Love seeing all those cute DIY glitter ornaments? Learn how to make glitter ornaments with a step by step and video tutorial. Glitter ornaments make a perfect gift for kids, family, coworkers, teachers, etc. This post was updated on September 10, 2020.
They say when in doubt, just add glitter, right? Amen! I would add glitter to everything if I could. That extra sparkle just makes me smile.
Except I’m not really loving glitter all over my floor, in my hair, and on my dogs (well, maybe I secretly do!).
When I started seeing the glitter ornaments pop up on Pinterest, I knew I had to make some.
They were super easy to make and these would be amazing gifts since you can personalize them in so many different ways! They are also perfect ornaments to make at a holiday craft party.
If you like crafting during this time of year, make sure to browse through my other DIY Christmas decor tutorials!
Let’s get started… this project is pretty quick! I also made a quick DIY glitter ornaments video tutorial if you prefer to watch rather than read. Make sure to watch it at the top or the side of the post. There are also printable directions for the Christmas glitter ornaments at the bottom.
**Instructions for the Grinch ornament is closer to the bottom.
Materials for DIY Glitter Ornaments
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Amazon and/or Cricut.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links.
- Glass or plastic clear ornaments – I got mine here and here. Craft stores sometimes will carry them too.
- Polycrylic Water Based Protective Finish
- Extra Fine Glitter – I used Ruby, gold and green but you can use any color. For the white ornament, I used white embossing powder.
- Cricut cutting machine – found on Amazon here or Cricut.com here
- Optional – Vinyl decals or stickers
There are also printable instructions at the bottom of the post if you love to print everything to have it on hand like I do!
How to Make Glitter Ornaments with Polycrylic
Take the lid off the ornament and add a bit of polyacrylic inside. It doesn’t have to be a lot, maybe about 1/4 of the ornament. I like to use a funnel that is specifically dedicated to this project (from Dollar Tree!).
Gently rotate the ornament all the way around so the polyacrylic covers the entire inside of the ornament. I keep rotating it while I turn it upside down.
Then let the rest of the solution drain out back into a container. Gently tap the sides a few time and try to get all the extra solution out – it can take 30 seconds or so.
If you are making a bunch at one time, I like to put the ornaments upside to drain in an egg carton or even back in the ornament container. I will pour the polycrylic in about three in a row and then start pouring glitter in them in the same order.
Adding Glitter in Clear Ornaments!
Then turn the ornament over and add a bunch of glitter into the ornament. You can pour some in from the container or use a funnel.
Again rotate the ornament around so the glitter covers the entire inside. You will see it stick to it.
Just rotate while slowly turning it to the upside-down direction. Then I put my finger over the opening and gently shake the glitter inside towards your finger upside down so it covers the whole top part.
I put a piece of wax paper underneath and then dump the extra glitter on it. Tap the ornament to get the extra out.
Then make sure to pick up the paper and use it to pour the glitter back in its container. Never waste glitter!!
Again I turn them upside down and place them in an egg carton and let them drain for while until they are dry.
Glitter Ornament DIY Decal Application
For the vinyl decals, I design mine in Cricut Design Space and use my favorite tool, my Cricut Explore. I cut them all out of adhesive vinyl, weed them, and this is what they look like.
If you’d like to find out what more you can make with a Cricut, hop on over to my Cricut projects page.
To apply the vinyl, make sure you clean the outside of the ornaments with rubbing alcohol to get all the grease off. Put transfer paper over it and line it up where you want it.
On a curved surface, it’s best to cut a bunch of slits on the sides so you can lay them down easier. You can find my full tutorial on applying vinyl by clicking here. Pull the transfer paper off and you’re done!
You can also use Cricut’s print and cut function to print out any picture you’d like to add to an ornament.
Finished Glitter Ornaments DIY with Vinyl Decals
I love the way this one turned out!! I used embossing powder instead of glitter and it adds cool glitter specks throughout it!
That’s it!! There are so many things you can design and make for glitter ornaments DIY. You can use stickers on them or paint. Even using your child’s fingerprint.
You can even make glitter ornaments that light up and get a FREE Joy to the World cut file (click the link for the tutorial!).
I’ve also made some cute personalized floating DIY Christmas ornaments for my kiddos.
