DIY Teacup Christmas Ornaments Painted And Decorated

Make one-of-a-kind teacup Christmas ornaments to hang on your tree or give as gifts. Personalize the ornaments to match your decor style or the recipient’s occupation, hobbies, etc.

Thrift store shelves are usually overflowing with teacups if you need a few for a project like this. My tutorial includes a video of the process.

How To Make DIY Teacup Christmas Ornaments

I made three teacup ornaments, and each one is different. I painted the teacups first, then added small Christmas items. Personalize the ornaments……get as creative or crazy as you like. 

1. Choose Your Teacups

I bought my teacups at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. There were three teacups of the same kind, perfect for my needs. I got lucky because they were mostly white and only 50 cents each. It’s always good to have a plain slate to work with.

While talking to a friend about the ornaments, she mentioned that she had some teacups passed down from her grandmother. How cool would it be to enjoy those during the Christmas season instead of keeping them packed away in a box?

Before painting an heirloom, though, make sure you’re comfortable permanently changing it. Inexpensive thrift store cups are a good option if you’d rather leave the family treasures as they are.

2. Select Paint For The Inside Of The Teacup

I chose FolkArt®  Metallic Acrylic, color Blue Topaz, to paint the inside of the cup. The metallic color is so pretty. You need shimmer and shine during the holidays.

3. Paint the Teacup

I brushed on two coats of the metallic paint. I was a little leery about how it would stick because the china teacups had such a smooth, slick finish. But let me tell you, it covered my cups well! That’s how it worked for my project, so check your paint’s label for surface recommendations before trying it on your own teacups.

4. Select Paint For The Outer Surface Of The Teacup Ornament

For the outside of the teacup, I went all out with FolkArt ® Glitterific™ Acrylic Paint, color Gold. The name says it all: glitter overload. It contains glitter particles in multiple sizes in a clear base.

You don’t have to worry about a glitter explosion like you do with loose glitter. My son has banned glitter from his house because my granddaughters get a little crazy with the glitter. This paint would be perfect for them.

5. How To Use The Glitterific Paint

I used a Taklon brush to apply the glittery paint. I’m not sure about using a foam brush with this paint. I built up the glittery particles by dabbing a lot onto the teacup.

The paint on my teacups dried in a couple of hours, but check your paint’s label for drying and curing times before decorating.

6. Add Embellishments To The Painted Teacups

It’s time to decorate the inside of the cups. I wasn’t sure exactly what I would put in each teacup. A pile of stuff to work with is always good. I gathered a few items from my Christmas stash, plus a couple of new ones to use.

I looked for soft, velvety ribbon to make the ornament hanger but had no luck. The velvet, with its soft feel, would have added another texture element to the ornament.

Try Out Placement Ideas With The Miniature Pieces

I tried a variety of items and set up different scenes in the cups. Once I decided what to put in each cup, I grabbed the hot glue gun and went to work.

That little snowman is the cutest thing. He was leftover from Christmas past projects. I bought a roll of snow mat stuff, not sure what it was called, to use as filler in the teacup.

Get Creative With The Ornament Styling

I first cut a small piece of the snow mat for the cups. After working with it for a while, I figured out it was best to pull pieces of the mat off and use them that way.

The hot glue and the fluffy stuff were a problem. That fluffy stuff sticks to your fingers as badly as hot glue. I finally got it in place.

7. Add Hangers to the Ornaments

Now we need a hanger for the ornaments. Ordinary wire hangers would be too blah for the pretty teacups. 

I pulled out my ribbon stash and found a pretty thin blue ribbon that matched the paint inside the cups.

I cut a ribbon about 9 inches long, then made a loop in the middle large enough to fit over the tips of the Christmas tree branch. I tied a knot to form the loop. This left a few inches of ribbon on the tied ends.

I wrapped the two ends around the teacup handle and tied them. Instead of trimming the excess ribbon, I left it for added detail. 

The Finished Teacup Ornaments 

 

The Snowman Teacup Ornament

The fluffy stuff had little silver stars. You can never have enough glitz. The greenery and berries are small pieces of stuff I had in my stash.

The Silver Tree Teacup Ornament

The green trees I bought to go in the cups were not working, and I scrounged through my Christmas stuff again. I bought a bunch of little sparkly silver trees on clearance last Christmas, but they were too big for the cup. No problem, I just snipped off the tops and used those. The trees were only 25 cents each. I love a good clearance sale.

The Star Teacup Christmas Ornament

Teacup number 3 has a fuchsia star and a bit of faux greenery. I wish you could see the teacup ornaments in person. The metallic blue paint is so shiny, and the gold glitterific paint is very glittery.

You can’t buy ornaments like these in the store. My ornaments cost less than $3 eachmake, includithrift-store, using thstore cups and some supplies I already had. Your cost will depend on what you have on hand and what you need to buy.

If you like these ornaments, you must see the ones I made using vintage Christmas cards. Talk about sentimental…….Vintage Christmas Card Ornaments.

Make snowman ornaments from things in your junk drawer like checkers, jar lids, door hardware, etc. See all of the different kinds of snowman ornaments here. 

DIY Teacup Christmas Ornament Video….

How To Make Teacup Christmas Tree Ornaments

 

 

Thanks for being here, and have a great day, Kathy