Sometimes when I finish a craft, I let out an actually yelp because I can’t believe how much I love it. This is one of those crafts. Check out the DIY tutorial below for these Rae-Dunn inspired equestrian ornaments. They turned out great and I cannot wait to put them on my Christmas tree this year!
I know that the calendar only says September, but no matter. Once the kids are back in school and the mornings turn cool enough for a sweatshirt, I am quite happy to turn my thoughts towards the holiday season. This craft came together much quicker than I anticipated, and so I am making sure to get it posted ASAP. Make plans to make these adorable ornaments for yourself or to gift to your trainer or barn friends.
The Rae Dunn Effect
Have you heard of Rae Dunn? If you have not, you have more than likely seen her products at the store, even if you didn’t realize it. Rae Dunn is an artist whose medium of choice is pottery. Her style tends to fall into the “farmhouse” trend of decorating, many of her mugs, dishes and decor is white (or other solid colors) with black text on it.
The text in itself is iconic to Rae’s style: black, skinny and long letters spell out short phrases and single words on an array of dishes. For example, “Yum” on plate or “Cup of cozy” on a mug.
Vinyl Craft and a Substitute
For this craft, I did use my Silhouette vinyl cutter to cut the letters out of vinyl. If you do not have a Silhouette or Cricut (or other form of vinyl cutter), you COULD give this craft a try with a simply black Sharpie marker and a steady hand.
Rae Dunn Font
I used a free Rae Dunn style font for this project called “The Skinny Regular” that I downloaded from dafont.com.
Equestrian Themed Christmas Ornament
I am always on the lookout for fun ideas for holiday decorating. Horse and equestrian themed ornaments are no exception! A couple of years ago, I picked up several blank off-white ceramic Christmas ball ornaments at the craft store. They have been sitting in my closet since then, and I could never decide what to use them for.
This morning my daughter and I were talking about Christmas trees and we were joking that this year we should make one tree that is entirely horse themed. As I got to thinking about what kind of ornaments an equestrian horse themed Christmas tree might display, the idea for Rae Dunn-inspired equestrian ornaments popped into my head!
Check out the full tutorial and supply list below to copy my DIY and make a set for yourself. These Christmas ornaments are going to look amazing on our tree!
I chose four words (and four ornaments) for my craft: whoa, walk, trot, canter. Feel free to swap out my words for your own! Pick words that fit the discipline that you ride (or the gift recipient if you plan to gift these). Some other suggestions include:
- Halt
- Jog
- Lope
- Jump
- Gallop
- Neigh
Horse Ornament Supply List
Round up the following materials to make your own Rae Dunn-inspired ornaments:
- White (or off-white) ceramic ornaments
- Black ribbon (thin)
- Buffalo check ribbon (I used black and white buffalo check.)
- Scissors
- Black vinyl words (my words were approximately 1″ tall)
- Black permanent marker (if you do not have a vinyl cutter)
- Contact paper or transfer tape
How to Make the Ornaments
Follow the steps below to make your own set of ornaments.
1. Choose the words that you would like to put on your ornaments. Cut them out in black vinyl. I always use Oracal 651 vinyl. Great, consistent quality and the vinyl lasts for years.
2. Weed the vinyl and cut each word out so that you are working with individual words.
3. Using contact paper or transfer tape, peel each word, one at a time, off of the backing. Transfer the vinyl to the ornament. Some people like to start at the middle of the word and work their way out. I actually started with the first letter in each word and then just carefully made my way across the ornament’s surface.
4. Next, I wanted to swap the gold string that came on the ornament top for a thin, black ribbon. Cut off the string that the ornament came with if you want, and tie different ribbon or twine on the metal clasp.
Here are all of the ornaments, vinyled and restrung and ready for ribbon decoration.
5. Now it’s time to tie a buffalo check ribbon bow on each ornament for the finishing touch. I used black and white .6 inch buffalo check pattern ribbon.
Cut a piece of the ribbon (approximately 8-10 inches long). Make a bow at the top of each ornament.
That’s it!
These ornaments are ready to hang or gift or display! I just love how they turned out.
I hope this tutorial helps to inspire you to make your own version of these ornaments! If you decide to give them a try, definitely let me know how they turned out! Feel free to tag me on social media if you post a picture of your project. I would love to see them!
While you’re here, make sure to check out the other DIY projects that have posted.
