DIY Owl Ornaments

It's been cold and rainy, perfect weather to stay indoors and do some winter nesting! We’re enjoying the glow and twinkle of the lights from our Winter Nesting Tree, a cheery solution to brighten the house during the cold, gray months of January and February. Our winter tree is decorated with snowflakes, icy branches, glittery nests, pine cones and bird ornaments, you can see it HERE.

I used the same method and materials as with my No-Carve Pumpkin Owls. . .using natural materials to add some woodland details with pine cones, acorn caps, hickory nut hulls, and some maiden grass with its feathery plumes. I gave the grass a spritz of hairspray to keep the fuzz from flying away.

I started with some sweater ornaments I found after Christmas that were on clearance. My (2) 4 inch ornaments were $3 each and and (1) 2.75 inch ornament was $2.

If you don’t have a ready-made ornament to decorate, you can fashion one from a Styrofoam ball, covering it in fabric or upcycling a sweater from the thrift store.

I used a pair of pliers to snip off the pine cone scales for the eyes.

Use a hot glue gun to attach your materials.

I find it easier to assemble the eyes and glue them together on a hot glue gun mat. Once cooled, you can peel it off the mat and glue it already assembled onto the ornament. Start with your acorn cap in the center and glue your pine cone scales around it.

Tip: It’s always *wise*  to keep a glass of ice water handy when you use your glue gun so you can peel any hot glue off your fingers immediately to prevent burns.

A hickory nut hull provides a beak for the larger size owl ornament. Grass plumes were glued on next for a feathery brow. If you don’t have any grasses to use, skip them and just use craft feathers.

Tips cut off the end of the pine cones were glued on to twigs as owl talons and give the owl a place to roost.

No birds were harmed in the making of these owl ornaments... I found ‘fancy’ craft feathers at Hobby Lobby and added them to the owl for brows and wings. Download their mobile app so you have access to their weekly 40% off coupon when you shop. 

Since most of my bird ornaments on the tree have some sparkle, I decide to add some glitter, painting on a little Mod Podge first on the areas I wanted it to adhere, and then sprinkling on crystal glitter.

I used Mod Podge since that is what I had, but you could use any white craft glue that dries clear to add some glittery details to your owl ornaments if desired.

Allow the Mod Podge to dry and then shake off the excess glitter. I lined a sheet pan with wax paper to make it easy to pour the excess glitter back into the container to reuse it.

Here is one of my trio of owls hanging on the tree. I spent about $4 apiece on each of these 3 ornaments with plenty of feathers left over for more ornaments. If you used a sweater from the thrift store and Styrofoam balls for ornaments, your cost would be even less!

I had plans to make these before Christmas to share, but there’s never enough time during the *owlidays*! These owl ornaments were a hoot to make and fun little rainy or snowy day project!

More photos my blog and link below.