What Could be Cuter than a Domino Birthday Keepsake Ornament?

I decided quite a few year ago that it would really great to create some ornaments that my children would be gifted when then got married or bought their first house. I had seen dominoes altered for jewelry and ornaments on various websites way before pinterest!

I am having my children make ornaments each year but making sure they make doubles or triples. When they grow up and we gift them the Domino Birthday Keepsake Ornament Box they will also receive a set of all the kid ornaments they crafted! This will leave us a set to continue to decorate our tree with until we have grandchildren! I remember getting married and having to go out and buy meaningless ornaments to put on our bare artificial tree, lol. (Now we have loads of ornaments store bought and handmade.)

We have themed birthdays for each of our children planned by mom and theme picked by child from age 2 or 3 until age 10. So with each year’s theme there are either stickers or easy to find images downloaded from the internet. A simple google image search should yield exactly the image you need. I bought dominoes that came in a tin for an instant keepsake box that will be altered to fit that child’s personality or birthday themes.

Supplies:

Dominoes (I got mine from Dollar General for $3.00 for tin of 28)

Scrapbook paper (solid colored or designs whatever suits you or what you have on hand.)

Mod Podge and Foam brush (I have not tried homemade just store bought so far.)

Stickers/images- related to birthday theme (any kind that are teeny tiny. doesn’t have to be acid free or anything like that. so cheap dollar store one would be great!)

Baubles/Bits- little 3D decorations like beads/buttons, small embellishments, number beads, alphabet beads, anything to coordinate with your theme (you’ll see what I mean in a minute:)

Small number stickers or stamps- in colors to match your theme (I found mine from misc sticker packs or dollar bins at JoAnn’s or Target,etc.)

Emery board/nail file- to sand the edges of scrapbook paper perfectly

Paint or ribbon- to match the birthday theme you are doing

Screw eyes- smallest ones you can find in your local craft store jewelry department or that fit your smallest drill bit!

Instructions:

Step 1- Gather all supplies and create a space where you can get crafty. Make sure you cover your surface so you do not get glue or paint on your table!

Step 2- Time to create a way to string up your ornament. Carefully drill a hole in the top of your domino. It can be the short side or long side. If you aren’t sure skip this step till you figure out your decorations in Step 6.

Step 3- Take your scrap of paper cut to “size of domino ”  or trace the domino that you have. Cut outside the traced lines. Spread a coat of Mod Podge onto the dot side on the domino and apply the paper. Allow to dry completely. (You may want to do a handful of these at a time so by the time you are on the last one you will be ready to go to the next step.)

Step 4- Sand the excess of the paper off the edges of the domino. It may take longer on thick pieces of cardstock and should be pretty quick with regular thin scrapbook paper.

Step 5-Match up you scrapbook paper with paint or ribbon for the skinny edges. Paint your skinny edges all the way around now (make sure not to get paint in the screw eye hole.) or wait till later to apply the ribbon.

Step 6- On the plain side will be your canvas to create your main keepsake ornament. Start be applying your main theme sticker image and proceed to add other stickers and embellishments as you go. I make sure to include the age of my child by using a number sticker or small number stamp.

Step 7- Apply a coat of Mod Podge to your now embellished front of the domino. When dry you can add more items to the scrapbook paper back or just Modge Podge the back leaving it just covered in scrapbook paper.