Gourd Ornaments

Christmas is just around the corner and it sure snuck up on me fast this year!
I wanted to make some ornaments, but wanted to try something "new" so I decided to give gourd crafting a shot.

In October we took the Grandgirls to the Pumpkin Patch and I purchased some dried gourds and couldn't wait to make something with them, so when I realized the "No Ugly Ornament" series was coming up, I knew it would be a perfect time to "experiment" with my new craft materials!

I started out by cleaning the gourds, as the one's I purchased from the local farmer had been dried, but not cleaned. Some places sell cleaned gourds, but you will most likely pay more money for them and it's really pretty easy to clean them yourself if you have time.

I won't repeat the entire cleaning process here, but instead I will direct you to two of the sources I used to guide me, since this was my first time using gourds.

I watched this video on YouTube which was very informative and helpful:

I also visited this webpage on cleaning gourds: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-clean-a-hardshell-gourd/

Once the gourds were clean and dried it was time to get busy!

At first, I wasn't sure how I wanted to decorate them, but I knew most likely they would need to be "primed" in some way, so I painted them with some white acrylic paint (2-3 coats).

I decided to try a few different techniques since I had several gourds.

For this series I decided to make a Bejeweled "Blinged-Out" Ornament and a Hand Drawn Mosiac design ornament.

Here are the supplies I used for this project:

Materials/Tools List:

Sanding Pads (Coarse, Fine)

Delta Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint (White)

Paint Brush

Bic Mark-it Ultra-Fine Permanent Markers

Sharpie Ultra-Fine Permanent Markers

in Bloom by Bead Design, Faceted Faux Gems, Assorted 

One Button (from misc. stock on hand) - (for Hanger atop gourd)

Aleene's Tacky Glue

E6000 Adhesive

Krylon Workable Fixatif 1306

I used the fixative spray (not shown in photo) on the mosiac gourd, to keep the colors from smearing when the ornament is handled.

(This also helps if you are going to add lacquer, mod podge or other decorative coating to the surface, as some of these coatings will make the color from the ink pens run and a very light spray of fixative will help prevent this problem)

Be sure to stop by and visit all my crafty friends who are part of this great series hosted by my friend Erin at My Very Educated Mother.

I know you'll have fun and be inspired!

Paper Medallion Ornaments

Today I'm happy to introduce my first ever Guest Poster! 

Please welcome Erin, from My Very Educated Mother. 
She has an easy yet elegant ornament tutorial for you today. Enjoy! - Lisa 

Hi, I’m Erin and I blog over at My Very Educated Mother.  The number one question I always get is, what’s with the name?  Well, it’s actually part of a mnemonic device used to memorize the planets in order from the sun.  When I started my blog, I was a stay-at-home mom still making payments on my student loans and therefore feeling like a ‘very educated mother,’ so the name stuck. 

This month a number of crafty bloggers, like Lisa, have been sharing ornament tutorials as a part of my No Ugly Ornament Series.  You’ll have to stop by to see how we came up with that name, but in the meantime I’d love to share with you one of the most basic yet versatile ornaments you can make at home without spending a dime!

Paper Medallions

Supplies

• any cupcake liners, we used the silver ones 
• book pages (cut into 1.5 to 3 inch squares, 4 square per medallion)
• glue
• thread or thin ribbon , we used elastic thread

Directions

Start off by flattening out two cupcake liners and then fringe their edges. Cut a piece of thread about 6 inches long, this will be your string to hang the ornament.  Sandwich the two cut ends of the thread between the liners before you glue them together.


While that dries get busy with some accordion folding!  Seriously, I’m not one big on tools but Martha has a folding one that makes this step really easy and much faster.  I’m using it in the picture below.


The number of accordion folded sheets you need depends on how you want your medallion to look, I used four sheets that were glued together with a hot glue gun.  If you use Elmer’s on these you’ll end up with more folds sticking together than you might have intended.  Trust me.


And there you have it, paper medallions…or whatever you want to call them! :)



I want to thank Lisa for letting me visit with you guys and I’d love for you to stop by and visit my blog, or you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Happy Holidays!

This post/project is linked-up to the following sites/link-up parties: