I have another easy Christmas craft for you using a cereal box, school glue & glitter! While I love pretty much all creative endeavors, I’ve never considered myself a “crafter”, but Christmas brings out the crafter in me. It’s the perfect time of year to make handmade gifts and decorations. There is also something about the season that inspires me to make things just for the sake of making them…for the process and enjoyment of it. And then I can hang it on our tree or put it on a shelf or give it as a gift. In this post, I’m sharing how I made a pretty swallow bird ornament with simple supplies.
I just love the shape of a swallow in flight with that delicate tail, so when I was thinking about an ornament shape to make, the swallow immediately came to mind. Here is the vintage graphic I printed up and used as a template for the swallow bird ornament…
swallow bird ornament tutorial | materials needed
- Thin cardboard (cereal, cracker, or other dry goods box)
- aluminum baking dish
- plastic spoon
- ribbon or twine
The real key to this project is the German Glass Glitter. It’s more expensive than regular craft glitter, but it is made out of crushed glass, so it sparkles like no other. It also has a heft to it that provides structure to the cereal box. When the glue dries, these ornaments are quite rigid, even on the delicate parts like the tail. I like to use a custom mix of grits and I think 4 ounces is a nice size to be able to make several projects. You can actually buy my custom glass glitter . I stopped selling it years ago, but it seems like a few bottles are still floating around.
swallow bird ornament tutorial | video tutorial
Here is a quick video showing how to make the ornaments.
These swallow bird ornaments turned out even better than I expected they would! They work perfectly with the 3d glitter star I made a couple of weeks ago.
I hope this simple tutorial inspires you to do some more crafting this season, too.
You can find more Christmas and holiday decorating ideas, recipes, and crafts HERE.
11 Responses
Simple and beautiful! Is glass glitter sharp in any way? And was that Cinnamon Toast Crunch? 🙂
Yes, that is the current favorite cereal! I can be sharp, but I’ve handled it a lot and have never been cut on it. I just use a spoon and am careful/gentle with it. The coarser grit glitter has a tendency to be a bit more hazardous.
A little off topic but… I’ve been reading and enjoying your blog for years. When I first ‘discovered you’, I was working full time in a somewhat stressful job. Reading about all of your creative endeavors both relaxed me and filled me with hope of someday having the time to explore my creative side. Three years ago, due to some somewhat complicated health issues, I retired. By the grace of God, and with amazing improvements in medicine, the health issues, while not resolved, have become far more manageable. One of the better outcomes from all of this is that I finally have much more time to devote to the creative projects I’ve been longing to do – and much of my inspiration continues to come from reading your blog. I’m always showing my husband your blog and pointing out this or that, and he genuinely enjoys my enthusiasm for the different projects I’ve shared with him. Today is my birthday and much to my surprise, by dear, dear hubby gifted me with a copy of your new book! I’m just sitting down with a cup of tea and opening the first page of my new treasure. I can’t wait to explore the contents and find new inspiration!
I’m so glad your health is improving! And how wonderful of your husband to get you a copy of my book! Thank you!.
Somewhere on your blog I thought I saw brass swallow ornaments. Are they available for purchase?
They are from Anthropologie/Terrain, but they are sold out.
Well you will laugh but my unusual Christmas gift to family & friends this year is a case that I sewed to hold new plastic bags. As-of May of next yr NJ is forbiding retailers to give plastic bags out so I decided to buy a bunch and gift them in a pretty fabric case.This is a ridiculous law because just look around the stores to see all the items on shelves that are packaged in plastic. So where does it all end ? I consider myself both a crafter and a seamstress so each year I make a bunch of fabric or hard craft items to gift from ornaments to personal care items and have been doing this for over 70 years. The last few years have been little pouches to hold anything from coins to cosmetics. Everybody loves them. Now all I need to know Marian is where can I find your pretty fabrics that you designed or fabrics similar?
Instead of banning plastic bags, why don’t they start banning junk from China, and in particular, start with the stuff that comes here warning us that it causes cancer? Have returned so many things with that warning.
Chris you are so Right ! !
I am wondering where you bought the wide blue and white flowered ribbon. Thank you.
Haha! I wondered about the wide, flowered blue and white ribbon as well. I am wondering if you put a top coat over the German Glass Glitter as I have noticed it tarnishes after a while. Thoughts?