As you know, I’m a little bit obsessed with anything to do with outer space. So this year, I decided to add a little cosmic cheer to my Christmas tree, and make an outer space ornament! Here’s what you need:
- Clear ball ornaments designed for crafting: Stores like JoAnn’s and Hobby Lobby have a ton of these in different sizes and varieties. I like to get plastic rather than glass as they are shatter-proof.
- Durable ornament hooks: Thick ribbon would also work, to hang the ornament from. These can get kind of heavy!
- Glitter: I discovered while working on this project that ultra-fine glitter looks the most like stardust, but it is also more expensive and comes in smaller containers (and less colors). So for this project, I did a mix of different sizes. You can also include larger glitter or rhinestones for an added bit of bling!
- A funnel: Important for keeping glitter from spilling everywhere!
The ornaments I got are a solid clear ball that you pour the ingredients into. They also have a kind that comes apart in halves, which is good for getting a more precise look (like if you’re using paint or glitter glue), but doesn’t work with loose glitter.
There are a few different ways you can do this, depending on the look you’re going for. With my first ornament, I poured in the different glitters at random and shook it all together, which made a shiny, silver kind of planet-looking orb, like Mercury or a moon!
For the next ornament, I wanted a look more like the Milky Way, so I decided to work in layers rather than mixing the glitter. My base layer was the royal blue, so that’s what I used the most of. At intervals, I poured in the light blue glitter, extra fine and jumbo, to make delicate stripes like dust clouds.
I love how this one came out! I think it would look best if I’d stuck with the ultra fine glitter for the stripes. Live and learn!
A few tips I discovered while working on this:
- Filling the ball with glitter makes it pretty darn heavy. A good alternative might be to pour the base, then stuff some cotton or paper shreds in the center and push the glitter around it with a Q-tip or toothpick.
- You might also want to use smaller ornaments than this, as that will use less glitter and make them less heavy.
You can also use different colors of glitter to make different planets, or to create a colorful burst of a galaxy like some of Hubble’s lovely photos of forming stars. Have fun with it!