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Christmas Crafts – Vintage Spoon Ornaments

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Julie

Fa la la la la! Tis the season for crafting and making fun hand-made things to add to my Christmas decor. I absolutely love making crafts at Christmas time. And, honestly, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t make Christmas crafts each year.

That’s why being a part of the “Creating a Handmade Christmas” holiday tour was a no-brainer for me. Did I want to be a part of a tour to show a Christmas craft to my readers? Why yes! I’d love to!

I’m joining 24 other bloggers as we show off and give tips and tutorials for creating a hand-made Christmas. (There will be a complete list with links at the end of this post.)

Truth be told, I’m a little behind on my crafting this year since Thanksgiving was so late and a yucky stomach bug hit my family. But, no fear! This craft is easy, peasy and takes minutes. And, I promise, even though there is hand-painting involved, it really couldn’t be easier.

I was inspired by a holiday ornament I bought while we were on vacation in Colorado this past summer.

Isn’t it cute?!

It’s a little vintage spoon bent so it can easily hang off of a tree branch. It’s hand-painted and finished off with a little fabric tie.

It had me at hello!

I knew I wanted to make my own so when I went antiquing and junking this summer I kept my eyes open for some inexpensive spoons. I bought several for a dollar each and couldn’t wait to give this a try.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:

craft paint
an old (or new) spoon that isn’t too thick in the neck to be bent
ribbon

Instructions:

Step One:

Using regular craft paint, paint your spoon.

Painting a snowman is super easy…it’s just three circles created with a small paint brush. Really — ANYONE can’t paint this!

I added the smaller/finer details with a paint pen.

My candy cane is was also very simple.

The hardest part was getting a good candy cane shape free hand. But, here’s the best part. If you goof up, it wipes right off! So, you can keep trying until you get it right.

The little dots around the edge were created with a paint pen. Just dot, dot, dot. Easy.

Practice on a piece of paper before starting on your spoon to make sure the paint pen is dispensing the right amount of paint first.

Step Two:

After you’ve painted your spoons and they have dried completely, bend the spoon. I recommend you do this second only because I think it’s easier to hold the spoon and paint it after it’s bent.

Really, there is no right or wrong here. You can do it whatever way you like best. If you bend the spoon after you paint it, just make sure the paint is completely dry or you will rub off the image.

That said, I will tell you that the hardest part of this craft is bending the spoon and not breaking it.

That’s why you need to choose your spoons carefully. Make sure the neck isn’t too thick to bend and isn’t too fragile where it might break easily.

The first spoon I did bent easily. I just used both of my hands to slowly bend it into this curved shape. The second spoon was more difficult so my husband did it for me using a broom handle. He slowly used the broom handle to help “guide” the shape of the bend — if that makes sense!

I just love how these turned out and I can’t wait to make some more!

To see more beautiful and creative hand-made Christmas projects, follow along all week! You can click on the links below to follow the full tour.

Thanks so much for reading!