Here's a group of the first snowman jingle bell ornies I made last year for Christmas 2010. They have various scarves and toboggans and their own different facial expressions. All vary in different colors and styles.
Here's how I started them out. I buy those sets of 8 jingle bells in the Christmas department at the Dollar General Stores for a $1.50.
Yes, I buy tons of them.
Then I take them outside and spray paint them from hanging them up.
Or sometimes I try to paint them by hand and hang them to dry on whatever I can find inside:
And after they are all dry, there comes the tedious part of painting on the details.
It's really not all that bad though, once you get the hang of it.
I tend to paint the bodies first on all, then the eyes next and so on.
Trying to keep them all about the same in the process, but with different features.
Sometimes I replace the string with a piece of craft wire.
I didn't come up with this idea on my own. However, I did see them offered in the Oriental Trading party supplies catalog. They were and still are about $16.00 per dozen. So I could not have ordered them and resold them for any profit. So I decided to try to make my own.
I've even tried new styles as dipping them in wax to give them a more aged look. And I love them that way!
I've priced these for $ 1.59.
UPDATE:
I went ahead and started pricing the new ones for only $1.00 each and cut out the packaging cost.
I then hung them on a
DOLLAR DISPLAY TREE in my booth and they really got more attention. Everyone loves a dollar deal!
Here's some ready to go:
If you'd like to see my newest batch of jingle bells and to see a more detailed tutorial of how to make these, just