Do you have an excess of plastic magnet letters that you don’t know what to do with? Turn them into these metallic letter ornaments!
Skills Required: None. Even if you’ve never crafted before, you can make these cute Christmas ornaments. You’ll be spray painting and gluing.
Hello! This is Amy from Maker Mama back with another fun, upcycled Christmas craft! I found a giant bag of magnetic letters at the thrift store a while back, and I’ve been looking for a fun new way to use them.
I love the idea of spray painting them all one color, and today I’m taking it to a new level with these metallic letter ornaments. We did something similar here on the blog with key ornaments and it turned out great!
You can make these Christmas ornaments in your favorite holiday-inspired words, or make one in each of your kids’ names–read on to find out how!
DIY Letter Ornaments
Gather These Supplies
- Plastic alphabet letters
- Super glue for plastic (I found the bonding system above at Home Depot)
- Spray paint primer
- Spray paint color of choice
- Wire or string to create a hanger for your ornament (not pictured)
- Scissors
Glue the Letters
You’ll want to decide where to glue your letters together beforehand, and be sure to follow the instructions for the super glue you’re using.
The plastic super glue bonding kit I used was a two-part system which required marking the two places I was gluing with a marker-like pen, then squeezing a little bit of glue on to just one of the sides.
And I do recommend super glue; I tried using my hot glue gun first and it just wasn’t staying together and left a big blob of glue. Hold your pieces together tightly on a flat surface for 30 seconds – keeping them flat will help everything lay even when it hangs.
Spray Paint the Letters
The first two letters are looking good! The next steps are to prime and paint your letters (now that you’ve turned them into a word) on all sides. This is a bit tedious, but you can do it in batches if you make several of them.
Tip: Several light coats of spray paint are way better than a few thick coats. Hit the letters at several different angles and let dry.
Attach the Hanger
When you’re done with spray painting, attach your wire or string. Wire is a little more forgiving if you can’t find an even and inconspicuous place to string the ornament.
Or if your letters have all their magnets in the back, you can try sticking them on your fridge instead.
Since this post was originally written I was informed that you can get plastic letter magnets from the dollar store too. Woo! Time for some serious Christmas ornament crafting!
Letter Ornaments
Learn how to make these DIY letter ornaments for your Christmas tree with fridge magnets - spell any festive word of your choice!
Materials
- Plastic alphabet letters
- Super glue or E-6000
- Spray paint primer
- Spray paint - gold
- Wire or string
Tools
- Scissors
Instructions
- Lay out your alphabet letters to spell the words of your choice and plan where you will glue the letters.
- Place the glue and hold your pieces together tightly on a flat surface for 30 seconds, keeping them flat. Allow to dry thoroughly.
- Repeat with any additional words.
- Prime and paint the letters using the spray paint primer first. Let dry and then spray paint your color in several coats until you have full coverage. Let dry.
- Use the wire or string to create a loop. Hot glue to the back of each word to create a hanger. Let cool completely before hanging.
Now you can add all the words to your favorite Christmas carol to your tree this year! Which words would you make?
Did you enjoy this inexpensive Christmas craft? I think you might enjoy these other Christmas ideas as well: