3. Cardboard Brick Slice Ornaments
For a no-cost, zero-special-tools version, cardboard is your best friend. Cut a small rectangle from a sturdy shipping box, peel off the top layer to expose the corrugated ridges, and you’ll instantly have the look of brick texture without any paint or sculpting.
Cut your piece into a one and a half by two inch rectangle. Use a craft knife to lightly score horizontal lines, then add short vertical lines in a staggered brick pattern. You don’t need to cut all the way through. Just enough to suggest the texture. If you’d like a hole for hanging, punch it now with a small hole punch or the tip of a sharp scissor.
Paint the piece with a base coat of brick red, terra cotta, or warm taupe. Once dry, dry-brush a soft white or cream across the surface so the paint catches on the raised areas, leaving the recessed lines darker. The result looks remarkably like real brick, especially from a short distance on a tree.
This is a wonderful project for crafting with kids, since cardboard is forgiving and easy to work with. Allow about thirty to forty minutes including drying time. The difficulty is very easy, and the materials are essentially free if you have leftover shipping boxes. Tie a bit of jute twine through the hole, and you’re done.
Helpful tip: Save the corrugated scraps from the project. They make wonderful little tags when cut into small rectangles and stamped with a name or date.