Christmas Ornaments

Growing up with 8 siblings required our family to be a little creative when it came to finances. One thing my mother did was make our Christmas ornaments. I really enjoy having a very beautifully decorated tree (that matches) and looks gorgeous but sometimes it is fun to have a very personalized Christmas tree. The great thing about looking at a very homemade Christmas decorated tree is that floods of memories and good times come back when you look at it every year. So for this post I'll be showing you how to make your own group of choir singers from soda pop cans. The other cool thing about this particular ornament is you can make each individual choir member look like each member of the family. I didn't think of that until after I made these so they don't really look like anyone I know-they're just and interesting group of people!

I started with a 6 pack of sodas. The easy part-drink them. They must be empty. Then rinse them out.
Then, step on them sideways like this. (above) They work best if you can manage to get the bottom of the can to not be seen but I really can't give any tips on how to get them to turn out any specific way (as you can see...)
Then I painted them a solid color. If you want the choir to match that is fine. I went with Orange, black, green and brown. I painted the faces peachy color for skin.
Then using a sharpie I drew in facial expressions. I also colored hole that you drink out of pink (or red) to mimic the inside of the mouth.
Then I added hair (all brown yarn). You can use whatever color you choose for hair.
A last detail I added was choir books complete with a song and notes.
I planned to give these to some friends so I wrote 'Merry Christmas from our family to yours, Dec. 2011' on the outside of the choir book.
I also used green felt to cut out circles for their hands (they are wearing green mittens)

This is a fun project, I let my 3 yr old paint her own but the older kids get the more creative they get with their details. It would make a fun night of family time! I hope you enjoy. Happy Holidays!