Eclectic Ornaments of Christmas: DIY Miniature Abstract Ornaments

Welcome to the “Eclectic Ornaments of Christmas” blog hop, hosted by my friend Ariel of PMQ for Two! Today, I’m joining fourteen other eclectic decor bloggers to share our favorite Christmas ornaments – from treasured heirlooms to recent finds to DIY projects!

You’ll find the links to all the other blog hop participants at the bottom of the post, and I’m sure you’ll have fun getting a peek into our ornament stashes!

Honestly, I have so many beloved thrifted, gifted, and DIY ornaments that it was really hard to narrow it down to just one for this post! So instead of forcing myself to choose, I decided to come up with an entirely brand new DIY idea to share with you today, and guess what… these have quickly become favorites as well!

These DIY miniature abstract canvas ornaments are seriously so easy and you can customize them endlessly with whatever colors fit best into your decorating scheme! I also want to note that absolutely no artistic talent is required – I am a terrible painter, but I still managed to end up with some fun little designs.

*Today’s post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I may receive a small commission. You can read my full disclosure here. I hope you all know by now that I do only share things I really truly love!

You Will Need:

• Mini stretched canvases – I used 2″x2″ square canvases, but you can also find mini rectangles or slightly larger sizes.
• Acrylic paints – I used a mix of metallic and regular acrylic craft paint. I suggest limiting your color palette to 6-8 colors that work well with the rest of your decor
• Craft paint brushes – You will want a few sizes to work with, but especially one with a super fine tip for detail.
• Gold metallic cord
• Gold leaf flakes
• Hot glue gun

Painting:

I absolutely adore bold, colorful abstract art, but I do not have an abstract bone in my body. Remember when I told you I was terrible at painting? I promise it’s the truth.

Painting walls? I can do those, and pretty well if I do say so myself. But anything resembling “art”? Well, go read this post sometime if you want to see how badly I’ve failed in the past.

So when it came to putting brush to canvas for these guys, I was a little bit worried. But my friend Julia always makes it looks so effortless, so I figured I would give it one more shot…

And halfway through I showed Bryan what I had so far and wailed, “What was I thinking? I suck at painting!” And he agreed that it just wasn’t my strong suit.

However, I was clinging hard to my original vision for these ornaments and I just kept going. Let’s try more layers… Let’s try a was of gold paint… Let’s try some polka dots… Let’s try some gold leaf flakes…

Somehow, and in an unprecedented turn of fate – because seriously, when is throwing MORE of anything at a problem actually the solution? – I actually ended up with six little painted canvases that I kind of love.

Are they art?

Eh… Perhaps not. But they are fun and colorful and I’m actually really happy with the way they turned out!

Needless to say, I don’t have a step by step tutorial on how I painted each one, because I was in a blind panic the entire time, but I did put together this little graphic so you can see some of the things I tried out…

My main method: Try a bunch of things and hope that one of them doesn’t suck.

Finishing Touch:

Cut a piece of gold metallic cord approx. 8″ long and double it over and glue to the back of each ornament.

Hang On The Tree:

Gather up your mini masterpieces and hang them proudly on the Christmas tree! It’s a scientifically proven fact that Christmas tree lights make everything 90% better and more artistic:

Eclectic Ornaments of Christmas Blog Hop:

And now, I’m going to send you over to visit the other blog hop participants! (And I’ll be paying them all a visit too – I’m excited to hear the tales behind this fantastic group of blogger’s favorite ornaments!)