For Christmas 2024, I made some special ornaments as a little something extra for two special women on my list. Don’t know what I was thinking (or not thinking!) but I didn’t document the process. Anyway, they turned out splendidly, so I wanted to demonstrate how to make them now.
If you’ve got a printer and access to the internet, you can make unique Christmas ornaments as gifts for the book lover’s on your list.
Christmas Ornaments For the Book Lovers on Your List
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Supplies Used and Recommendations:
I found fillable ornaments at Dollarama, but you can find them online and at other stores, as well. I used my Exacto knife to cut the tape on the seam on one side of the ornament, leaving the other side taped.
Step 1: Download Pictures of Book Covers
I went to Amazon to search for my own favourite authors. You can download each one individually, but sometimes you can find books from the same author, showing each book cover in groupings like this:
Hover over the image(s) you want and click “save image as,” to download it to your computer.
Step 2: Resize Book Images
Open the images in a word processing program and resize them to 1/12 scale. Each image should measure approximately 1.42cm by 2.27cm. Make 2 copies of each book cover, so each side of the book will look the same when it’s inside the ornament.
Step 3: Cut Out Cover Images and Glue to Mini Book
Cut out each book cover separately and use a glue stick to attach them to the mini books. I found that some of the images were a bit long for the book cover, so I used my detail scissors to trim off the excess.
I looked at the main colour in the book covers and matched them to books of the same or similar colours. For instance, if a book cover has a lot of purple in it, I chose a purple book for it. That way, if the image doesn’t fill the entire book, it looks like there’s a deliberate border.
Step 4: Insert Mini Books Into Ornament and Tape Closed
You can add as many mini books to your ornament as you like, but anywhere from 15 to 20 books makes a nice showing. There are 16 in this ornaments that I made containing books by some of my favourite mystery writers. Add a small piece of regular tape to hold the ornament closed.
Step 5: Cover Seams with Ribbon and Add a Hanger
Any thin Christmas ribbon will work. Recently, I found a package of velvety ribbons in different colours at Dollarama. To attach the ribbon, I added a dot of hot glue to the top of the ornament at the top beside the hole for a hanger, one to the bottom and another to the top at the other side of the hanger.
The idea is to use the ribbon to hide the seam in the ornament. Then, fold a length of ribbon over and feed it through the hole in the ornament to make a hanger and finish by hot gluing a bow of the same ribbon at the base of the hanger.
I really like how my book ornament turned out. The velvet ribbon really elevates the look of it.
Here’s how the two book ornaments I made previously, turned out.
My daughter-in-law, Jenny, is a prolific writer and author of over 25 books on Amazon. I filled her ornament with miniature copies of most of the ones she had published at the time.
Daughter Corrie loves fantasy books. I filled her ornament with mini versions of some of her favourites. Both girls were delighted with the results and said they would be displaying their ornaments all year long.
These ornaments are relatively easy to create and make unique and thoughtful gifts for book lovers on your Christmas list.
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