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?
miranda papandreou says
super cute!
Stephanie says
These are awesome! I am totally going to make some of these!
Rachel says
Oh so cute! And yes, I always look at them in the craft store and just stare at the cuteness trying to come up with craft ideas!!
Gina B says
Oh I love these! I would love to make some for the kids’ teachers …one with beavers because that was Zoe’s project, and for Amelia…chinchilla – if I could find one – because that’s her class pet …and his name is Snowflake!
Sarah @Thank You Honey says
What a cute idea! Thank you. Need one more thing to add to my Little’s teachers gifts. These are perfect and he can help me make them! Thanks!
Heather says
Ohhh – I love these and had no idea how to make them. Thank you! Will copy them to put next to the tea towel art idea you gave us!
Julia says
How cute, this reminds me of ornaments my mom had growing up.
Virginia Allain says
I’m waiting for my order of clear balls from Amazon, then anxious to plunge ahead with this. I’m also fixated on tiny things too and have lots of vintage minis that I want to use. I won’t glue those, but might use that blue tack stuff to affix them to the bottom.
Carrie Higgins says
That will look lovely!