Instead of throwing out those old and tattered Christmas tree ornaments, recycle them to look like new again.

It's so easy and I'll show you how to recycle old Christmas baubles into personalized snowball ornaments. Plus you can take pride in knowing that your old ornaments won't end up in the landfill.

Recycled Personalized Snowball Tree Ornaments

I'm excited to be joining a talented group of ladies in the Do It Over Designers group for the first time. Thank you to Ann The Apple Street Cottage for hosting this event and inviting me to join!

The Do It Over Designers is a group of talented bloggers who love to recycle, upcycle, and DIY. They come together on the fourth Saturday of every other month, making this the last blog hop of 2021. We'll see you back here in January.

We've had these red tree ornaments since we got married in 1987. I haven't put them on the tree for several years because they'd obviously seen their better days.

They are not expensive ornaments by any means and as you can see in the photo below that one is missing. But I just couldn't get rid of them because of their sentimental value.

Here they are pictured below in their faded and scratched glory. I think we paid less than $4 for them back in the late 80s.

The inspiration for my first project with our group happened while decorating our Christmas tree. There in the bottom of our decoration bin was the infamous box of ornaments. I opened the box and discovered another had broken. 

Then it dawned on me that the six remaining ornaments could represent our four grandchildren and two grown children. This was just the motivation I needed for our challenge this month to upcycle and personalize the sentimental ornaments.

These are the supplies I used to transform the ornaments into glistening snowballs. The possibilities for how you embellish them are endless.

What You'll Need To Make It

This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend for this project. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from any qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Supply List

Old Christmas Ball Ornaments
Matte White Paint
Snow-Tex
Fine Clear Glitter
1-Inch Wooden Letters
Holiday Red Craft Paint
Small Metal Snowflake Charms
Clear Craft Thread or Fishing Line
White Metallic Iridescent Cord String

How To Recycle Old Christmas Ball Ornaments

So let's get started. The first thing you'll need to do is remove the metal caps from the ornaments and set them aside. You'll also need some wooden skewers and styrofoam (or whatever you have on hand) to set the ball ornaments upright on the skewers.

Paint Old Ornaments White

Paint the ornaments with two or three coats of matte white paint, I used Behr Chalk Decorative Paint in the color Tin White.

This step is completely optional but if your metal ornament caps are gold like mine, you may want to change them to a cool silver color.

To do that you can either spray paint them silver or use a small art brush and some silver metallic craft paint.

Cover Old Ornaments With Faux Snow

For this next step, it's important that the last coat of white paint is completely dry before we turn the ornaments into snowballs.

Brush a generous amount of Snow-Tex over the painted ornaments with a small paintbrush, the same way you would apply paint.

Try not to get any on the stem of the ornament so the metal cap still fits. Take your brush and stipple over the wet Snow-Tex to add texture, like pictured below.

I love this stuff and go through a jar every holiday season. It dries rock hard so it's durable for holiday decor. You can see how it looks like realistic fallen snow on this large snowflake ornament and on the roof of this Christmas Countdown Santa Cottage.

Make Faux Snowball Ornaments Glisten

Now let's make the snow glisten with fine clear glitter. First, place a tray or something to catch the glitter on your worktable. While the Snow-Tex is still wet, hold the ornament over the tray and sprinkle with fine clear glitter.

Give the ornament a little shake to remove the excess glitter. Set the glittered snowball ornaments back onto the wooden skewers and let the Snow-Tex dry for several hours (I let mine dry overnight).

Pour the extra glitter that fell into the tray back into the jar to reuse for another craft. Nothing goes to waste around here!

Alternatively, you could skip this step and use this glitter snow instead. I've never used it but I know others who have and had great success.

Personalize Snowball Ornaments

This step is completely optional for personalizing the snowball ornaments. As mentioned earlier, I'm personalizing mine with the initials of our two grown children and four grandchildren.

I found the small wooden letters at the dollar store and painted them on both sides with Holiday Red craft paint. I chose red both for the high contrast and it's the accent color of our holiday decor. A pretty silver metallic paint would be lovely too.

Once the painted wood letters are dry, punch small holes on the top of each letter to hang them from the snowball ornaments. To do this, gently tap an awl or a nail with a small hammer once on both sides.

Finishing Touches To Snowball Ornament

Now we're ready to embellish the recycled snowball ornaments with a small snowflake charm and wood initial.

If your snowflake charm doesn't have a hanger like mine, then tie an 18-inch strand of clear craft thread (or fishing line) around one point of the snowflake. Then tie it onto the metal ornament hook, leaving the remaining thread for the next step.

Thread the remaining strand of clear craft thread through the hole on the wood letter, tie a double knot, and cut the remaining thread.

Cut an 18-inch strand of white metallic cording or narrow ribbon.

Fold the cording in half and tie a simple slip loop knot onto the ornament hook. Tie the cording in a knot for the ornament hanger and the remaining strands into a small bow.

Enjoy your personalized snowball ornaments! These would make adorable guest favors for your holiday gatherings too.

I took pride in knowing our old tree ornaments didn't end up in the landfill and can now be enjoyed for another 34 years, God willing.

Speaking of snowballs, I also recycled a small wooden crate into an adorable indoor snowball fight holder. It's a cute holiday decoration OR can be used for its intended purpose. We did and had a blast with the grandkids!

Thanks for stopping by the Interior Frugalista today! I hope you were inspired by this idea for recycling old tree ornaments.

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If you enjoyed this recycled Christmas ornament snowballs idea, I'd be so thankful if you shared it with a friend and pinned it to your favorite board on Pinterest.

Now let's head over to the Do It Over Designers blogs to see what projects they are sharing this month. Just click on the links below.

The Apple Street Cottage
Birdz Of A Feather
Unique Creations By Anita
Exquisitely Unremarkable
My Hubbard Home
Purple Hues & Me
Modern On Monticello
Southern Sunflowers
Pandora's Box

I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.