Some of my favorite and easy DIY Christmas ornaments as well as unique ways to display them in your home for the holiday season🎄

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You know I love a good craft, and I especially love to make handmade Christmas ornaments! Now, I know your tree is up already, so why am I sharing an ornament craft so close to Christmas?

Well, if you're like me, you plan to hit a few after-Christmas sales! I want you to have these ornament ideas in the back of your head as you shop because buying craft supplies on Christmas clearance is the BEST way to do it!

Favorite DIY Christmas ornaments

Blue and White Decoupage Napkin Ornaments

Recycle old Ornaments with Paint

Frosted Pine Cone Ornaments

Crochet Ornament

I've had this DIY ornament pinned for awhile, and finally got around to making them this year! Here's the thing: you do NOT need to know how to crochet in order to make this ornament! I promise!

I followed this tutorial to learn how to crochet a chain, and it is very easy and goes very fast once you get the hang of it! All you need is this cotton macrame cord and a this crochet hook. These ornaments are stunning! I used this same technique to make crochet pumpkins and they turned out so cute!

How to make it: You simply crochet a long chain and then hot glue it around an ornament. My favorite thing, aside from how cute it is (doesn't it look like a handmade cotton sweater?) is that it makes the perfect disguise for an ornament you don't love anymore! Maybe it's the color or design that no longer works, but rather than get rid of it, cover it with a crochet chain and you'll have a brand 'new' ornament!

Clay Ornaments

I purchased this air dry clay this year, and made a bunch of ornaments, gift tags, and even decor!

How to make it: If you can roll out cookies, you can make these ornaments! Once I cut out the shapes, I used this set of alphabet stamps to stamp words, initials and our names into these handmade ornaments. I also made sure to create a hole to hang them up, just using a wood skewer.

The clay ornaments take 2 days to fully dry, and then you can hang them up or paint them with acrylic paint and add a high gloss glaze like this one for a really shiny look. Below is a plain one (house) and a painted and glazed one (red star) so you can see the different looks you can create.

Wood Bead and Clay Ornaments

I love these natural wood bead drop ornaments, and I added some clay tags to some for a different look. This is one ornament that works with all decor styles because it's so neutral and I love how it pops against the green tree!

How to make it: Simply string wood beads in different sizes onto jute cord and tie knots at the end! It is so simple! Watch me make these ornaments here!

Embroidery Hoop Ornaments

Here is another ornament that is easy to make and makes a big statement on your tree. I made these several years ago, but they have held up really well. I like using more than one ribbon because it really highlights the weave, and a special ribbon (like this red velvet ribbon), but you can do whatever you want. You can even forego the ribbon and just use strips of fabric.

How to make it: Separate a wood embroidery hoop into two pieces. Lay strips of ribbon across in an over/under woven pattern and secure with a dab of hot glue. Reattach the hoop. Here is a great tutorial if you need more directions for making embroidery hoop ornaments.

DIY Sign Ornaments

One of the things I'm known for around Christmas is hanging signs on my trees! A sign is the perfect way to fill a bare spot on your tree, and I love using a variety of sizes of ornaments to keep it interesting. 

I made jumbo Dollar Store Shiplap Ornaments a couple years ago, as well as Thrifty Farmhouse Sign Ornaments using leftover wood flooring. These arrow signs never got their own blog post, but I promise they're super easy to make.

How to make it: I love shopping the wedding section of the craft store when everything is 50% off! These white arrow signs were so cheap, and all I did was add a festive design using Chalk Couture products. You could easily cut out a design using a Silhouette machine, or paint a design using a holiday stencil.

Snowball Ornaments

Here are some fun ornaments to make with your kids! I grew up in Canada, with snow every winter, so now that I live in sunny, hot Texas I find myself missing snow...and snowballs! A few years ago I decided to create my own snowball ornaments to hang on the tree, and they've held up beautifully!

These DIY snowballs also make excellent bowl or lantern filler.

How to make it: White ornaments work best for this project. Generously brush ornaments with craft glue (like Elmers or Mod Podge) and then roll ornaments in a shallow bowl filled with Epsom salts and hang to dry. That's it. So easy!

Black Ornaments with Gold Dots

I had been wanting to make some black ornaments this year and love how they turned out! Super easy to make, the hardest part is waiting for the glue to dry! The gold dots are created with a circle punch and glitter gold vinyl.

How to make it: Squirt a little metallic black paint into a clear glass ornament, along with a smidge of rubbing alcohol ( you can read WHY here). You shake it until the ornament is covered, then let it dry. Spray ornament tops with gold paint and punch out the circles and stick them randomly around the ornament. So easy!

The black ornaments look absolutely stunning paired with rose gold mercury glass. You can see more of this tree and my vintage inspired Christmas sitting room here.

Faux Shiny Brite Mercury Glass Ornaments

I was inspired to make vintage lightbulb ornaments after watching this tutorial . I used bright metallic paints that remind me of vintage Shiny Brite ornaments.

How to make it: The concept is the same as the black ornaments. Paint goes inside a clear glass ornament and is shaken around. This one uses Looking Glass spray paint as well, to give that vintage mercury glass look.

They pair really well with these reproduction Shiny Brites.

Ornament nativity

I loved crafting this DIY ornament nativity on a canvas this year! But how cute would these ornaments be on a miniature tree? I just love that idea!

Sharpie Ornaments

Here's another ornament idea that's great to do with kids! Draw shapes onto white ornaments with different colored Sharpies. The marker dries quickly so your hand stays clean. I made several blue and white Sharpie ornaments for my French Farmhouse Christmas Tree a couple years ago.

And here's a red version. The beauty of these DIY ornaments is that they don't have to be perfect to be beautiful!

Ornament Garland

Why limit ornaments to just Christmas trees? Add your favorites to a glass or rustic wood bowl on the coffee table so you can enjoy them. Or why not hang them on a garland of ribbon like I did here?


Here's another way I displayed an ornament garland in my dining room. I knotted ribbon to keep the ornaments separated and hung them from a shutter.