Sharing is caring!

These DIY Nutcracker Christmas Ornaments are too cute!

I have been creating all kinds of things this holiday season and it is so much fun to be able to share my ideas with you. My goal is to hopefully inspire you to create things for your own home and holidays so that it makes it that much more special.

When I saw these small, wood nutcrackers, I fell in love. They were so so cute and full of so much potential. I didn’t have a plan for them when I bought, but I had to grab them because I knew something would come to me. 

The nutcrackers sat on the table in my office for a couple of days and then I started making another DIY Wood Burned Christmas Tree Garland and the idea for the ornaments came to me. 

Supplies Used To Make These DIY Nutcracker Christmas Ornaments:

Small Wood Nutcrackers (I got mine from Hobby Lobby, but there isn’t a link for them online. I linked the same ones from Amazon.)

Small Eye Hooks

Small Wood Beads (you can use any size. I used the 6mm size.)

Wire Ornaments Hooks

Paint (for the beads)

Wood Skewers

Drill

Small Drill Bit

Heat Gun

Steps To Making Nutcracker Christmas Ornaments

• First, I had use a tiny drill bit (the size, or a little bit smaller, then the size of the eye hooks) and drill holes in the top of each nutcracker’s head. We did this so that I could screw the eye hooks into the nutcrackers a lot easier. I was worried this would break the nutcrackers, but it worked beautifully.
• Once the holes were all drilled, I screwed the eye hooks into each one. 
• Then, I turned on the heat gun, so I could give the natural nutcrackers a burnt look that I loved so much on the garland I made. It takes a little time for the heat gun to warm up, but once it does, make sure you keep turning the nutcracker as it burns. If you hold it in one place too long, it will burn it too far. But, in the same token, I love getting darker areas and lighter areas on the wood. You will learn what you like as you go along. I am going to warn you, it is a little addicting (hence all the burnt projects this year). The outcome just looks too good not to try it on a few different projects. 
• Once all the nutcrackers were burned, I painted small wood beads green and black. You can paint them any color that will match your decor. To paint the tiny beads, I put them on the end of a wood skewer. It is easier to hold them and you can make sure to paint every part of them. I left some of them natural as well because I like the mix of the painted beads next to natural wood beads.
• Once the beads were dry, I added an ornament hook to the eye hook on the top of the nutcracker and bent the rest of it straight. Then, I threaded three beads on that hook and bent the end to hold the beads on and to make a little circle at the end. Then, to hang the nutcrackers on the tree, I added another hook to the circle I bent.

It might be easier to watch this video to see how I did this project:

Aren’t these the cutest little guys you have ever seen? 

I just love how they look in our tree. 

There may be talk of me picking up a bigger version that we could put on the top of our tree. The verdict is still out on that one. 

I think these would be so cute painted white too. I debated doing that. They would be fun stained too. So many great ways to make these guys fit your style. You could make a garland with them as well. We were going to do that, but then I wanted something a little different in our tree this year so they worked better as ornaments for us. Who knows, they may be strung on a garland next year?! Projects like this leave room for you to have many options when your mind changes from year to year. (Not that I have any experience with that. tsk). 

What would your nutcrackers look like? Would you do something different?

PIN THIS POST!

If you liked these ornaments, you will also love these ornament ideas:

DIY Glittered Ornaments For Christmas

Melted Snowman Ornament

90 Homemade Christmas Ornaments

Simple Christmas Decor