Popsicle Stick Christmas Ornaments

It's November, which to many over-enthusiastic holiday lovers means CHRISTMAS! Yes, I love Thanksgiving as well—it's just one big holiday celebration for me from now to the end of the year. So far, I've refrained from putting up my Christmas tree, but that doesn't mean I can't prepare, right? This past weekend, I spent some time making some ornaments. I love to create handmade ornaments to add to my little tree each year. 

Lately I've been interested in popsicle stick crafts. I found some super cute ideas on Pinterest (see the links to my Holiday Crafts and Food board and specific posts below). I like that such a simple material can have so many possibilities. Just add paint and glue!

I was able to get my kids involved for part of my craft day. They are ages 2 and 3, so they didn't do much beyond just paint a few popsicle sticks. I turned these painted sticks into little Santa Claus ornaments—two for each daughter as they're bound to ruin some of them with playing, haha. Crafting with toddlers is not an ideal situation due to the constant attention they require and the mess they make. I love that they enjoy being creative, though, and I still got some peaceful time alone to continue with my own ornaments. ;)

I chose the ornaments I wanted to make and built the structures with the popsicle sticks and a hot glue gun. I didn't really go into the specific blog posts for detailed instructions on each one. I just kind of winged it based on the photos of the finished ornaments, since they were pretty simple to figure out. Once they were built, I added some base layers of craft paint or stain.

I added some of my own personal touches using my Cricut (my favorite new crafting tool). I used some designs from a set of holiday SVG cut files I created (available on Etsy!) and cut them out of removable vinyl to use as paint stencils. (See the photos above.) I also cut a paper wreath to put onto my door ornament. So cute! Below are the finished ornaments...