Pottery Barn Bird Decoupage Ornament Knock-off

I'm frugal when it comes to gift giving at Christmas; with a family our size, we have to be frugal.  So usually, I try to make the gifts that we give to our extended family and friends.  While searching through popular merchants I stumbled upon these ornaments by Pottery Barn; a 4 piece set for $29.  They are indeed cute, and would make a good gift or wrapping accessory to a present.  So, I set out to make my cheap version.



Thanks to The Graphics Fairy (http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/) there is a lot of free clip art of Christmas bird, and sheet music.  So I went and selected the birds and music to use.  Printed it our onto regular paper and got ready to assemble.

Supplies:

Mod-Podge Glue

Mod-Podge Dimension

Ribbon

3.25 diameter Wood Disc

Silver Trim

Foam Brush

I did spend some money for this project.  I decided to buy some round wood disc as the backing to the ornament (nice and sturdy), and I also bought some silver zigzag trim which was $4.99 for a 12 ft roll.  Plus I used a 20% off my purchase coupon on these items, so the price is minimal.  I'll show you a result of that at the end of this post though.

Step one, attach the ribbon hanger to the back of the wood disk with hot blue.  I used 5 inch strands.

Next, trace the disc round onto the sheet music.  Cut out the circle and mod podge to the front of the ornament. Cut out the bird image, trimming as you desire.  Paint a thin layer of mod podge to the ornament and place the bird image in the desired location on the disc.   Let this layer dry thoroughly.  About 20 minutes.  Then add another layer of mod podge over the front of the ornament, make sure everything is covered.   Allow this to dry thoroughly.

Then, add a circle cut of the sheet music to the back of the disc, this covers up any ugly spots, tags and the attachment of the ribbon.  Paint a thin layer of mod podge over the back too.  Let this layer dry thoroughly.

Notice I didn't make just rounds, I decoupaged some of the scraps too.

I'm next hot glue the some silver trim to frame the ornament; trying to be careful not to burn myself.  This piece ends up being 10 inches to cover the circumference.

The last step is the Mod Podge Dimensional Magic (this could be skipped if you don't want the glass bubble look).   That thin layer of Mod Podge on the front of the ornament should be completely dry before using the "Dimension".  Also, don't use Dimension if you haven't sealed the paper in some way.  The Dimension will run and absorb into the paper.... just take my word for it; I have experience!  The Dimension is just squeezed out of the bottle onto the ornament.  After making a layer and clearing any air bubbles, this needs to set for 3 hours to dry.

 


Okay here's the finished pieces.  Sorry, I have no twinkling lights in the background, that would have made this picture look great!

I'm happy with the way they turned out!  And even more excited about the price!  Woot!

Here's the summary:

Pottery Barn set: $29 for 4 pcs ($7.25 a piece).

My set: (10in. silver trim $0.35) + (wood disc $0.29) = $0.64 plus the 20% discount coupon = TOTAL $0.52 a piece!

Pottery Barn also has the "Twelve Days of Christmas" ornaments for $69 ($5.75 a piece), I'm going to try to come up with something comparably nostalgic there too!