How To: A “Santa Trap” Handmade Christmas Tree Ornament Tutorial

It might be because I’ve been binge-watching the myth hunting Destination Truth show recently, but I came up with an idea to make a Santa Trap DIY Christmas Tree Ornament, which might make Santa’s work harder, but I’m betting my nephew Kit is going to love this idea anyway.

The premise is, when Santa breaks into our house to leave presents for the good kids, this ornament will jingle on the tree while it’s being shifted around to leave those awesome prezzies beneath.

You’ll know Santa is in the house when you hear those jingle bells ring. Cool, right?

The cutest thing happened today, when Kit saw this Mod Podge/jewelry-wired craft in my hand and immediately knew that I was making an ornament for our Christmas tree.

He was so excited and inspired, he decided that he’d twist his apple juice box straw into a candy cane for his own handmade ornament, before he was even finished drinking his juice.

So cute! And messy.

Not sure how I’m gonna clean that straw up enough to have it sit on the tree, but that’s what Google is for, right?

He then asked if we could put the Christmas tree up today so that our ornaments will have someplace to hang, and I’m preparing to hear that question for the next two weeks until we finally do get the decorations out of storage. It’s been a while since I’ve made a crafting tutorial, so please give me a shout if I missed a step somewhere.

Perhaps its the anticipation of the oncoming holidays, or maybe its all the awesome blogs I’ve been reading recently, whatever it is, I’ve been eager to get my crafting on. So, I walked into Michaels with not much thought of how I wanted to make an ornament, just that I wanted to create something new.

Craft Supplies List to Make the Santa Trap Christmas Ornament

1. The focal point of this ornament is the reindeer head, and to create this you’ll need the Mystical Forest Mod Podge mold. I have no idea how long these molds have been on the market, but they’re all kinds of awesome. I can’t wait to pick up a few more to play with, or maybe I’ll ask Santa for some!

2. You’ll need Mod Podge’s Mod Melts to fill these awesome molds with. They come in a variety of colours, and some even sparkle. For this craft, I used the Metallic melts, that come in silver and gold.

3. For heating the Mod Melts, Mod Podge has a Mod Melter that is reminiscent of a caulking gun, that might be easier to handle than a high-temp glue gun. I’m not sure though as I already had a mini glue gun at home and the melts are built to fit, so that’s what I used. The glue gun does make a bit of a mess while trying to pour the melt into the mold that I think the melter wouldn’t do with it’s finer tipped nozzle.

4. The ornament is hung by one long bit of jewelry wire. I used 20 gauge wire, because that’s what I had on hand, but (while this gauge holds the ornament shape nicely,) you might want to use a slightly thicker 18 gauge instead.

5. You’ll need a couple tools to use with jewelry wire. I had flat nosed pliers, jewelry wire cutter and a 3/4-inch cylindrical tube on hand to create the spiral.
6. Finally, you’ll need the bits that make this ornament a trap…. Jingle bells!

How to Make the Santa Trap Christmas Ornament

1. With your wire cutter, cut out two strips of jewelry wire: 12 in and 7 in. These sizes wound up being a bit more than I needed for the project, but it’s better to have too much than too little when working with wire.

• Using your flat-nose pliers and a cylindrical tube, bend the 12-in wire into a shape that you’d like your ornament to be in. If you like the same shape as the one above, start by creating the diamond top, which acts as the hook for the tree ornament, and is roughly an inch on all sides.
• The length between hook and spiral is about an 1 1/2 inches long, but that also includes a bump in the middle to hold the reindeer, so you’re looking more at 2 inches of straight wire for you to bend into shape. I created a small, 1/2 inch dip in the wire that will be placed in the reindeer mold. Use the mold to help determine the right spot on your wire for the dip.

• Using any cylindrical tube you can find, (mascara tubes work well if you have one that’s just under an inch thick,) wrap the rest of the wire around to create a spiral. Take note of which way you are wrapping the wire, depending on whether you prefer a forward or backward spiral. Once the spiral is made, gently collapse and expand the wire until you have a flat spiral loop as shown above. The 18 gauge wire will give the spiral a more smooth look to its curves over the 20 gauge.

2. Heat up your Mod Melter or High Temp Mini Glue Gun and do a few practice pieces with your mold to ensure your melt is liquid enough to not create any bubbles/errors in your reindeer mold. The great part is that if you do have an error in your reindeer, you can cut it away from your wire and try again, but its always better to have this trick work the first time around.

When you are ready, first pour the mod melts into the reindeer mold, making sure you have the entire area covered. Once in place, push the wire dip into the melt and add a bit more melt on top of the wire to ensure its fully covered. Wait for a few minutes required for the melt to cool and solidify.

Once the melt has cooled, you can pull your ornament out of the mold. Particularly if you’re using a glue gun, you’ll probably need to use sharp-tipped snips/scissors to trim away any excess melt from your reindeer.

3. Finally, get the jingle bells out, yay! I had created four loops in the shape of a pyramid, 3 to hold a bell each and one to loop around the base of the spiral, but as I’m typing this, I’m not entirely happy with it. You would probably do better by creating a simple ring with your cylinder tube, and thread three or more bells within it. Hook your set of bells into the base of your spiral.

And that’s it! Your Handmade Santa Trap Christmas Ornament is complete.

Do you make Christmas Tree ornaments crafts at home? What were your favourite projects to make?