Rhinestone Ornaments: Easy to Make, Inexpensive, and Kid-Friendly

We’re on a roll this year with sparkly projects (at least with my daughter and her glitter gluing), so I figured, why not end the year with a fun, simple, and inexpensive Christmas ornament project. My Christmas trees in the past have been filled with glass ball ornaments in every color. With this in mind, I wanted to decorate a ball ornament with something shiny, sparkly, and definitely kid-friendly. I liked the shine of rhinestones and all of the color options, so each ornament will be unique. For the ball ornament, I chose plastic rather than glass, mainly because my partner in crime is a 3 year old, but if you have glass, that should work fine too.

Rhinestone Christmas Ornaments - Easy to Make, Inexpensive, and Kid-Friendly

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Rhinestone Ornaments

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

Clear Plastic or Glass Ornament
Craft Glue
Flat Back Rhinestones (Acrylic Gems according to some craft stores)

Supplies for rhinestone christmas ornaments — Supplies For Making Rhinestone Christmas Ornaments

1. You can start adding stones anywhere on the ornament, but I prefer starting at the bottom. Add a bit of glue to the ball and then place the stone on the glue, pressing in a bit to make sure it stays in place. Keep adding stones until you fill a space slightly bigger than a quarter and let dry for about 30 minutes.

Adding rhinestones to bottom of ornament — Adding Rhinestones To The Bottom Of The Ornament

TIP: Use a small plastic or glass container as a holder for the ornament while it dries.

2. Once the glued on stones dry a bit, you can add another quarter or two-sized area of stones. Keep repeating this process until you’ve filled the bottom third of the ornament.

Adding rhinestones to sides of ornament — Adding Rhinestones To The Sides Of The Ornament

TIP: If you add too many stones at a time without letting them dry, they will slowly slide out of place (it is a sphere after all). Your patience up front will pay off in the end when the stones are close together and there aren’t large gaps showing.

3. With the dried stones facing the bottom, keep adding more stones around the ornament in large rings. The dried ones below them will keep the freshly glued ones in place until they dry.

4. Cover the entire Clear Plastic or Glass Ornament with the stones and let everything dry.

TIP: If you are creating several rhinestone ornaments (like I was with the clear and the multi color ones), you can add stones to one while the other one(s) dry.

5. Add a hook or string and hang them on the tree, or anywhere for that matter.