See how to make upcycled DIY Christmas ornaments out of jar lids with this recycled craft tutorial!
I’ve been saving jar lids for months and finally came up with an idea to put them to use! My kids’ homeschool winter party is coming up and I signed up to do a craft for the kids 10 years and older and this is what I came up with, so I think it will work well for a big group. I’m excited to make some for myself after the party too – there are so many ways to decorate these nifty metal circles! I didn’t have enough of some of my favorite holiday craft materials to share with 30 kids, so I’m excited to make my own soon.
All my examples are with my pets but my intent is to take pictures at the event, so they can make an ornament of them & their friend(s).
Not covering the edges makes it look most like a lid, but I was happy with the color combination here! Some beads & sequins glued on top to jazz it up a little.
A candy-cane pipe cleaner makes this festive Christmas chaos, adorned with a few different types of beads.
Lastly, a sample with the year on it and some different design elements!
You could of course collage something from a magazine or book on the background as well, doesn’t have to be a photo!
If you like this post, check out these others while you’re here!
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These ornaments have a lot of open-ended creativity options for decorating, but I thought I’d share some of the things that I used or considered when I was making mine! Chime in the comments if you can think of something else that would be fun.
The first set of ornament examples I made were for a homeschool group winter party for 30 kids – so they needed to be relatively affordable in large quantities, no paint or glitter glue that would take a while to dry/potentially smear in transit on the way home, and pretty simple to glue and manipulate for kids who aren’t as arts-and-crafty. I plan to make some for myself and update this post with them in the future! There are over 30 kids coming so I didn’t have enough of my fancier supplies to use with the group.
I used or considered (not everything is pictured):
I am linking something similar to what I have in most instances – my materials have been bought, thrifted, and collected over several years so I can’t track down or remember all of their sources!
- Alphabet beads
- Christmas light charms
- Faux tree trim
- Flat back charms
- Gems
- Miniature trees (these are easily found at Dollar Tree in the US!)
- Miniature filler/shapes
- Paper punches
- Pipe cleaners
- Seasonal beads
- Sequins – lots of neat options on etsy too
- Stamps
- Stickers
- Tinsel trim
- Twine
- Washi tape– lots of neat options on etsy too
Pin these DIY Christmas ornaments out of jar lids with this link or collage image:
DIY Christmas ornaments out of jar lids
Supplies:
- Seasonal scrapbook paper
- Twine or ribbon for the hanging loop
- Gluestick
- Hot glue
- Photograph or collage material (these are Instax mini prints, trimmed down)
- Scissors
- Embellishments
- Sharpie marker
- Corner rounder punch
- Washed & dried jar lids
If you’re running this as a group craft like I did, I’d also include:
- Baby wipes for glue on hands
- Extra base lids & instax film
- Making sure you have a power source for the hot glue guns
- An alternate to Christmas decor for friends who don’t celebrate – consider blue/silver snowflake theming and/or magnets to glue on the back to make it into a decoration instead of an ornament
If you’re doing this at home, I’d also consider adding:
- paint pens
- glitter glue
- glitter
- miniature figurines
- mod podge or resin over the top to protect it
Steps:
Step 1- First prep your photo! Trim it down and make sure it fits easily inside the jar lid you’re using. Here I’m also using a corner-rounder to make it look a little more polished.
Step 2- Write the year on the back and the person’s name if you’re running this is a group craft!
Step 3- Use the lid as a template to cut a scrapbook paper circle that slip right in. Glue that down with the glue stick and then glue the photo over top of the paper.
Step 4- Time to embellish! I like using hot glue for this – it dries quickly but also usually peels off quickly if you have to reposition. Here I added beads and a charm.
Step 5- Cut a loop of twine to be the hanger and hot glue a gem over the base of the twine loop.
Step 6- Glue the material of your choice to frame the lid, trip and fluff any weird spots, and you’re done!
Didn’t those turn out cute!