A lot of the time, a so-called African American Christmas Ornament is actually an African Christmas ornament repackaged to appeal to people who are trying to recapture a sense of their black heritage. For example, many times people will sell a silly little wooden sculpture of some safari animal as an African American Christmas Ornament just because that animal comes from Africa. Even more insulting, sometimes I have seen silly stylized African masks and figurines sold as an African American Christmas Ornament. Talk about perpetuating stereotypes. It is quite a silly state of affairs, if you ask me!

In my opinion, the best way to get an African American Christmas Ornament is to make one yourself, and that is that. You should think of what it means to be a person of color in the United States, and put that into your craft. Use everything about it to make the best African American Christmas Ornament that you can, and I am quite sure that you will not fail in what you are doing. On the contrary, Christmas tree decorations are always that much better if you make them yourself. An African American Christmas Ornament is no different. If it comes from the heart, it is a sure thing that people will see that it is not just another commercial Christmas decoration.

Of course, if you are going to go out and make yourself an African American Christmas Ornament, you probably need to know a few things about how to do arts and crafts. One of the easiest ways to make an African American Christmas Ornament, or any other Christmas decoration for that matter, is to shape it out of clay. Be sure to put a place where it tapers so that you can hang a string from it, bake it in the oven, and you are done!

Here are a sampling of supplies you might look for when planning your paper Christmas ornament shopping trip. Craft, party, and art supply stores carry these items:

poster board
a small utility knife or scissors
a jar of acrylic clear gloss medium
colored markers
metallic markers in gold, silver or bronze
poster paint
glue gun and glue sticks
small beads
glitter
rick-rack
stickers
small dried flowers
small lace doilies

Gather your purchased supplies together on your work table. Choose a shape, such as round, diamond, star, snowman, or gingerbread man. Draw your master template on ordinary paper, and cut it out. Place on poster board and trace around the outline. A tree decked out in paper Christmas ornaments looks best when each shape is uniformly sized. Use your utility knife to cut the poster board

Using colored markers, decorate the shape as you like. Look at your gathered supplies, and let your imagination guide you. You might color a round shape in a single color, place a lace doilie on top and paint with the acrylic gloss. Snip a mini-bouquet of dried flowers, and quickly center on the ornament before the gloss dries. A single color also works well with a sticker in an Angel or Santa motif. Paint with the acrylic gloss and immediately sprinkle with gold glitter.

Acrylic gloss serves a couple of purposes in a successful paper Christmas ornament project. It serves as glue for lightweight decorating elements like glitter, and is transparent.

Gather some fresh flat green or red leaves. Hold the leaf on the paper ornament with your fingertip and apply the acrylic gloss, gently removing your fingertip to completely seal the leaf under the gloss. The leaf will retain its original color for years, as it is not exposed to oxygen.

Another unusual paper Christmas ornament is made with colored sand. Put sand in several small containers and get out your food coloring. Use a small amount of water to wet the sand. Leave until the desired tint is achieved. Drain the water and allow the sand to dry. Coat the poster board with acrylic gloss and quickly sprinkle your choice of colored sand.

Small children should not use utility knives or glue guns. You can help them cut out and glue their creations together. Glitter is also not recommended for young children – they have a tendency to end up on fingers and eyes. Glitter can be applied last, after they’ve painted their paper Christmas ornament masterpiece with acrylic gloss medium.

I’m sure you’ll have dozens of ideas of your own to create many beautiful paper Christmas ornaments. Have fun!