a few... we'll see how that goes!

All six in their disgusting plastic tray! Although- a handy place for storage after the holiday season...