How to Make DIY Nightmare Before Christmas Ornaments

Make your holiday decorations for this year by creating DIY Nightmare Before Christmas ornaments.

This project will take you less than half a day, and you can create various designs. For example, in this post, I will show you how to make Jack Skellington ornaments and all of their friends. You will see Sally, Zero, the Oogie Boogie, and even the Mayor!

And worry not, because it’s as easy as getting the free printable sheet and following the step-by-step video tutorial and picture instructions here.

These craft decorations will be perfect for your Christmas tree, especially if you are a movie fan. They can even work as a stay-put decoration from Halloween to Christmas! 

Because no one really knew which Holiday this Tim Burton movie was really about anyways… Embrace it and make it for both!

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I have to confess that I didn’t have much faith in this project when I started it. 

It might be that I am still confused about the Holiday this movie should be celebrated… Is it Christmas, or is it Halloween?

With the Christmas Holiday season as near as it is now, I wondered.

But the real point is to be creative and to have fun. A thing that Disney Christmas Tree Decorations definitely achieved.

When I finished these unique DIY ornaments, I couldn’t be happier. Not only because I had so much fun hand painting these, but I absolutely adore how they came out to be a part of my Home Decor this Holiday.

I plan to use these in a small Christmas tree at home, as I have already put up my Christmas Tree Colors of the year.

But this Nightmare Before Christmas Decorations came out so good that I might make it the theme for next year’s Christmas!

I am thinking of putting up DIY Nightmare Before Christmas tree topper, the Jack and Sally Ornaments DIY on the tree, and filling the house up with the other characters. I can even go as far as to make a DIY Jack Skellington tree topper. 

Any thoughts on this?

The one thing I must warn you, though, is to mind the mess. 

We are working with glitter; as you might know, that stuff gets everywhere! An excellent tip to keep things cleaner is to have a damp cloth nearby to pick up in case some glitter falls out of the ornaments.

You might also want to put a plastic cover over your work table. At first, I spilled so much glue… So protection is a good idea.

But… if you get the mess… Don’t worry. You can always use your damp cloth to clean it up after the fun is ended.

How to make Homemade DIY Nightmare Before Christmas Ornaments?

Gather your supplies.

For this project, you will need the following materials:

• Five clear fillable ornaments (plastic is best)
• White Glue 
• Blue acrylic paint
• Pink acrylic paint
• Black acrylic paint
• Green Glitter
• Gold Glitter
• White Glitter
• Blue Glitter

Start with a base.

You will start every ornament the same way. Remove the cap on top by pushing the wires to the center.

Then you will fill about ⅛ of the ornament with white glue. I found that if I watered the glue down with a bit of water, it was easier for me to do this project.

Once the glue is in, you will turn your ornament in circles to spread the glue inside of the entire thing.

When the glue is all spread out, turn the ornament upside down and place it on a cup so the excess glue can fall out.

Leave it there for about 2 minutes.

Add the Glitter.

Use a paper cone (I made mine with a sticky note) to help you put a good amount of glitter inside the ornament.

Fill it up about ⅜ and then spread it around. You can use oscillation moves like before.

Another quick and easy way to do this is by placing a piece of paper on the ornament’s opening and then shaking it up and down.

This will get the glitter all around the inside of your ornament.

Let it Dry.

Now it’s time to be patient. 

Let the glitter and the glue dry for about 30-40 minutes before you start working on the details.

At this time, you can print the Nightmare Before Christmas face templates we have for you for free.

You’ll need to join the My Golden Thimble Sewing Club group on Facebook to get this file.

Go to the group files and click on the PDF download named “Nightmare Before Christmas Face Template.” 

You will get a PDF file with the five faces of the characters we made in this tutorial. They are about 3″ by 3″, the standard measurement of our ornaments.

Add the Details

Finally, it’s time to add the details to make each ornament one of the characters of this Disney movie.

Use a pen (I used a gel pen) to draw the faces on top of the ornament as guidance. 

Then start painting the base colors (whites, blues, pinks).

Finally, make a thick-ish line around all the shapes and lines and mark the details. 

To better understand how to draw and paint the faces of each character, please read the next section of this post.

How to make the DIY Nightmare Before Christmas Ornaments Characters?

In this section, I will show you how to paint Nightmare Before Christmas faces on your ornaments. 

I want you to remember that these characters are supposed to be imperfect. So don’t stress too much about having perfectly straight lines when painting.

First, let’s start with our main character.

DIY Jack Skellington Ornament

To make the face of Jack, start outlining the eyes, which are two droplets that meet at the center. For the nose, make two little ovals inclined to the center. Finally, for the mouth, make a crooked half-smile.

Then paint the eyes by filling up the shape of the eyes. 

The next step is filling the nostrils and drawing the smile line.

To finish your Jack Skellington ornament, make the “seam” lines on the mouth. 

Sally DIY Ornament.

For Sally’s ornament, we are going to go slower. 

Start by outlining her face over the ornament like this.

Then paint the base of the eyes with white paint and let it dry. Do the same with the lips.

Now it’s time to outline the shapes and lines of our design.

Make two small dots on each eye to make the pupils.

Finish off by making the “seam” lines on the mouth line and a little scar on the forehead.

DIY Oogie Boogie Ornament.

Making the Oogie Boogie ornament is easy, as you only need black paint.

Start by outlining the face of the character as we did here.

Paint and fill the eyes and the mouth, and let it dry for a bit.

Then outline the scar and the wrinkles over the eye.

Finish up by making the “seam” lines on the mouth and the scar.

Mayor from Nightmare Before Christmas Ornament DIY.

In my opinion, the mayor was the most complex character for me to paint.

But not impossible, though. I broke the steps so you could follow up quickly.

Start by outlining the face shape with the template we provided. 

Then fill up by painting the eye and the tiny dots on the cheeks. Paint the teeth or the mouth space with white paint.

Outline the shapes and lines with black paint.

Finally, make the shape of the teeth inside the mouth with black lines.

Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas Ornament DIY.

We couldn’t leave the cutest best ghost friend of Jack Skellington, Zero.

To make Zero’s face, we will draw the shape of his eyes, mouth, and nose.

Make a small pink dot on the top of the nose.

Outline the shapes and lines with black paint, and finally, fill the mouth by painting it black.

And you are done!! 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and free printable. Please let me know your thoughts about it in the comment box below because I love reading you!!

And if you make these cute DIY Nightmare Before Christmas Ornaments, don’t forget to let me know at My Golden Thimble Sewing Club on Facebook.