{Christmas Guest Feature} 5 DIY Christmas Ornaments by Max and Me

I came to know this special and amazing lady through a mutual friend this year and you know when you can tell when a person has a super duper big heart and a kind, generous nature towards everything and everyone? Yup. She is one of those beautiful souls.

Tamsyn has her own fantastic blog Max and Me and I highly encourage regular trips over there to see what she is up to. She is up to ALOT nowadays. Her creativity is limitless so you'll be able to find lots of clever easy DIY projects... but if you just want to look at delicious newborn baby pictures, you should head over there now too! There has just been a lovely addition to her family and he goes by the name of Lincoln. Cluck cluck. Congrats Tams!!
Also, to finish off the list of her Superwoman abilities, she runs Max and Me Homewares where she sells lots of her handmade home decor creations.

Tamsyn is seriously the QUEEN of DIY so when she offered to do 5 DIY Christmas decorations for her guest blog post for Chibi Run, I felt like a kid on Christmas who had just been offered a generous selection of candy. 

Thanks Tams for this amazing guest post! 

Please do welcome Tamsyn!
It'll be tough to pick a favourite out of these 5! 
 

TAMSYN:

I love Christmas! It’s easily my favourite time of the year, the food, family, festivities and the chance to fully embrace my other great love - DIY. There is something about Christmas that turns my crafty tendencies into complete overdrive. This year I’ve been busy making my own Christmas ornaments and I’m so excited to share them with you!

These sweet little wreaths are super easy and cheap to make and are perfect for traditional style Christmas decorating.
1.    You’ll need
    - bakers Twine (from Chibi Run of course!)
    - mini hoop (I got mine from spotlight)
    - clay stars (here’s a great recipe)
    - sequins
    - glue gun
    - scissors
    - string for hanging the ornament
2.    Hot glue the end of your twine to the hoop and start wrapping.
3.    Keep wrapping, stopping to add a dab of hot glue to the back every now and again.
4.    Once your hoop is completely covered secure the twine with more hot glue and then glue on your ceramic stars and sequins.
5.         Add some string for hanging and you’re done!

Hang one of these kissing balls in your house and make sure to use it to your advantage!
1. You’ll need:
- styrofoam ball
- Christmas fabric
- 2 types of ribbon ( I used one thin and one wide ribbon)
- twine
- Christmas greenery (mistletoe if you can find it)
- scissors
- rubber band
2. Cut a square of fabric big enough to cover your ball (with enough extra to give a nice finish at the top), wrap your ball and secure with twine.
3. add rubber band above the twine and thread a long piece of the thin ribbon under the ball, through the rubber band and tie in a knot at the top for hanging. Add another piece of thin ribbon, crossing over at the bottom as shown and tuck into rubber band. Add more twine to secure the ribbon and remove the rubber band.
4. Tie a pretty bow around the twine.
5. Add leaves and trim the fabric done to look pretty.
6. You’re done, now get kissing!!

These are one of my favourite ornaments this year. They’re so simple to make, but a little time consuming. I recommend putting on a few episodes of your favourite show while you make these (Mad Men wins for me).
1.    You’ll need:
    - sheets of paper (I aged mine using this technique)
    - styrofoam ball
    - ribbon
    - string for hanging
    - scissors
    - hot glue
    - paint brush (or something similarly shaped)
2.    Cut your paper up into little squares (mine were 2cm x 2cm).
3.    Tie a piece of string (I used really thin gold ribbon) in a loop and hot glue to the top of the styrofoam ball.
4.    Fold a piece of paper around the end of your paintbrush, add a dab of hot glue to the point and attach to your ball.
5. Keep going until the entire ball is covered.
6. Tie a pretty bow and then hot glue it to the top of the ball, then step back and admire your creativity :).

These little rope mirrors are perfect if you're planning a beachy or nautical themed Christmas (I also think it could look really sweet hanging inside a dollhouse).
1. You’ll need:
    - small mirror
    - chipboard circle
    - jute rope
    - Christmas ribbon
    - scissors
    - hot glue
    - string for hanging
2. Hot glue your mirror to the centre of your chipboard and then hot glue a piece of ribbon to the chipboard (glue it on facing the wrong way as shown).
3. Cut a piece of jute to size and then glue around the outside of the mirror.
4. Repeat until all of the chipboard is covered.
5. Loop the ribbon over the joins in the jute and hot glue to the back of the circle (adding a piece of string for hanging as you go.

6. Reflect on how clever you are (couldn’t help myself, sorry!!).

These little hoop ornaments are incredibly quick to make and add you can make any shape you like. I’m planning on making one for each of my family members with their initial on them. Sweet and simple :).
1. You’ll need:
- small embroidery hoop
- hessian
- pencil
- cardboard shape to trace (I printed out a star shape and cut around it)
- scissors
- pencil
- sequin strand
- fabric glue
- twine for hanging
2. Cut out a small square of hessian, secure in hoop and then trim down the excessive fabric.
3. Trace your shape onto the fabric.
4. Draw over your pencil line with fabric glue.
5. Carefully position your strand of sequins along the glue lines.
6. Add some twine and hang and admire!

So there you have it, 5 easy DIY Christmas decorations to make this year. Let me know if you make any of these for yourself, I would love to see how the turn out.

Thanks so much for having me Germaine, Merry Christmas!

xx Tamsyn