· ·

DIY Personalized Christmas Ornaments

Create some DIY personalized Christmas ornaments– the perfect holiday gift to give as you visit family and friends this season!

Red Personalized Wooden Christmas Ornaments

I really love to give gifts. It’s true. Sure, it can sometimes be stressful to try to think up a great gift idea. But it’s also a fun challenge to try to figure out exactly what the recipient might need or want and find the perfect gift to meet that need.

I especially have a love for personalized gifts. Maybe it’s because when I was little I couldn’t ever find my name on anything (though I can now!). Or maybe it’s just because I feel like when someone’s name is on something it gives it an extra special touch, like the gift was made especially for them. Whatever the reason, if I can monogram it or write your name across it, you’d better believe that I’m going to do it! So of course Christmas gives me the perfect excuse to put my personalized gift giving into action.

I think it’s kind of fun to have a small token for each family to take home from our Christmas celebration as a memento, so last year I made some easy monogrammed ornaments for everyone. This year I wanted to do something a little different while still continuing the personalized ornament tradition. So after much brainstorming and scouring the craft store for inspiration, I finally came up with these little gems.

How to Make Personalized Ornaments Step-by-Step

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Supplies You’ll Need

Here’s what I used to make my DIY personalized Christmas ornaments:

Now I “cheated” a little bit and had my Cricut cut out my letters for me. If you don’t have a cutting machine, you could use the chalk transfer method I used in this post to create your letters and paint pens to fill them in.

If you’re working with a machine, these are the steps I used to create my personalized ornaments…

1. Sand down the rough edges if necessary.

I started with my wooden ornament blanks and sanded down any rough edges. If you are using tile or an ornament made from something other than wood, skip this step.

Plain wooden Christmas ornament blanks with sanded edges

2. Paint the Christmas ornament blanks.

I then removed the tie so that I wouldn’t get any paint on it, and I painted my blanks red.

Christmas ornament blanks painted red

I just used a small craft paint brush to paint the ornaments. And I was sure to paint both sides so they would look finished from any angle while hanging on the tree.

3. Create the design and cut.

As they were drying, I created my design in the Cricut Design Studio software. I used a font called Snell Roundhand for the script and Playfair Display for the print. I also used the curlicue shape from Cricut’s library.

Once I had my design set, I had my machine cut it out, and I used the hook tool to weed away the excess vinyl.

Name cut out in adhesive vinyl using a Cricut machine, Snell Roundhand font

4. Transfer the vinyl to the ornament.

I cut a small piece of transfer paper, removed the backing, and pressed it down onto my word. Then I removed the backing from the adhesive vinyl.

Adhesive vinyl on transfer paper

Centering my design on the ornament, I used my scraper tool to press it into place. I peeled back the transfer paper, and I had my first word done!

Vinyl name "Lawson" on a wood Christmas ornament blank that has been painted red

I repeated the transfer process to add the year and the curlicues to the wood ornament.

Red personalized Christmas ornament with last name, date, and curlicues

5. Add twine and hang the ornaments.

Finally, I used a paperclip to help me get my twine back through the little hole in the ornament so that I could hang them, and they were finished!

personalized christmas ornaments hanging on the tree

Tips for making

  • This same tutorial can be used with a Cricut or Silhouette machine. However, the fonts and shapes may vary by machine.
  • You’ll want to use permanent vinyl, not removable vinyl to create your design.
  • Allow the paint to dry completely before trying to transfer the design.
  • Sometimes working with small letters like these can be a little tricky. I found that for some reason when I began to peel off the excess vinyl from the end of the word, it seemed to pull away more easily than when I started at the beginning.

I hope this easy project inspires you to create some fun, personalized Christmas ornaments for your loved ones this holiday season!

close up of a red ornament with a monogram on it hanging on a lit christmas tree

Now I think I need a few of these for my own tree… 😉 I just love that a $1 wood blank can turn into a personalized memento in just a few little steps! It such a simple little gift, but it can be hung on the tree and remembered for years to come.

Want to save this post to revisit later? Be sure to pin the image below so you can find it easily!

close up of a red DIY personalized ornament on a lit christmas tree with text overlay

Thank you so much for following along! Have a wonderful day!

Abby Lawson at Abby Organizes, justagirlandherblog.com

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

11 Comments

  1. Kimm at Reinvented and RoadKill Rescue says:

    I love these Abby! I just bought some blank ornaments yesterday to make some for my kids (they get an ornament every year so they will have a full tree’s worth when they move out ?)

    1. That is the sweetest gift for kids. I must to do it. Thanks for sharing your idea. Xoxo

  2. Hannah@SeeingtheLovely says:

    These are so cute, Abby! My sister and I used to often make ornaments for our relatives when we were younger, but these are so cool-I might have to renew the tradition!

  3. I love these ornaments! They’re so cute and personal, and they’re the perfect gift to give to give to people who are hard to buy for!

  4. Lauren @ The Thinking Closet says:

    Our family used to have an ornament-making day every year before Christmas where we’d make a slew of handmade ornaments to give away as gifts (and of course a few to adorn our tree). Now, I’m inspired to put a date on the calendar for me and my Silhouette to make it happen this year! Thanks for this killer tutorial.

    And thanks for the incredible shout-out to my book, Abby! You are zee best. So glad to hear it has inspired you!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      What a FUN tradition! I love that! Thank YOU so much for inspiring us all to meaningful gift giving! You are the best, my friend! Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  5. Addi Ganley says:

    These are perfect personal gifts to give, especially to family members. They look so elegant but so simple at the same time.

    Thank you for the idea!

  6. Lovely Decor (@lb_lovelydecor) says:

    I love these!! Me and one of my good friends do an ornament exchange every year and I am so going to make one this year!

    Lauren Baxter | Lovely Decor
    xx

  7. Preciosa @ A Simple Life and Everything Nice says:

    I love personalized gifts! 🙂 Thank you for this wonderful idea. 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you! <3

      ~Abby =)

  8. I like it, but this is too dificult to me.

Comments are closed.