Rhinestone Ornaments

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Now that it’s time to take down the fall decorations and start getting ready for Christmas, I thought I’d do a post on these bow and rhinestone ornaments. Making ornaments is one of my favorite crafts to do during the holidays, and they also make great gifts. I’ve noticed people really appreciate when you take the time to make them things by hand yourself. It shows you put some time and care into the gift.

These rhinestone ornaments are super cute, easy to make, and could be a great stocking stuffer or small gift for anybody you know! Below I will show you how to make these ornaments in just five easy steps, the items you will need to make them, and where you can get the items.

What you need:

• Foam Balls
• Rhinestones
• Small Bows (optional)
• Glue/Adhesive
• Paint Brush
• Sewing Pins
• String

The items that I used can all be purchased on amazon. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases of the products that are linked below.)

For my ornaments I used smooth foam balls that can be purchased in packs of 12 on Amazon here ($6.06). Using smooth styrofoam balls instead of the rough ones helps when you’re gluing on objects like the rhinestones.

Any rhinestones would do really, I used a mixture of clear and green from two variety sets of rhinestones. The clear rhinestones come in a pack of various sizes that can be purchased on Amazon here ($16.12). Unfortunately, I could only find the green rhinestones at Michaels, they can be purchased here (No longer available). Amazon does have them in a variety of other colors though, they can be purchased here (No longer available).

The little white bows I used can be purchased on Amazon here (No longer available). These are totally optional, but I feel they add a nice touch.

For the adhesive, I used Golden Gel Mediums Heavy Gel Gloss that I got for an art class I took awhile back. It can be purchased on Amazon here ($12.79). I imagine Mod Podge would work similarly, but I didn’t have any when I started these ornaments.

For these ornaments I used two different types of pins. The first type that I used are white ball head pins that can be purchased on Amazon in packs of 250 here ($7.19). I use them to pin on the string that will be used to hang the ornament. The second type are regular silver pins to pin on the bows. They can also be purchased on Amazon in packs of 750 here ($6.11).

Really any string will do. I used some white string that I had lying around, but have also used thin hemp string that looked great with more natural-looking ornaments that I made in the past.

Step 1: Cut off about 6-8″ of string, put the string on the ball head pin and dip the end of the pin in the adhesive. The adhesive helps the pin hold the weight of the ornament and remain inside the ball when you hang it on the tree.

Step 2: Insert the pin into the foam ball.

Step 3: Glue on the rhinestones. This is the easy part, and here you can decide how you want your colors spread out. To glue the rhinestones, I put a little dab of glue down with the paint brush, then push the rhinestone on top of the glue. Eventually you’ll have the whole foam ball covered. I try to let the rhinestones dry for a couple hours before adding the bows, but you can probably do it now if you’re careful.

Step 4: {Optional} Insert a small silver pin into your bow. I try to shove them in behind one of the flaps of the bow so that you don’t see the head of the pin. There’s a photo below to explain what I mean. Then insert them wherever you’d like! I put four bows on mine.

Step 5: Now all thats left is to tie off the string of the ornament! The reason why I suggested at least 6-8″ of string is to save you enough room to easily make a bow or knot to tie off the string. I typically do a bow, then add the adhesive to the knot of the bow to ensure the bow can’t come untied.

Pretty easy and straightforward! I think the most useful tips are knowing the spots that could use adhesive in order to make a strong and sturdy ornament, like the adhesive on the bow above. There are so many ideas for making your own ornaments, I’m sure I will be posting more in the future! Happy holidays! 🎊