Juice Lid Ornament
You might be surprised to find that you can make lovely ornaments using the lids from frozen juice cans: they are not only the perfect size for an ornament, but they provide a natural frame for your images.
Each ornament takes two lids, which are glued back- to-back with a strong glue such as GOOP or E6000.
For hanging the finished ornament, I punched a small hole near the edge of each lid before doing anything else. I like this method, but if you do not have a metal or jewellery punch, it can be tricky to make a neat hole.
You can try using a finish nail to hammer a hole in the lids before you glue them together -- lay the lid on a wood block so as not to damage your work surface, position the nail where you want the hole, and hit the nail with a hammer to drive it through the lid. Pull out the nail and repeat for the second lid.
Once you have made the holes, proceed with adding the images.
You will need two images printed on lightweight cardstock -- greeting card weight is perfect.
The images for my Daffy ornament, originally from the cartoon "Ali Baba Bunny", were taken from a "page-a-day" calendar. I glued the lightweight paper images to 110-lb cardstock before cutting them out.
Cut your image to 2.5" -- this size circle will just fit into the juice lid.
Using tacky glue, stick each image into the recessed side of a lid (the side that would have formed the outside of the lid when it was on the can). Be sure to align the image so that the hole is at the top of the image -- that way, the ornament will be right side up when it's hanging on the tree.
When the glue was dry, I gave my images a light coating of Mod Podge to make them shinier.
I also ran a line of glitter glue around the inside edge of the lid, sealing the ornament edge and covering any imperfections in cutting.
When the images are dry, the next step is to glue the two lids back-to-back using a strong adhesive like GOOP or E6000.
(Click here to find out why I don't use hot glue on these ornaments).
Be sure to orient the two lids so that the punched holes line up, so you can easily insert a jump ring for hanging.
Let the GOOP set for at least a couple of hours before proceeding.
I often add a beaded segment to the top of the ornament. I make these from a length of craft wire; make a loop in one end with round-nosed pliers, then string on some beads in colors to match the ornament images. Trim the wire to about 1/2 or 3/8" and finish off with a second loop. Attach the unit to the top of the ornament with a jump ring.
The finished ornament, ready to hang on the tree.
I'm not sure it shows in the photos, but the figure of Daffy has been made to stand out slightly so he appears to emerge from the background. I did this on both sides of the ornament.
To get the effect, I cut out a second Daffy and mounted him on black cardboard, then added a little padding of thick cardboard under his head and arms to raise the image from the background; I glued him in position with tacky glue.
I also glued on some rhinestones here and there among the treasure and gave the pile of coins a light dusting of gold glitter. To complete the ornament I added a dangle of small gold coins at the top.
Not just for Looney Tunes ...!
The juice lid ornaments can showcase not only Looney Tunes characters, but also pets, family coats of arms, favorite TV shows and characters, images of places visited, special occasions, nostalgic locales, hobbies, significant people.
They are especially nice when made with lovely coordinating images from Christmas cards, as the ones below were, and you can add dangles and beads to suit your taste. For each of the ornaments below, I paired two images taken from a single card, and glued them in place with tacky glue.
These lovely ornaments with their blue tones look stunning on the tree. Both ornaments used two images from a single card.
Both bird images come from a single Christmas card. I added just a touch of glitter glue on the greenery and the berries.
Juice lids are the perfect size for an ornament, but it is also possible to make ornaments from larger or smaller lids removed from regular food cans.
You will need a special can opener that splits the rim rather than cutting through the metal, leaving a smooth edge on both lid and can.
Both bird images come from a single Christmas card. I added just a touch of glitter glue on the greenery and the berries.
Both of these ornaments were made from small tomato paste lids, which are about 2" in diameter.
The bead trim on the golden ornament is slightly larger, about 8 mm.
This 3" Santa/cat ornament used lids from a large can that originally held tomatoes, along with images from two different cards.
I chose the Santa image first, then selected the bird one because both had the same kind of dreamy, snowy quality.
To give an idea of the difference in size, the bead trim on the Santa ornament is 8mm -- the same size as those on the cardinal ornament, above.
This rectangular ornament was made in exactly the same way as the round ones above, except that the lids were cut from a corned beef can using a can opener that splits the rim of the can. I painted the rims with black paint before gluing the images in place.
Santa and his reindeer came from a single Christmas card. To cut the images I first made a paper template the correct size and used that as a guide for cutting the card. I glued the pictures in place with tacky glue, then trimmed around the edge with a line of glitter glue.
The diamond-shaped fused bead trim was a recent find; I used a toothpick to apply Goop into the recess around the edge of the finished ornament, then pressed the trim into place.
It's fun to recycle the lids into pretty ornaments, and nicer still to be able to preserve some of your beautiful Christmas cards. The best part is that when these are hanging on your tree, almost nobody will recognize their humble origins unless you decide to give away your secret.