DIY Whimsical Woodland Ornaments {aka, my dream come true}

I’ve always loved miniatures, so when I saw woodland ornaments at West Elm recently I WANTED THEM. My West Elm allowance has been blown this month however (new coffee table, woot woot!) so I knew I had to knock them off. So that I could save for another West Elm splurge that’s a little bigger. 😉  Getting to play with teeny bottle brush trees and mini-deer in the name of Christmas crafting made me all kinds of happy! Keeping with my natural woodland Christmas theme (Glam Scandi, I call it) I couldn’t resist the chance to hot glue adorable little pieces into bulbs and add some whimsy to our tree. My sidekick and I found these deers, trees, buckets, and houses in the Christmas aisle and GAME ON. I mean, WHO COULD RESIST THEM?!

You’ll need the following:

plastic ornaments that snap in half so you can fill them

faux snow

glue gun

miniatures (check your local crafts store, we got all these supplies at Michaels)

The ornaments were fairly easy to put together, with some caveats.  First of all, since the bulbs are plastic they pick up the hot glue strands and don’t let go (the strands are warm and kinda melts them in place). So be wary of those evil glue strings when making this project. Also, since the bulbs are clear you can see everything (including your clear glue!) so be careful of that as you add in your items. My advice? Don’t aim for perfection or this project will drive you crazy. Go for adorable, and remember you can turn them so no one can see their backsides in your tree. (that’s what she said)

To begin, hot glue some faux snow into the bulbs. Make sure your glue dot is facing the bottom where no one will see it.

Then, arrange your items inside. When satisfied they’ll fit, glue them in place. For the most part I only needed to add glue to the bottom but a few times put a teeeeeeny dab at the top of an item to help it stay straight inside the bulb.

That’s it. Really! Now get creative!

Oh, deer.

Makes me want to walk in a winter wonderland. ALMOST.

Does anyone else’s heart skip a beat when they see miniatures? Or am I permanently damaged from years as a child rearranging my dollhouse for days on end? (I have the decorating bug even back then).

DIY WHIMSICAL WOODLAND ORNAMENTS—->

do you have a favorite? What would you put inside these little scenes?