The holidays are upon us and for me the best part about this time of year is extra quality time with your family!

Todays post is all about a fun project to do with kids! My kiddo stand in for this project is my 11 year old son Elliot!  We had so much fun creating ornaments check it out below!

Elliot chose stencil TCW2158 Cup of Joy because he thought the mug of tea image would make a great bell if he turned it upside down and I chose the dove on stencil TCW2152 Peace. Below is a list of the rest of the supplies.

Supplies:
TCW2158 Cup of Joy
TCW2152 Peace
1 package of Fimo Air-Dry Modeling Clay
Acrylic Paint (your favorite colors plus 1 metallic color for a little holiday pop)
Small Detail Brushes
Ribbon or Thread
Ballpoint Pen with no ink or pointed sculpting tool or bookbinding Awl
Thread or Ribbon
Rolling Pin
Drying Rack
X-acto knife or cookie cutter

To start first you want to kneed the clay a bit to work out any air bubbles.

Next roll out your clay on a clean dry surface. Make sure you roll it out to an even thickness so it will dry consistently and be easier to cut and stencil. Elliot and I used a wooden rolling pin but any kind you have should work just fine.

Once your clay is all rolled out you will want to use your X-acto knife or cookie cutter to cut out your ornament shapes. As you can see below we did ours free hand but if you want a perfect shape a cookie cutter would be the way to go. Mine is the square and Elliot did the oval.

Next Elliot and I laid our stencils over our ornament shapes and decided on placement. You can see below how he tuned stencil TCW2158 Cup of Joy upside down to create a bell shape!

Once you have placed your stencil where you want it use your pointed tool (we used a bookbinding awl) to gently trace the stencil into the clay.

You can see below Elliot’s final bell shape traced out in the clay. It looks a bit rough but once the traced lines are in place you can go back over it and smooth things out a bit with your finger.

Here is my Dove from stencil TCW2152 Peace I have already smoothed it out a bit. The secret is to trace slowly and then use a slightly damp finger to smooth out any rough edges.

Next up is looking for ways you can add some extra details. Lines, dots, swirls and more add some extra fun and interest to your ornament!

Since we had some extra clay already out we decided to make a few more ornaments. Below you can see all 5 we made and each one has some extra details added! So FUN!

Once all of your details are in cut a small circle in the top so you have a place to tie your ribbon or string later on. We used the metal eraser top of a mechanical pencil to punch our holes. Next put then on a drying rack for 8 hours or overnight. You want your ornaments to be completely dry before you paint them. If your ornaments are extra thick you may need some extra dry time.

Once your ornaments are dry they will feel hard to the touch and no longer damp and cold. Next up is painting them! As you can see below Elliot chose gold, red, black and silver for his bell and I decided on an icy blue and gold for my dove! I placed each ornament next to the stencil used to create it so you can see how close the shape and details are from stencil to finished piece.

Once your paint is dry you can finish off your brand new ornament with a beautiful ribbon or string. Feel free to add extra embellishment at this step as well! Beads, bells, snowflakes or small charms would all make a great addition!

Elliot and I had so much fun with this project! Unplugging from the phone and TV and making lasting memories is what this time of year is all about for me and I love that we now have a reminder of our creative time together to look at as we decorate our tree this year! I would love to see your ornaments or hear about how you celebrate this time of the year, so be sure to share your creations or thoughts on The Crafter’s Workshop Facebook page or by tagging The Crafter’s Workshop on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest! Also tag me @Drawriot if you share on Instagram! Until next time, keep creating! ?

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. This post also contains affiliate links. The opinions I share are solely my own.

Tori Weyers
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member