Crossing the Line: DIY Line Drawing Ornaments

Every year, Jeff and I get a few new ornaments for our tree and add them to the collection we’ve been working on since we got together (plus a handful of ornaments from my childhood and his).

I love the tradition of adding a couple of new ones each year.

The only downside is, that year after year, our tree ends up looking really, really similar to the year before…because we use the same ornaments every year.

As much as I love that, and still plan to use some of the ornaments that we’ve had forever on the tree, I wanted to make some DIY batch ornaments to fill in for a new look.

And today is the first one those ornaments! Click through to see how to make these DIY line drawing ornaments.

I asked Cori to work on these because she has the whole line drawing / face thing down to a science at this point.

BUT if you need a bit of help in this department, you can download the face design from my tutorial on how to embroider and use it as a guide.

Materials for Line Drawing Ornaments

• clear plastic ornaments (would not recommend glass)
• acrylic paint
• matte medium (to thin out the paint)
• plastic spoon (or similar – something for mixing)
• disposable cups or small containers (for mixing paint)
• paint marker (we used this one)
• old newspaper or cardboard

How to Make Hand Drawn Ornaments

1. Start by setting out old newspaper or cardboard to protect surfaces underneath.

This project is a little messy and paint WILL drip onto the cardboard or paper, so keep that in mind when layering.

2. Then, once you’ve settled on a color scheme, it’s time to mix up your paints.

Add matte medium to acrylic paint until it becomes a consistency that moves around easily (best way I can describe it would pancake batter consistency or maybe a little thicker).

If your paint already has that consistency, you do not need to add matte medium.

3. Next, remove the metal ornament topper from each ornament and pour paint mixture into each ornament.

The amount of paint you’ll need will vary based on the size of your ornaments.

Start moving the ornament around so that the paint sticks to the surface all the way around, covering the inside entirely.

*If you want to create a two-toned look like some of the ornaments in the photo, wait for the first layer of paint to dry fully.

Then add a new color the same way you did the first.

4. Flip the ornaments over on stacked newspaper or cardboard so that the remaining paint can empty out.

After a few minutes, you can pick them up and lightly tap them to get the reading paint out.

And then let them dry, on their sides, so that air can get in and dry out the inside.

5. Once completely dry on the inside, you can put the metal tops back on.

Then, use a paint marker to create doodle faces on each ornament.

Let dry completely before using.

I found a chrome paint marker that is THE best paint marker I’ve ever used for silver / metallic paint. It really does look like chrome. It’s this one from Amazon.

Note: To make things even easier, you could skip steps 1-4 and use ornaments that are already a solid color.

Here’s a list of those on Amazon.

Drawings by Cori Maass // Photos + Styling Brittni Mehlhoff

Where do you stand on the ornaments thing?

Do you get new ornaments every year or keep the tree the same year after year?!

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