Make sure to check out my roundup of over 150 DIY Christmas ornaments to make using all different kinds of crafting supplies!
These are what I’ve come up with so far!
Learn how to design something like this in Cricut Design Space by using extra glyphs and characters on my tutorial here.
Grinch Ornaments!
I made two different sizes of Grinch ornaments. One was a large plastic ornament from the Dollar Tree and the other one was one of the flatter glass ornaments listed above. I used a regular green glitter in the ornament instead of an extra fine.
Then for the Grinch DIY glitter ornament, you get a green feather boa from a craft store and hot glue it around the top. (It’s long so you can cut it to make a bunch!) I also have a FREE Grinch face SVG file.
If you like The Grinch ornaments, you’ll probably love my roundup of Grinch crafts and my Dollar Store Mr. Grinch decorations made out of glass bowls.
Make sure to watch the video tutorial at the top to see the whole process in action!
Do you love glitter as much as I do? I could add it to everything! If you’d like to see a roundup of how to add even more glitter to Christmas go here.
If you want to learn all sorts of ways to use a Cricut, make sure to check out my Ultimate Resource guide for the Cricut ideas that you can read here.
If you like glitter and easy Dollar Store crafts, hop on over to my easy glitter light-up snowman tutorial and free SVG by clicking here!
If you want to save this tutorial for later, simply hover over the top left of the image below and PIN It now!
Here are printable directions if you’d like!
DIY Glitter Ornaments
Make your own DIY glitter ornaments! Create your own personal vinyl decal or paint on whatever you'd like. Adding glitter inside the ornament is super easy!
Materials
- Glass or plastic clear ornaments
- Polyacrylic Water Based Protective Finish
- Extra Fine Glitter – I used Ruby, gold and green but you can use any color. For the white ornament, I used white embossing powder.
Instructions
- Take the lid off the ornament and add a bit of polyacrylic inside. It doesn’t have to be a lot, maybe about 1/4 of the ornament.
- Gently rotate the ornament all the way around so the polyacrylic covers the entire inside of the ornament. I keep rotating it while I turn it upside down.
- Then let the rest of the solution drain out back into a container. Gently tap the sides a few time and try to get all the extra solution out – it take can 30 seconds or so.
- Then turn the ornament over and add a bunch of glitter into the ornament. Again rotate the ornament around so the glitter covers the whole inside.
- Just rotate while slowly turning it to the upside down direction. Then I put my finger over the opening and gently shake the glitter inside towards your finger upside down so it covers the whole top part.
- I put a piece of wax paper underneath and then dump the extra glitter on it. Tap the ornament to get the extra out. Then make sure to pick up the paper and use it to pour the glitter back in its container
- For the vinyl decals, I design mine in Cricut Design Space and use my favorite tool to cut them out, my Cricut Explore
- To apply the vinyl, make sure you clean the outside of the ornaments with rubbing alcohol to get all the grease off. Put transfer paper over it and line it up where you want it. On a curved surface, it’s best to cut a bunch of slits on the sides so you can lay them down easier.
- Pull the transfer paper off and you’re done!
Recommended Products
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Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful holiday season and a creative day!
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Rebecca
Monday 23rd of November 2020
Do you only suggest using the Polycrylic Clear Gloss? Would the Matte work as well? Or do you have any less expensive alternatives to suggest? I only want a small amount.
Leap of Faith Crafting
Tuesday 24th of November 2020
Others work too! I've seen people use Mop N Glo and Mod Podge. I've just heard they might not last as long so I've always use poly!
Victoria
Wednesday 23rd of September 2020
I would like to make the grinch ornament but can I just use permanent markers to make the face
Ashley Turner
Monday 30th of December 2019
When I was making ornaments some of the vinyl would not lay down flat on the ornaments. Do you have any suggestions? Mine were similar to the Ravenclaw ornament that you have posted.
Leap of Faith Crafting
Friday 3rd of January 2020
Sometimes it's a bit tricky with the curved surfaces. I like to make small slits in my transfer tape all the way around the vinyl so I can maneuver it better. Sometimes I'll have to peel up the vinyl and lay it back down. It definitely takes practice to figure out the trick you like!