DIORAMA CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS from plastic cups.

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Fun Christmas craft for kids and grown-ups: Make diorama Christmas ornaments from plastic cups.

plastic cup Christmas ornaments

I want to make a jillion of these diorama Christmas ornaments. You know, in all my free time. (That’s funny because I have none. Zippo. Zilch free time.) I made one with a pipe cleaner snowman and pipe cleaner tree, but my heart belongs to this gnome and deer. With all of the cupcake toppers out there, you can make just about any scene you can imagine.

Find the how-tos to make diorama ornaments HERE at Kix

how to make diorama Christmas ornaments

you will need:

Decorative cardstock or heavy weight paper
Plastic cups
Pencil
Pinking shears or decorative scissors
Thumbtacks
Needle
Thin ribbon
Jingle bells (optional)
Cupcake toppers, pipe cleaner figures, dollhouse miniatures, etc. for the scene
Pillow fiberfill or bunting, or cotton balls
Craft glue

what to do:

Trace the cup’s rim on the back of a piece of decorative paper. Use pinking shears or decorative scissors to cut out the circle, cutting ¼ inch outside the pencil mark so the finished circle is larger than the rim of the cup.

Use a thumbtack to poke two holes ½ inch apart on the bottom of the cup. Use the needle to thread the ribbon through the holes so both ends of the ribbon are outside the cup. Slide the ribbon ends through a bell, if using, and fit the bell up against the cup. Tie the ends of the ribbon to make a loop. Set aside.

On the printed side of the paper circle, create your scene! Use any tools you like, including pictures cut from magazines, glitter for snow, tiny figures from the craft store. Specialty cake decorating shops sell every imaginable cupcake toppers that work wonderfully to create mini-dioramas.

To assemble your ornament, generously glue figures to the center of the paper circle. Hold for 20 seconds to secure. Dab glue around the figures and add small pieces of fiberfill, bunting or cotton balls. Test that the arrangement fits inside the cup. Then pipe a line of glue over the entire rim of the cup, and place the cup over the arrangement. Press firmly on the paper for 20 seconds, then set aside to fully dry.