After quite a bit of trial and error on my part, I quickly discovered that not all acrylic paints are created equal. Here are a few of my tips and recommendations:
A fun way to repurpose cheap Christmas ornaments with baking soda paint
One of the latest crazes on Instagram and TikTok has been faux textured pottery and painting old thrifted vessels with baking soda paint to make it look like stoneware and terracotta. Today I want to show you how you can transform cheap Christmas ornaments and thrifted or old vases into modern painted Christmas ornaments that look like terracotta beauties.
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I love to repurpose Christmas ornaments and several years ago I painted some cheap colorful plastic Christmas ball ornaments to look like black and white painted brushstroke ornaments. Back then I loved the look but have changed my taste a bit since then. It was time to use them for something new.
If you’ve been around for a while then you know that I like to work with what I have and to repurpose things. That has definitely been the trend for me this year. I repurposed my desk into a bleached beauty and my mirror into a grasscloth looker just to name a few.
Below you can see how the faux terracotta sphere DIY ornaments look on our Christmas tree that I revealed this week in my Christmas tour. They are subtle and pretty and can also be used all year round which I will show you later.
Materials needed
- latex paint samples, leftover latex paint, or even craft paint, just don’t use oil paint ( I use different colors: a base color, a darker version, and white – more color details below in the instructions)
- baking soda
- Kilz spray paint primer (I’ve seen other people skip priming the outside of the ornament but I prefer to make sure the paint adheres perfectly to the shiny plastic)
- brush
- dropcloth
- ornaments (…or pretty much anything else you’d like to paint, the possibilities are endless and you could even use glass ornaments! The trend right now is to paint cheap pottery, vases, and glass vessels)
- cardboard or thin piece of wood
- nails, screws, or chopsticks (check below to see what I mean)
- spoon for mixing
RELATED: I have tried other DIY paint recipes in the past on furniture makeovers which is another great way to make affordable paint.
How to paint cheap Christmas ornaments with baking soda paint to make them look like terracotta spheres
This is definitely one of those easy DIY projects that even the kids in the house can help you with. Painting Christmas ornaments definitely doesn’t require super skills. If you are looking for another easy Christmas craft that kids of all ages can do then check out my lunch bag paper snowflakes.
When you add baking soda to paint, it makes the paint thicker, more textured, and less shiny than it was before. The more baking soda you use the more texture you get. If you are trying to paint something to make it look like pottery or concrete then this is the way to go. It is actually a lot of fun because you can’t really mess up.
Colors I used to paint Christmas ornaments:
You can buy color samples for cheap in small containers.
- Strawberry Malt by Valspar – 2008-8C (leftover paint from our bathroom makeover)
- Rustic Oak by Valspar – 2007-7B (paint sample)
- Ultra White by Valspar – 7006-24 (leftover paint from our house)
(Find out more about my favorite terracotta paint colors in a recent blog post that I wrote)
Some of the baking soda recipes out there give a certain ratio of paint to baking soda but I don’t really like giving a specific measurement for it because the beauty of this project is that it is forgiving and you can’t really do many mistakes.
Like I said earlier, I had a ton of cheap plastic ornaments leftover that I originally painted a couple of years ago with black and white acrylic paint (see my brushstroke ornaments tutorial). It was a fun project but I was ready for a change again.
Below you can see the colors they used to be before I primed them with Kilz spray primer.
This faux terracotta paint project is all about layering the colors for texture.
- Like I said above I start with the middle-toned color which in my case is the Strawberry Malt. I actually ended up doing two coats of that color.
- When that is dried, I thinly brush on the darker color. For me, it was the Rustic Oak. Dab some of the paint off onto a paper towel before brushing it on so you can make sure it’s lightly painted on with no full coverage.
- When that is dried, I crosshatch an even lighter layer of the white paint. I wouldn’t even call it a layer. Just use the tips of the brush to lightly dust it with the white and feather it on.
- In the end, if you don’t like the results, then just go over it again. No harm here and super easy.
