Christmas Ornament Picture Frame Recipe
With Christmas approaching, we have been trying to come up with and create fun holiday themed crafts and recipes to add to the website for Natures Garden. So far, we have mentioned and posted about recipes such as Bubbling Reindeer Poo Bath Salts, Holiday Pomegranate Cold Process Soap, and our Holiday Ribbon Melt and Pour Soap Project. We have many other recipes that are Christmas related as well that are simple to make even if you are a beginner, including candles and different crafts. This blog will highlight one of the new craft ideas that we just recently made. It is this cute Christmas Ornament Picture Frame Recipe! This is the perfect thing that makes a great addition to the holiday decor in your home. It can also be given as a nice present to a friend or family member with a picture added to it!
Ingredients Found At Natures Garden:
Epsom Salt
Christmas Wreath Type Fragrance Oil
MICA- DIAMOND DUST Pigment 1oz
Aroma Beads- Sachet Beads
Spectrum Liquid Candle Dye- RED 1oz.
Disposable Pipettes
Flexible Silicone Mat
Other Ingredients & Equipment You Will Need:
Elmer’s Glue
Crafting Paint Brush
Glass Bowl
Hot Glue Gun
Picture Frame
Ribbon
Clear Fillable Christmas Ornaments
Ziploc Bag
Funnel
Before we begin, let’s make sure that we have properly cleaned the area that we will be working in. We do not want anything from past projects to mix in with any of our future ones because they may not come out in the way that we planned. Therefore, you should wipe down the counters at your station as well as any materials, equipment, and, if necessary, any containers of ingredients that we will be using.
Preparing the Aroma Beads
For the first step, we are going to get out our aroma beads. The amount that you need will depend on the size that you want to make your ornament. We used about 3 ounces of the aroma beads to fill one medium sized ornament. The sizes that you decide to use for the ornaments in this project are completely up to you and what you prefer. Even if you would like to use multiple small ornaments for your frame, that will also work. All you will need to do is figure out the right amounts to use. We are going to create ½ cup of beads, so you will need to place them into a Ziploc bag.
There are many other craft and recipe ideas on the Natures Garden website that we have made using these aroma beads. They are most commonly used to create homemade air fresheners, which make up the majority of the recipes. The ones listed on the website include our Holiday Air Freshener, Apple Dumpling Air Freshener, Shimmering room scenting project, Dreama Flameless Freshener, Gingerbread Aroma Beads Air Freshener, Glamour Sachet Beads, Island Fresh aroma bead air freshener, Moon Flower Sachet Pillow Recipe, the Mulberry Love Freshener, Organza Air Freshening Beads, Vacuum Air Freshening Beads, and the Valentine’s Day Bouquet Recipe. Using these can air out lockers, gym bags, shoes, cars, closets, and more!
The Fragrance Oil: Christmas Wreath Type
For our next step, we will need to take the same bag that we put the aroma beads in. Then, we are going to be adding ⅛ cup of the Christmas Wreath Type Fragrance Oil. This is one of several of our layered fragrance oils, which has three layers to it. The top notes consist of orange pomander, bergamot, and holly berry scent. The middle notes include Christmas lily, eucalyptus leaves, and cinnamon bark. Fir balsam and pine scents make up the base notes. Just from its description, you can imagine how Christmasy this fragrance is! Some other recipes and crafts that we have created that use this same fragrance oil are a Christmas Wreath Soap, wreath starters, Snowy Luminary Candle Jar, and Scented Gift Tags. It works great to use in soaps, candles, perfumes, and other body products as well.
Spectrum Liquid Candle Dyes
In this recipe, we will be using one of the spectrum liquid candle dyes that we carry. We sell this product in brown, yellow, black, orange, green, teal, and red. These colored dyes make it super easy to add almost any shade to your homemade projects. Depending on how many drops of colorant that you add, the shade that it produces will be lighter or darker. They add character and vibrancy to your candles in a simple way. This Christmas ornament picture frame recipe uses the red dye since it is a common color around Christmas time. Some of the other recipes that it has been added in are our Cinnamon Bun Candle Recipe, Santa Hat Candle Recipe, and in our Candle Wax Tarts.
Adding in the Red Colorant
Since we now have a better understanding of what this ingredient is and how it works, we can incorporate it into the recipe. After we have added in the fragrance oil to the Ziploc bag that we were using before, we are going to add in three drops of the red spectrum liquid candle dye. Next, go ahead and close up the bag. You will want to make sure you tightly close and seal your bag to avoid creating a huge mess. Then, shake it all up until everything is fully blended together. You will have to allow the aroma beads to soak overnight so that they are able to fully absorb the Christmas Wreath Type fragrance oil.
Fill Your Aroma Bead Ornament
After the aroma beads have had the night to soak up the fragrance oil, we can move onto the next part. For this step, you will need one to grab one of your clear ornaments. Fill your ornament with the colored and scented aroma beads using a funnel. Place the top back on the ornament and you can set this aside, for now.
