DIY: Anthropologie Ornament look-a-like

Can you believe that tomorrow is Turkey Day?!? Tell me, what is your favorite part of the holiday? For me its a toss up between family getting together...candied yams...& leftovers. :-)
With that said one of my favorite holiday traditions (that I have grown to love) is putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.
Each year, I try to get at least three new ornaments. I have been eyeing all of the beautiful ones over at Anthropologie but cringe at the price tag...so I decided to make my own with the inspiration of these two lovely little pieces of "tree jewelry":
                                  sparkled snapper/turtle                                                                      sparkled koi/fish

You will need: glue gun, glitter, elmers glue, scissors, a small styrofoam ball (got mine at Michaels), and cardboard.

 First, cut the styrofoam ball in half (this will be the shell of the turtle)

Then paint on a nice thin layer of glue and sprinkle some sparkly glitter! Set aside to dry.

 Next I cut out 16 small rectangular shapes about the size of a golf ball (I can't really think of what else to compare the size to?!) You'll also want to cut out five smaller rounded versions for the legs and tail.

Take each piece and paint on glue and then lay on the glitter...the more the better! LET THEM DRY. Starting from the bottom of the ball, I hot glued the first row and slowly moved up until the entire thing was covered...do NOT lay the very top piece on until...

you poke a hole and put a piece of ribbon through it, THAN glue it on top nice and tight! Otherwise you'll have a sitting turtle rather then a hanging one.

 Then for the head, I simply took a scratch piece...about 6" wide and rolled it up like this...

and to create a rounded head, I made a ball of tape (size of a grape), placed it on one end and sealed it all up so it looks like one piece! Then I painted on some glue and sprinkled on the glitz!

 and here ya have it...my anthro turtle ornament look-a-like (still haven't named him yet)

 For the fish (this one is a bit easier and less tedious)...I drew and cut out a fish from cardboard. I then traced another head and mouth so that...

 it will look more dimensional...

Simply glitter up only the tail and fins and extra head...set aside and let dry.

Then I used scraps and cut about four long strips to cut the scales out of...

 I cut out about 28 small circles (size of a quarter or so)

 and like I did for the Turtle, I painted on glue and used pink and blue glitter to be-dazzle them

 When you lay on the scales, start at the tale and move towards the head. Glue the head on last! That way everything overlaps each other from the head down.
 **oh and I used a little blue tac for the eye!

 and don't forget to glue on your ribbon so that you can hang him (the back isn't so pretty...but who sees that?!)

And here she is...so lovely in pink and blue :-)

 

The best thing about this project is that I was able to make THREE fish and TWO turtles which, if I bought them at Anthro, would have costed almost $100! 

By making them, I only spent $5 (I already had the glue and glitter)

Hope you have a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I will be back this weekend to put up the very last thanksGIVEAWAY (which I think you'll love!) and also to announce the TOMS giveaway winner--so if you haven't entered go here