We
can start thinking about Christmas decorations now, right?
One
year, my Christmas decorations revolved around a Disneyland theme.
Before you roll your eyes and go “Well, duh,”
you should be aware that I choose a different decorating scheme every
year, and usually it's color-based.
For instance, this year, my colors are red, green, gold, and purple.
But
one year, I just couldn't settle on a palette for some reason, so I
went with Disneyland. I used all the various mouse-eared ornaments
I've picked up at the park itself, tied loops of string to my
die-cast ride vehicles to turn them
into ornaments and since that wasn't enough to really fill out my
tree...I made a bunch more. I made an entire set based on the Small
World Promenade Wreaths, using 6” snowflake ornaments as backdrops.
I gave those away to a friend some years ago, but I still have some
others that I put together:
And
I do mean put together.
These ornaments are assemblages
of elements. Disneyland is far from my only subject matter when it
comes to creating ornaments like these,* but I'm sure it's the one
you're interested in. They're actually pretty easy to make, if
time-consuming...but you do need special materials that are not
necessarily easy to acquire. Said materials are as follows:
Foamcore
Satin Ornaments
These are polystyrene shapes completely wrapped with colored fibers, and they used to be a lot easier to come by; I found my first batch at Wal-Mart. (I haven't set foot in a Wal-Mart in years, so for all I know they still sell them, but I don't recommend them anyway—the following linked websites sell ones of much higher quality.) Nowadays, I get them from the following two websites. The Craft Place has a much wider selection of sizes and colors, but sells only in multi-packs. Gifts by Christine has a wider selection of shapes and sells individual ornaments, but the color selection is dicier and they don't come in satin finishes, only matte (and a few metallic).
Sequins
and/or Foil Confetti.
If
the word “sequin” only makes you think of little round metallic
bits with a hole in the center...boy, do I have a lot to teach you.
An entire drawer of my craft dresser is stuffed full of bags and bags
of different shapes and colors of sequins and confetti, and I do mean
stuffed—as
in, it can be hard to open and close. I'll list shape and color
recommendations for various Disneyland themes later on; for now here
is a partial list of good sources:
- Any brick-and-mortar craft shop—Michael's and Joann's are my usual go-tos
Pins
Use
these to stick your sequins and confetti to your ornament base(s).
Straight pins of the kind used for sewing work just fine, but I
prefer specialized “sequin pins” that are both shorter and finer
and thus a little easier to insert all the way into the foamcore.
(Gifts By Christine sells them.) I stock them with both silver and
gold-colored finishes in order to coordinate with different color
palettes.
I
also stock various colors of pearl-headed pins for the aesthetic
details those can provide.
Seed
Beads
These
are those super-tiny beads sold in little tubes. You can
go without them, especially using confetti pieces that don't have a
pre-punched hole, but they make the ornaments look nicer, they help
to anchor sequins with a hole, and it's much
easier to push the pin in to a bead's length away from the surface of
the ornament, than to push it in flush. Plus you can play with color,
create various effects, etc.
Ribbons,
Braid Trims, Satin Cords, Etc.
These
are used not only potentially as part of your design, but to create
hangers for the ornaments. Metallic braid trims look really fantastic
against dark or bold-colored ornament bases.
Miscellaneous
Acrylic
gems, little jewelry findings, buttons, tassels, and—oh yeah—hot
glue. If you can find a way to attach something to a foamcore base,
you can use it. It's an extremely versatile craft type.
But
I digress. How do you put all this together to create Disneyland
ornaments? Let's look at that top photo again:
It's
not a great
photo, I'll admit. It doesn't really show off the ornaments to their
best effect. But here's what each one is meant to evoke and some of
the pieces I used:
New
Orleans Square:
Purple base, a snaking loop of purple, green, and gold sequins
representing Mardi Gras beads, and then additional Mardi Gras-related
shapes: fleurs-de-lis, trumpets, crowns, masks, fans, etc.
Alice
in Wonderland:
Dark green base, pink and green leaves (hard to see in the photo),
flamingos and card suit symbols. The sides of the ornament not
visible in the photo have flowers, butterflies, and white rabbits.
Haunted
Mansion:
Black base, ghosts and gravestones. The upper corner visible in the
photo represents the Seance Room, with a clear cabochon gem (for
Leota's crystal ball) and floating musical instruments.
Jungle
Cruise:
Bold green base, an abstraction of the river (using blue wavy shapes)
wrapped around the middle. Above and below that (the “banks” of
the river), I made clusters of leaf-shaped sequins to represent the
thick foliage and stuck little jungle animals in them.
Enchanted
Tiki Room:
Bold yellow base, a central Tiki head surrounded by four parrots of
different colors and lots of musical notes. As an example of what you
can do with beads, I chose contrasting colors on the parrots to
outline their wing and tail feathers and give the appearance of
colorful patterns.
There
are of course many more possibilities. For instance, you could try
making a set to represent the eight (soon to be nine) lands, using
bases that reflect their map
colors and embellished with appropriate shapes (my New Orleans
Square ornament is a good example). As for individual attractions
that aren't covered in my little set of five, here's a smattering of
ideas:
Pirates
of the Caribbean:
Pirate-themed confetti sets are certainly a thing, although color
selection is pretty rigid. It's also not clear what would be the best
color to use for the base...dark blue maybe? You could also go with a
dark wine-red and try to recreate the imagery of the talking skull
with the crossed cutlasses underneath, which is probably the single
most iconic image from the ride.
The
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh:
A golden-yellow base dotted with bees and teddy bears. Umbrellas and
elephants are also relatively easy to find as confetti shapes, if you
wanted to illustrate some of the ride's specific scenes a little.
Big
Thunder Mountain Railroad:
Start with an orange or rust-colored base, encircle it with thin
ribbons in other sandstone colors, and add a few confetti train cars,
as well as tiny gold sequins representing gold nuggets.
Fantasy
Faire:
Use bold colors, rich gold braid and tassels, and medieval-esque
shapes such as fleurs-de-lis, crowns, and lions to create a sense of
regal luxury. With the right materials, you could do an entire set of
Disney Princess ornaments (I've tried, but only managed, like, four
of them), but for the Faire itself, you probably want more general
imagery.
Snow
White's Scary Adventures:
Add apples, jewels, and perhaps skulls to a black or dark blue base.
Very Gothic!
“it's
a small world”:
You can see my photo replicating the clock face** above, but if you
don't want to try anything that intricate, you can still put gold and
silver pinwheels, numerals, and tesselating shapes on a white base.
But maybe don't
use a spherical ornament for this? A drum (cylinder) could work
really well.
Finding
Nemo Submarine Voyage:
The base should be ultramarine turquoise. Fish and seashell confetti
is quite common, but even more delightfully should this be your
desire, you can get Finding
Nemo
branded confetti with Nemo and Dory as actual foil shapes! As an
alternate, you could take a bright yellow base and wrap a row of
“portholes” around the middle. Or do both, and make them a paired
set.
Star
Tours (or Star Wars attractions in general):
Likewise, you can get Star
Wars
confetti with pieces shaped like the symbols for the Empire and
Rebellion. It might be pretty hard to ensure the identification with
the attraction(s) rather than the film series, however.
So
there you go! Some basic ideas for creating Disneyland-themed
Christmas ornaments. If you decide to go ahead and make any, please
let me see them!
*
I may or may not have an entire
Etsy shop where I sell them.
**
The topography of this ornament is weird, because the actual clock
face is on a flat surface but I tried to recreate it on a hemisphere.
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