How to make a diorama ornament DIY 01/06/14

  

Last month I saw a cute idea that someone had posted to their vlog on making personalized diorama Christmas ornaments. 

 I wanted to try it but none of our craft stores had the right type of "open" glass ornaments.

So I hit the thrift stores and found this:

And at 1/2 price it was even better.

I started by taking out the base and removing the figures from it. 

(

 Then I found some pictures on my computer of the family I wanted to gift this to.

I printed tiny copies that would fit inside the globe. I also printed a flipped image to glue the images back to back so they'd be two-sided.

I dug around in my Christmas stash and found some mini stuff. I cut out the tiny images, glued them back to back and embellished the house with glitter-glue (for lights), pipe-cleaner (for wreath) and cotton (for snowman.)

But before I glued the house together I sandwiched a bent paperclip in the middle. This is how I attached the house to the base.

This is the back of the house. I did not embellish it.

This is the front. I also covered the edges of the roofline, the grass and the edges of the car with white craft paint to look like snow. I sprinkled glitter on it while the paint was still wet.

I found a scrap of syrofoam and cut it to size with a steak knife.

I glued it to the base with tacky glue and smeared some glue on top for the glitter to stick to.

While I was digging around in my Christmas stash I found some nice embossed dresden foil. I decided to use this as the back side of the ornament.

I put the dresden inside and tried to glue the edges of it to the globe but it was impossible! And it made a mess of glue on the glass. :(  I couldn't think of any other way to secure it, so I just left it kinda loose and inserted the house (back side toward it) up against it as best as I could. You can see the paperclip ends sticking out. 

I pressed the trees and family into the styrofoam where I wanted them and then removed them, put a dab of glue in each hole and replaced the trees and family. Let it dry a bit.

I then carefully squeezed the base back into the globe. I removed the gold hanger loop and used a tweezers through the hole on top to press the "legs" of the paperclip into the styrofoam. This is harder than it looks!

I put the hanger back on and it was ready to hang on the tree! (actually I wrapped it in tissue and put it back in the box for my sister-in-law.)

It was a really fun project but it took about 4 hrs!