Making the Glue
Now is the time for us to start making the glue portion for our ornament picture frame. We are going to be adding fragrance oil to the glue, making it into scented glue. We have created other projects that use scented glue in the past as well, including the Scented Bling Tennis Shoes Recipe, Scented Valentine Glitter Shoes Recipe, and our Scented Christmas Card Recipe! Scenting the glue paste gives your projects character and makes creating them all the more fun.
Before we start on the glue, you might want to place a silicone mat in your clean work area. If you do not own a silicone mat, we sell them at Natures Garden for your convenience. However, for now, you can use a piece of wax paper or newspaper. Now we are going to start preparing the glue. First, add about two ounces of the glue to a small glass bowl. For this particular recipe, we are going to scent the glue with the Christmas Wreath Type Fragrance Oil. Using a pipette, you need to add between 2 and 4 milliliters of the fragrance oil. Then, stir it together to blend it in nicely with the glue.
Preparing the Epsom Salt Mixture
For the next step, begin preparing the Epsom salt. Take out a small bowl and add about ¼ cup of the Epsom salt to it. Then, mix in about ¼ teaspoon of the diamond dust mica pigment. Stir everything together so that it is mixed nice and evenly.
Besides being a nice addition to homemade crafts, Epsom salt has a lot of other useful purposes. It can be added to hair care and skin care products, for gardening and cleaning, medicinal purposes, as well as for bath and body recipes such as bath bombs. Epsom salt exfoliates the skin well and leaves it feeling smooth. It is also commonly used to relieve muscle aches and pains, especially in athletes. It contains anti inflammatory and healing properties which are extremely beneficial. Epsom salt can also relieve dry, chapped lips and skin during the wintertime because it removes dry skin cells.
Covering the Ornaments with the Mixture
Now, you will need two more of your ornaments. For the first ornament, we are going to spread a thin layer of glue onto it. Then, roll it in the bowl with the Epsom salt mixture to completely cover it in a thin layer. For the second ornament, you will repeat the same process. Allow enough time to pass for both of the ornaments to dry. You may need to repeat the process if there are any spots on the ornament where the Epsom salt did not adhere to the glue with the first coat. If it is needed, roll it in the mixture again, after the first layer has completely dried.
Tie Ribbons Around the Ornaments
Once you have completed covering your ornaments and they have had time to dry, we can begin decorating! Place a ribbon on each ornament. You can use any color you would like to. Since it is a Christmas craft, we think that green, red, silver, gold, or white would look most fitting. As you can see from the picture, we decided to go with some sparkly green ribbons. We placed our center ornament, that has the aroma beads, in the middle of the picture frame and attached a sparkly green ribbon to it that was about five inches long. We then attached shorter ribbons, about three inches in length, to each of the Epsom salt ornaments.
Glue the Ornaments to the Picture Frame
At this point we can prepare the picture frame. This is one of the final steps to finishing this Christmas ornament picture frame recipe! You need to remove the glass and the back of the frame. Place the picture frame in front of you, facing down. Get your hot glue gun loaded with a hot glue stick ready to use. Once it has heated up, use it to adhere the three sparkly ribbon to the picture frame. Place the aroma bead ornament in the center of the frame. Then, add one of the Epsom salt ornaments on the left side of the aroma bead ornament, and the second Epsom salt ornament on the other side. Make sure to pay close attention to the spacing in order to ensure that they are evenly placed.
Add a Bow as the Finishing Touch
Once the hot glue has had time to set up, turn the picture frame back over. Then, at the top center of the picture frame, you can add a bow if you would like to! We made our bow out of some other ribbon that we had. It really fit well with this Christmas craft since the color scheme was red, green, and white plaid. Once you tie your ribbon into a bow, adhere the ribbon by using the hot glue gun and more hot glue once again.
We hope that you had a lot of fun while creating this Christmas Ornament Picture Frame Recipe craft!
More Holiday Ornament Craft Ideas
If you had fun creating this craft and would like a few more ideas on what you can do with your extra ornaments this year, we have got you covered. Check out this link to 40 Christmas Ornaments You Can DIY That’ll Fill You With Joy on the House Beautiful website! These 40 ornament craft ideas were written by Taylor Murphy, Sienna Livermore, and Elizabeth Gulino. They provide fun, creative ideas that I have never thought of making before! Plus, they can easily be made with kids too, which is a great bonus.
Natures Garden is not responsible for the performance of any of the recipes provided on our website. Testing is always the responsibility of our customers. If you plan to resell any of the recipes that we provide, it is also your responsibility to follow all FDA regulations. We cannot offer any advice on where to buy the products and ingredients that are listed in our recipes if they are not sold by Natures Garden. When you use Natures Garden recipes and/or raw ingredients, you are agreeing to indemnify Natures Garden against any liability of performance, any lack of performance, or any problems that you encounter with the finished products.