Check out the texture on my thrifted pots and vases. I think they really do look like terracotta, don’t you think so?
Also, check out how to paint flower pots for more tips!
Here is an idea for the finished faux terracotta spheres
You can place the Christmas ball ornaments into a bowl all year as a bowl or vase filler. Just take the hooks or strings off and place them with the neck of the ball facing down. I also used my faux palm-leaf fans in a painted vase.
I think the baking soda paint Christmas balls are perfect for my tree. You can see them better when the lights are off.
I keep using these painted ornaments every year and recently did in my home tour with gingerbread decor. where I also made gingerbread Christmas ornaments out of cardboard. I even added gingerbread details to my paper bag snowflakes.
UPDATE: I recently used the same paint sample leftovers to give some mismatched plastic pumpkins a faux terracotta makeover.
Maybe I should make a video yet for this project but there are so many out there already since I mentioned this is kind of a craze right now. I have not seen DIY Christmas Ornaments painted this way before. So that’s a new one.
So what ya think? Is that a Christmas decoration that you’d be into? If not here are some of my other ornament blog posts like my poster board snowflakes with free snowflake svg file, easy honeycomb ornament, foldable 3D stars, or my favorite wooden German Christmas ornaments.
How to paint clear glass or plastic Christmas ornaments
You can use clear glass Christmas ornaments or clear plastic Christmas ornaments for this project. They both work equally well. So, let’s take a look at what you’ll need.
What you need:
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- clear glass or plastic ornaments
- DecoArt Americana Multi-Surface Satin Acrylic Paint (in color of your choice)
- paper towels
- plastic cup or water bottle
Video Tutorial
I put together this quick little video to show you just how easy it is to paint Christmas ornaments.
1. Remove the tops from the ornaments.
Before you can add paint to the inside of your clear glass or plastic Christmas ornaments, you will need to remove the caps. You simply grab the band and pull it off and out of the ornament opening.
2. add paint to the ornaments.
First, for the best results, you’ll want to be sure you’re using a fresh bottle of paint. If you have acrylic paint that’s been sitting on the shelf for some time, it’s probably best if you just buy a fresh new bottle of paint. Plus, acrylic paints are really inexpensive and come in all sorts of amazing colors.
It’s really easy to customize your Christmas ornaments. I chose white acrylic paint so I could create some Rae Dunn inspired ornaments at a fraction of the cost. (Although the Metallics paint is pictured in the below pictures, it is NOT recommended for this project.)
So, now that you have a fresh bottle of acrylic paint, be sure to shake it up really well.
Then you will squeeze a little bit of paint into the ornament. I like to add about four squeezes and rotate the ornament each time. Just don’t use too much paint. You can always add more, if needed.
3. Roll and tilt
Once you have about four squirts of paint in your clear glass or plastic Christmas ornament, you’ll want to kind of tilt it and roll it around so that the paint coats the entire inside of the ornament. It’s also helpful to kind of tap the ornament against the palm of your hand.
4. Let the Ornaments Dry
Once you have the entire inside of the Christmas ornament coated with acrylic paint, you’ll want to invert it upside down. Excess paint will run out of the opening in the ornament, so be sure to rest the ornament in or on something that you don’t mind getting paint on.
My husband made me these handy paintbrush holders. They are simply pieces of PVC that have been cut to varying heights and glued to a small scrap piece of wood. You can also use a plastic water bottle.
Let the ornaments rest upside down for 10 minutes. That should be enough time for the excess paint to run out. After 10 minutes, turn the ornaments right side up and let rest another 10 minutes. I typically rotate the ornaments back and forth a few times and then leave the ornaments to dry overnight.
5. decorate your ornaments
After your ornaments have dried, put the tops back on and decorate as desired.
To finish off my painted ornaments, I simply tied some ribbon on to the top. I also used my Cricut machine to make some Rae Dunn inspired ornaments. I printed out the words “Joy, Noel and Peace” (I used this font) and affixed them to the fronts of the disc shaped clear ornaments that I painted white.
