Shrink Art Ornaments

Remember Shrinky Dinks?  Well, no one would ever guess these adorable Christmas Ornaments are made from Shrink Art Film!  First, we drew a few lines and dots on the edges of a Heart, Star and Stocking (pre-cut from Shrink Film Shapes) with Sharpie Markers.  Next, we baked them in the oven for 3 minutes.  After they cooled, we painted each shape with a little nail polish (to add sparkle) and finished them with rhinestones, glitter stickers, and embroidery floss.  This is the perfect weekend craft!  Kids will love drawing on the shrink film shapes and then watching them SHRINK!  Add some sparkle to your tree this season.  Or start a new family tradition of making Christmas Ornaments together!

Supplies Needed:

• Pre-cut Shrink Art Shapes
• Hole Punch
• Sharpie Markers
• Nail Polish
• 3mm Rhinestones
• Mini Christmas Buttons
• Glitter Letter Stickers
• Embroidery Floss

Directions for Making Shrink Art Christmas Ornaments:

1)   Use Shrink Pre-Cut Christmas Ornament Shapes or cut your own shapes from sheets of Shrink Film.  We used White Shrink Film, however, it is also available in Clear Sheets.  To add color, line the edges of the shape with a Sharpie Marker.  We did short lines and dots.  However, you can color the entire shape or shrink it just plain white and add glitter or color nail polish (after it cools).

2)  IMPORTANT:  Hole punch shapes at the top before baking!  A single hole punch used for paper will work.  On our 1st star we forgot this step and therefore, made a pin instead…

3)  Bake shapes at 300 degrees for about 2-3 minutes.  A small toaster or convention oven works great.  Line the oven rack with foil or parchment paper.  Also, place a small piece of foil or parchment paper on top of each shrink film shape.  This will help prevent the shrink film from curling up.  If it does, it’s easily fixable!  Just carefully remove from to oven (after 3 mins) and press down flat with the bottom of a glass or flat object.  Be careful as the shape is 300 degrees!  Here is what our shapes looked like after 3 minutes of baking:

 4)  Remove from oven and let cool about 5-10 minutes.   Once cool, it is time to decorate the shapes!  We did each Christmas Ornament different so you would be inspired to create your own unique designs.  For the Heart Shape, we simply add a Glitter Letter Sticker to the center, added 3mm Red Rhinestones to the dots we drew on the edges, and tied a short piece of Red/White Twist Bakers Twine for hanging.

5)  For the Stocking (not lined with Sharpie Marker), we painted the top and tips with a Multi Colored Glitter Nail Polish!  It was dry in about 10 minutes (drying time depends on how thick the nail polish is applied).  As soon as the polish was dry, we added a few Mini Christmas Buttons with E6000 (but you could also use a clear nail polish), and tied a small red bow around the top of the stocking with Red Embroidery Floss!  We used the same red embroidery floss for hanging.

6)  Lastly, we created a Star Pin (since someone forgot to hole punch the top of the star before baking)…  For the star, we painted over the top of the ornament with a Gold Glitter Nail Polish.  One thing you will notice is that the nail polish will activate the color on the edges.  We swirled the colors around on the top of the star and let the nail polish dry.  When it’s dry, flip it over and attach a 1 1/4″ Silver Pin Back with E6000 to the back.  Let dry.

 Here is a picture of the shapes before and after.  The shapes started at 4 1/2 -5″ and after baking are 1 3/4 -2″.  They shrink a lot and are just adorable!

This is a perfect weekend Christmas Craft!  Start a new family tradition of making Christmas Ornaments for your tree.  Everyone will enjoy this craft!

More Ideas:

• Test colors and shrinking first on a scrap piece of shrink film.
• Don’t use Nail Polish over the Sharpie Marker unless you want the color to spread across the ornament (like we did the star ornament).
• Colored pencils can be used on Shrink Film if it is sanded with a (300-400 grit sandpaper) first.
• If you cut your own shapes and have any rough edges, file smooth with a nail file.
• Instead of Ornaments make into Pins, Key Chains, Magnets, and More!