Color Your Own Ornaments for Christmas

These color your own ornaments are a great Christmas project, or package them with some markers and give them as a gift!

If you've jumped on the adult coloring book band wagon, you're probably the proud owner of lots of coloring books and permanent markers! The market is flooded with great coloring pages for adults - from holiday themed favorites to everyday designs to swear words, there's something for everyone.

These coloring pages are not only great for adults, but older kids and tweens love them as well. And since the benefits of coloring far outweigh the disadvantages, there's no harm in grabbing some markers or colored pencils and staying in the lines!

My kids enjoy coloring as much as I do, it's possible I enjoy it a little more! But we all had tons of fun with these color your own ornaments. I created the black designs with help from a few google searches for inspiration. The kids filled them in with markers and before I knew it we were done! They were asking for more!

This project begins with a basic salt dough recipe. Salt dough is one of the easiest doughs to make. This recipe does not make a ton of dough but you can easily double or triple it if you need a lot of ornaments. Use holiday themed cookie cutters to cut shapes in the dough. I like metal over plastic cookie cutters, but if using plastic, press firmly and wiggle the cutter just a bit before removing it form the dough. This helps keep the edges clean.

How to Make Color Your Own Ornaments

Materials:

• Salt Dough Cut into Shapes with Cookie Cutters and Completely Dry
• White Acrylic Craft Paint
• Paint Brush
• Permanent Markers
• Clear Gloss Spray Sealer
• Ribbon for Hanging

1. Once your salt dough ornaments are completely dry, paint them with white acrylic craft paint. I like to use a higher quality gloss paint so I only have to do one coat. Let dry completely.
   
2. Use a black permanent marker to draw designs on to the ornaments. I google "adult coloring book pages" and search the images for some inspiration.
   
3. Seal the ornaments with clear spray paint. This step is mandatory. If you skip this step, the black outlines will blend into the colors when you fill them in.
   
4. Add a ribbon to your ornaments by cutting a piece about 6" in length and knotting the ends. Place the folded end into the hole of the ornament and bring the knot up and through the folded loop.
   
5. Use colored permanent markers to color the ornaments and hang them on your tree.

My kids loved these and before I knew it they had colored them all! We already have plans next year to make personalized ones to include names. That way we can add them to packages to use as gift tags.

Need more holiday projects?

• Homemade Snowman Decorations make a great garland or use as ornaments for your tree!
• Snowflake Earrings are perfect for getting you into the season or giving as a gift.
• Penguin Cork Ornaments reuse all those corks you have from a stressful year!