Faux tin ornaments

Diana, Mom to the Wayward Girls, here! When the girls were young, we wanted to make December a magical and fun month for them. I collected children's Christmas stories, activities, recipes, and crafts all year long. I made a notebook for all my ideas and consulted it often. Each year, I got a big calendar on which we tracked and planned our activities. I tried to have a craft or activity plus a Christmas story each night. We kept some of our treats and crafts we made; others we gave away as service to others.

Here's one of our favorites: Faux Tin Ornaments.

Supplies-

• Aluminum trays or pans.
Note: I bought a very inexpensive one that was really too thin. Try to get one trays that are heavier than heavy duty aluminum foil. Because my tray was so thin, the ornaments bent too easily when handled. This doesn't happen so easily with heavier foil. We still have many of the ornaments the girls made more than 10 years ago.
• Cookie cutters or Christmas object shaped stencils.
• Ball point pens, scissors, pen or nail
• Ribbon

Find a pattern shape. You can use cookie cutters, print out shapes or freehand.

Trace shapes on the tray with a ball point pen. The ink will not show up. You can burnish out creases you may find in the tray, as I'm doing with the scissor handles here.

Cut out the shape. Lay the shape on a magazine, stack of paper, or corrugated cardboard. Use the ball point pen to draw embellishments on the ornament. (This makes the lines softer and broader.) You can draw on both sides to add texture. This will make the ornaments look embossed.

Embellishment ideas: The lines on the angel's wings, and the dots were drawn on one side of the angel, and the heart was drawn on the back.

The star has designs on both sides as well as small holes that will allow light to shine through.

If desired, an adult or older child can carefully punch holes through the ornament for a new look. You could also use permanent markers to add color to the ornament.

Finally, punch a hole for a ribbon or ornament hanger.