Dollar Store Garland Upcycle...Christmas Bell Ornaments

Post two for today...yes, it's still raining.  It's the time of year for the team holiday party, and I wanted to make the girls on my daughters' dance team some cute bell ornaments...they are the "Belles," after all!  But, if you've ever shopped for Christmas ornaments (who hasn't!), you know they can add up fast.  So, off I went to my local Dollar Tree to see what they had in the way of bells.  What to my wondering eyes did appear,  but a gold bell garland so my choice was clear...am I taking this holiday thing a bit far?  

Okay, so with 10 bells per garland, I grabbed two and got to work.  I measured equal distance between the bells and sniped the bead string.  Then, after making sure the bead strings were the same length I wired them together between the two ends beads with some thin gold wire I had on hand. Next, came the glitter.  I poured some ModPodge glue into a jar lid, and carefully dipped just the edge of the bell into the glue in a circular motion.  I then poured some light blue glitter into another lid, and dipped the ornament edge in to cover the glue.  I dried the bell upside-down in an old egg carton.  After it was dry, I used a craft paintbrush to apply a line of ModPodge for the second color of glitter (navy blue) on a band around the bell.  This time I just sprinkled the glitter over the wet glue and taped against it to remove the excess.  Let dry again.  As with all glitter projects, do it over a piece of paper or mat so that you can put it back in the jar and reuse it.  Lastly, I made little glitter bows with some glitter ribbon also bought at Dollar Tree.  For these, I didn't actually tie a bow I just made it like you would a cheer bow and wired it with the same fine wire I used to wire the bead strands together.  I used a glue gun to attach the finished bow to the top of the bell.  

Oh! I almost forgot...I used a fine tip Sharpie to write the team name and year on the inside edge of the bell.  Here's some photos to help you understand these rambling directions! They're really very easy, and I think pretty darn cute!  Not bad for less than $5 for 20 including all the materials!