How to Paint or Decorate Glass Ornaments for Christmas Trees

Decorate glass balls with acrylic and glitter paint.

There are many ways to decorate glass Christmas ornaments. Purchase affordable glass balls at the dollar store, or buy them in bulk at the after-holiday sales. Children can decorate glass Christmas balls if you use non-toxic acrylic and glitter paint to create festive designs. Look through magazines to discover the types of designs you would like to paint on your Christmas balls. Clear, glass ball ornaments can also be adorned by placing objects inside the ornaments.

Things You'll Need

• Clear, glass ball ornaments
• Colorful, glass ball ornaments
• Non-toxic acrylic paint
• Non-toxic glitter paint
• Paint brushes
• Paper plates
• Water jar
• Glitter confetti
• Funnel
• Newspaper (optional)

Instructions

Snowman

1. Squeeze white acrylic paint, black acrylic paint, brown acrylic paint and blue paint on the plate. Consider using glitter paints if you want your snowman to sparkle.

2. Use the paint brush and white paint to make three circles representing the body of the snowman. Make the bottom circle the largest, the middle one slightly smaller and the top circle for the head the smallest one of all three.

3. Apply the brown paint to create the branch arms of the snowman.

4. Paint on the eyes, nose and buttons by creating black dots with the brush. Add a smile to create a happy snowman.

5. Dab on more black paint to create the stovepipe hat for the snowman.

6. Use the blue paint to give the snowman a lovely scarf. Paint a snowman on each side of the Christmas ball to create symmetry.

Snowflake

1. Place either white or blue glitter paint on a paper plate. Dab paint on the glass ornament, creating seven rays jutting off the sides, which will represent the branches of the snowflake.

2. Paint little branches on each of the main branches on the snowflake. Continue adding the little branches until the snowflake begins to look realistic.

3. Consider adding a snowflake to each side of the Christmas ball, or paint snowflakes all around the entire circumference of the ornament.

Glitter Confetti

1. Screw the top off of the glass ball.

2. Place a funnel inside the opening of the ornament, and pour the confetti glitter into the funnel.

3. Screw the top tightly back on the Christmas ball to ensure no confetti glitter spills out of the ornament.

Tips & Warnings

• Create gifts for friends by writing their names on a glass ball with glitter paint.

• Help young children pour the glitter into the Christmas balls.

• Use discarded newspapers to keep tables clean while decorating the ornaments.

• Look carefully to make sure you don't step on any broken glass balls.

References

• "BBC News": Christmas Chaos--Are You Safe?
• "Good Morning America": Deck the Halls with Ornaments"