Ornament Week: DIY Dinosaur Ornaments

Welcome to Day 2 of Ornament Week!

If you are just now joining us for ornament week, you can catch up by checking out yesterday’s tutorial for Wood Memory Ornaments and my 14er tree.

Today’s DIY Ornament inspiration: Glam Dinos! Featuring a glittering T-Rex angel tree topper.

I have thing for dinosaurs. If you check out my plants, chances are you’ll find a tiny little gold dinosaur sitting in the planter, like it’s hiding in a jungle. They are literally all over my house. So when I was brainstorming ideas for my home office mini tree, DIY dinosaur ornaments were the obvious choice.

But you can translate this basic concept to any number of children’s toys. Small cars, barnyard sets (with the barn as the topper), army men, jungle animals, etc.

Step 1: T-rex Angel Tree Topper

If you know me, you KNOW that my first idea for this concept was rooted in a gold and glittering tyranasourus-rex angel tree topper.

My angelic t-rex is made up of just a few components: a squishy t-rex toy, wings cut from sheets of craft foam, a chain link for jewelry, and jewelry wire.

I painted my t-rex (Shall we name her? Let’s. Her name is now Angelica), the wings I cut from craft foam and the metal chain link with 2 – 3 coats of metallic gold craft paint. And I finished the wings with 2 coats of glittery gold paint.

Next, I attached the halo. I wrapped jewelry wire around the chain link a number of times and because Angelica is “squishy” I was able to poke the end of wire right through her outer hide.

Then, I used a similar approach to adding the tree attachment. I coiled the wire several times and wrapped the coil with another bit of wire, poking both ends into Angelica’s belly.

Finally, I used a hot glue gun to attach her glittery wings to her back.

Step 2: Gild the Dinos!

I found a variety pack of toy dinos for a just a few bucks. I painted them with 2 – 3 coats of metallic gold paint. Be sure to get the bottoms of their feet!

Step 3: Add Ribbon

Finally, I attached ribbon loops to the golden dinos to hang them on the tree. The ribbon I used is 1/4″ thick and I guestimated the length by holding a loop up to the dinos before cutting. I glued the ends of the ribbon together before adding a dollop of hot glue to the joined ends and securing it to the backs of my mini dinos.

Step 7: Display!

I have a whole mini tree dedicated solely to my dino ornaments, but they would be a lovely addition to any tree! Experiment with various sizes or with other small children’s’ toys to create whimsical ornaments of your own.

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Tell me how your DIY ornaments turn out in the comments!

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