Every year, some ladies in my area get together to exchange home made ornaments. Last year, I painted some wood slices with some hand lettered Christmas words, so I couldn’t do that again. I started to think through what I could do and since I love illustrating, I wanted to somehow incorporate that into my ornament. A brainstorming session with my husband resulted in these DIY Little Town Ornaments!

The ornament depicts a night winter scene, with sparkling snow along the bottom.

I wanted to make sure to include some Wintertime/Christmas basics, like trees in windows, wreaths on doors, and also the scenes of a church…

Friendly neighborhoods,

Fancy houses and apartment buildings…

As well as the local bakery and of course a toy store to buy Christmas presents!

I didn’t take photos as I went because this was an “after kids are asleep” craft (hello, glitter! Paint! Glue!), but I’ll give you the rundown!

You’ll need:

  • 2″ Wooden blocks (I bought mine here) I suggest Pine because they are lighter weight
  • Fine Grit sandpaper
  • Cardstock and Printer for Little Town File: DIY Little Town Ornaments
  • Sponge Craft Brush
  • White Craft Paint
  • Mod Podge
  • Super Fine White Glitter
  • Twine or Ribbon
  • Drill, drill bits
  • Hot Glue gun, glue sticks

Instructions:

  1. Sand the edges of your blocks to smooth them.
  2. Paint the blocks with the white craft paint, and let dry completely.
  3. Print the town file on Cardstock, and cut out each scene. Each block with have 4 different house/shop scenes and a sky piece.
  4. Cover the block sides with Mod Podge, and adhere the town scene. Then cover the top with Mod Podge, and add the final sky piece to the top side.
  5. Allow to dry, then cover the top and sides with a final layer of Mod Podge. Let dry.
  6. Apply Mod Podge generously to the bottom and snow section of the Little Town scene. Dip in the Super Fine Glitter. Let dry.
  7. Drill hole in the top of the block to fit the twine.
  8. Cut twine to desired length, and loop. Add some glue into the drilled hole, and insert twine. Let dry.

That’s it! We did it assembly-line style and whipped out 9 ornaments in about 3 hours, including dry time (we set the blocks in front of a fan, ha!). They look sooooo cute, we love them! I can’t wait to share these ornaments with my friends!