Welcome to 7 Days of DIY Ornaments! Today? We’re making DIY painted Christmas ornaments!

7 Days of Christmas Ornaments is exactly what it sounds like – every day for the next seven days, I’m going to be sharing a DIY Christmas ornament idea with you. They’ll be a simple, affordable ideas that any one can do, and they’re all great for both kids and adults!

Today, we are kicking things off with a really common but so fun DIY ornament idea – painted Christmas ornaments! We’re doing a simple paint swirl method that anyone can do.

If you’ve ever looked at any crafty blog this time of year, you’ve probably seen this ornament idea before. But, it’s popular because it’s good – and so easy!

Let’s do it, shall we?

Collage of DIY painted ornaments with a paint swirl treatment

DIY Painted Christmas Ornaments

You’ll need…

  • Plastic ball ornaments (Be sure to get the type you fill from the top, not the type that open by pulling them apart!)
  • Paint (see note below)

And honestly, that’s it! We also covered our table with a bit of kraft paper (we always keep a roll on hand because it’s perfect for stuff like this!), but you could also do it outside or just lay down an old towel.

This one couldn’t be a better first craft for 7 Days of DIY Ornaments because it only takes a few minutes to do and it’s so dang satisfying!

Here’s how it’s done:

Step 1: Choose Your Colors

A clear plastic ornament laying next. to three acrylic craft paint jars

Start by choosing 2-3 colors for your ornament. You can, of course, choose to do more but we found that if you mix too many colors, they can start to get mixed and a little muddy. Things looked best for our ornaments when we stuck to no more than two or three coordinating colors for the ornaments.

An obvious choice for any tree is to mix red, green, and white. But, the kids loved doing some more non-traditional colors, and it was fun to see what their creations turned out looking like!

Here’s a rundown of what we each did:

  • I did white, cream, and tan
  • Corey did red, green, and white
  • Jackson did shades of teal/blue
  • Grant did two shades of pink, and a blue

We loved watching the colors blend together to create new ones, and we all agreed that the ones where we blended similar colors or colors that mix to make another color worked best.

I’ll note that we used acrylic craft paint and noticed that on my son’s tree (where the lights are on 24/7 this time of year), the paint started to melt over time from the heat of the lights. Knowing this, I’d probably grab some samples of latex paint instead next time!

Step 2: Squeeze About 1 teaspoon of color into your ornament

Start off by giving a good squeeze of your first color directly into the opening of your ornament. Try not to squirt it all onto one spot – go slowly and rotate the ornament around a bit so that it doesn’t land in one big pool of paint.

After you’ve got the paint in there, swirl and twirl your ornament around to move the paint onto the sides of the ornament. You can play around with how different movements affect the paint differently – try swirling and shaking and rattling them around to see what method you like best!

Be sure not to spread it so thin that the entire inside of the ornament is covered. You want to leave some blank space for your other colors!

Step 3: Add other colors

two side by side images of young kids making DIY painted ornaments

Now, add in your other colors one at a time and repeat the process!

You’ll want to keep working until the entire inside of the ornament has been coated and you can’t see any clear space anymore. This is what makes it look really fancy and marbled!

I didn’t have any metallic craft paint, but if you do that would be a really fun addition – how pretty would a simple white and gold paint swirl ornament be?!

Step 4: Allow to dry, then hang

Grab an empty plastic cup or another container you don’t mind getting paint on, and rest the ornaments upside-down on it so any excess paint can drip out. I recommend leaving it like that for at least 24 hours before you try to hang the ornaments, to be sure it’s fully dry!

Once your painted Christmas ornaments have fully dried, they’re ready to go on the tree! Just add a little hook, or a pretty piece of ribbon to them and string them up on the tree.

close up of marbled painted christmas ornament

I mean, who wouldn’t want these cuties on their tree!

Stay tuned tomorrow for another DIY Christmas ornament idea. And the next day, and the next day!

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