First Christmas Ornament

I've been to a ton of craft fairs this year looking for the perfect 1st Christmas ornament for Dax, unfortunately it seems the art of crafting is something we only "Pin" not actually do. There were several places where they would write on a mass produced ornament but I was looking for something truly special. After alot of hours on the internet looking for the perfect ornament I realized I wanted a combination of several ideas I had seen and no one was really making them. (The reality is I'm a little picky.) So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

The ornament had to meet the following critera...

1. Must be plastic

I have a small child about to crawl that thinks a christmas tree is the coolest thing since sliced bread.

2. Must be easy to customize.

I didn't want to have to buy special pens or other things to make this work.

3. Must be plastic....seriously

I have three dogs who think we put up our tree just so they can take ornaments off at night to play with.

4. Must be something I could have customized similarly year after year.

I wanted something that I could make duplicates of year after year with new things in them. Like a collection. (Told you I was picky...)

I really liked this ornament on Etsy but really couldn't justify the cost if my dogs or child decided to ruin it. I was glass too so it was sure to get broken at some point over the years... Also what if I couldn't get this again the next year from the same person or in the same size...

Not willing to compromise I started looking on the internet and found something I thought would fit my bill.
I found this site with plastic fill-able ornaments. They came in alot of different shapes and sizes but I decided on the 3 1/4" star. I ordered a dozen so I could make them for years to come.

The come in half and simply pop together making it easy to add items to the interior. You could put anything in here as long as it fits!


I then went to my computer and created the scrolls for the interior. I picked my font and color and printed them on my home printer. I used Dax's birth stats, the first Christmas date, his personality traits, our wishes for him and what we love about him.  I cut them into thin strips and rolled them around a pencil. I pulled the center of the scroll out from the bottom, this makes the little spirals inside.

I added a little bit of fine white glitter on the inside and then added just a tiny bit of hot glue around the seal where you put the ornament together to keep it from breaking apart unexpectedly. I used some of the left over ribbon from our wedding for the bow and hot glued it on.Finally I used a little more ribbon for the loop and simply tied it in a knot.

This is how it came out. Pretty cute I think and I can keep doing it for years! I really wish I could fill my tree with them right now but its nice to know I have something of a tradition started for our family Christmas  Every year when we put up our tree Dax and I will create one of these together.  Filling them with joy, wishes, and things that represent him.