CHRISTMAS CROSS ORNAMENTS FOR PENNIES...LITERALLY! (DIY)

      

After hitting the Christmas sales, last Christmas, I am changing the color scheme of my Christmas tree this year. Yea me!! I have had the same decorations for years and it's time for a change. I wanted to coordinate the colors of my tree to the colors in my living room which are browns, oranges and bronze colors. I've always had traditional colors on my tree so this is kind've a big deal for me.

Being a senior has it's memory challenges but in this case it was such fun to have completely forgotten what I bought last year. Yes, I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas but being the frugal person that I am, I saw that Hobby Lobby had all their Christmas decor half price....in October, yes I said October. So, if I needed more decorations, I didn't want to miss the sale. Back to my memory, I could not remember what all I had purchased last year so my sweet husband brought in a couple of our storage boxes and there was my haul. Wow! I'm so excited with my purchases. I bought more than I had remembered. After looking over everything, I decided I needed a couple of rolls or ribbon and some ornaments in my new colors. But even at half price, those ornaments can get pricey.  What is a frugal person to do?? DIY TIME!

I put my thinking cap on and ask myself, "What is bronze/copper color that I can turn into ornaments?" Then it hit me....Pennies!!! That's right, pennies! I had covered a planter with pennies at another time and it turned out okay, so I thought, why not??   But what could I put them on??

I love crosses and I once read about a millionaire who picks up pennies because the slogan, "In God We Trust" reminded him to always trust God.  I love that!  After hearing the story, I too, always pick up pennies when I see them on the ground as a reminder to me that God loves me and to place my trust in Him.

So there is my ornament...crosses made from pennies.  I hope you get it.  It's not about the money, but the sentiment.  So here is a list of what you need and the steps to make them:

• Popsicle Sticks        
• Lemon Juice or Vinegar 
• Salt
• Plastic bowl          
• Hot Glue Gun
• Folk Art Acrylic Metallic Craft Paint - Solid Bronze 
• Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane
• Mineral Spirits (to clean your paintbrush) 
• Raffia or ribbon
• Scissors 
• Heavy duty shears
• and lots of PENNIES! (I used 29 for each cross)

1- Clean Your Pennies.  If you want to shine up your pennies, cover and soak them in lemon juice or vinegar and salt. (I didn't measure, I just poured some sale in the bowl.)  Stir them around every 15 minutes or so.  If you have the patience, Bar Keepers Friend REALLY makes 'em shine. I started out scrubbing each on but it's way TOO time consuming.  I let my pennies soak a couple of hours and then rinsed them in water and laid them on an old towel, patted them and left them to dry.

2.  Cut Your Popsicle Sticks.  Using the heavy duty shears, cut the popsicle sticks for the horizontal cross piece.  My popsicle sticks measured 5 1/2" inches tall and I made my horizontal piece 3 1/2".

       

3- Make Your Cross Shape. Hot glue the popsicle sticks to form a cross.  

4- Paint The Cross.  Paint both sides of the cross with the Folkart - Simple Bronze metallic paint.  Allow to dry. 

5- Make Your Hangers.  Cut the ribbon or rafia into 7" long strips.  Glue the two ends together to form a loop. Set aside. (Sorry, I forgot to make a photo of this but you get it.  It's easier to glue the hanger on when it's already formed into a loop.)

6- Make Your End Clusters.  Begin by hot gluing 3 pennies together for each end of the cross. (I picked out the shinier ones.)  It's easier to glue the ends of the pennies onto the cross if they are already glued in a cluster. BTW- I suffer, slightly from OCD, so I had to make sure that the heads of my pennies were all on top, facing (for the most part) in the same direction.  

Like this: 

 

7- Attach Your Pennies. Lay out the pennies on the popsicle stick cross before gluing.  I placed the first penny at the intersection first then added pennies up, down and across to make sure they would line up correctly.  Then glue them to the popsicle stick.

8-  Attaching Pennies To The Back.  After you have glued all the pennies on the first side, turn the cross over.  Note.  I chose to leave off the cluster ends on the back.  Just didn't seem necessary to me.  It's your call.  I started gluing from the bottom and went up.  Again, lay the pennies out first, to align, before gluing. Note: DO NOT forget to glue the hanger under the top penny.  (Of course, I remembered that. LOL!)   I glued the loop to the popsicle stick first,  then the penny on top of the loop, all at the same time.  Work quickly.

 

9- Finish With Sealer. Paint a coat of Minwax Quick Drying Poly to help keep the crosses shiny and allow them to dry.

I can't wait to see my new DIY ornaments on my tree.  Hey I can't wait to see my tree all decked out in new colors!   But until then, I've gotta new pair of earrings.  LOL!!
Stay tuned.  I'll post photos when I get my tree decorated.

Blessings. and thanks for reading my blog.