DIY Character Shaker Ornaments

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Hello Crafty Friends! It’s day #5 of my annual series “12 Days of Holiday Crafts” and I’m so excited to share these cute character shaker ornaments with you! These ornaments are fun to make with your Cricut cutting machine and they can be customized to feature all sorts of different characters!

I love creating ornaments for the kids in my family and this year I thought it would be fun to use the cute characters I always see in Cricut Design Space. You can find characters from Disney movies, Harry Potter, Sesame Street, Star Wars, Marvel and more!

Simply use my shaker ornament template in Cricut Design Space and add in the child’s favorite character. The characters are printed using Cricut’s “Print then Cut” feature. I printed my characters on white cardstock, but you could also print them on photo paper.

The shaker part of the ornament is created by layering paper to create a space for the sequins or confetti to move around. Use clear craft plastic or acetate to cover the ornament. I filled my shaker ornaments with the cutest confetti pieces I felt matched the characters.

When finished, don’t forget to add your child’s name and the date to the back of the ornament! You could write this by hand or have your Cricut write it using a Cricut pen or have your machine cut it out of vinyl.

Below is the tutorial for creating these cute ornaments including how to customize my Cricut Design Space file with the character of your choice. I love creating handmade ornaments for Christmas and have tutorials for everything from ornaments kids can help make to hand-sewn appliqué ornaments. Check them out for more fun craft ideas!

DIY Character Shaker Ornaments

Supplies Needed:

Cardstock – I used Park Lane Brights Solid Core Precision Cardstock
- One color for back of ornament
- One color for top of ornament
- Cardstock for middle layers. I used 110lb white index paper
Grafix Clear Craft Plastic – I used Grafix .007 craft plastic
Confetti or sequins – I used pop! Glitter Shakers
1/4″ Ribbon
Cricut cutting machine – Cricut Explore, Cricut Maker or Cricut Joy
Cricut tools, standard cutting mat and brayer
Cricut Design Space File – Please note my file uses characters from Cricut Design Space which are not included in the Cricut Access subscription since they are licensed characters. You will need to purchase each character file separately. If you have a Cricut Access subscription, you will receive a discount on the images!

Using the Cricut Design Space File

Start by opening my Cricut Design Space file. The file includes the pieces you will need to make six ornaments featuring the characters Moana, Spiderman, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, Oscar the Grouch and Hermione Granger.

Each ornament includes a base layer, five stacking layers to make space for the confetti, a clear plastic layer and the ornament cover and finial. Some ornaments include a layer of sand, snow or grass for the characters to stand on.

You can easily change out the characters to make ornaments with your favorite characters! Below I will show you the steps for adding in a new character, in this example I’m adding Grogu from Disney’s The Mandalorian. You will find so many fun charcters in Cricut Design Space that you can use in these ornaments.

Start by searching Cricut images for a character and insert it into the project. Some of the character images include lots of separate layers. For this project, you can flatten the character image so it becomes a “print then cut” file. Highlight the character, then select “flatten” in the bottom right toolbar.

Hide or delete the character you are replacing and move the new character behind the ornament cover. Resize the character until you like how it looks behind the cover.

The last step is to adjust the colors of the ornament cover and base to match your new character! You can also decide if you want the character standing on something and adjust the color of that as well. I made most of my characters stand on something. For example Moana is standing on sand and Hermione on snow. I deleted that layer for Spiderman since he is hanging from the top of the ornament. (Note on the Spiderman image I used – both the front and back of him printed, I just used the front and cut away the other half.)

The ornament is ready to be cut! The characters will be cut using Cricut’s “Print then Cut” feature. They will first be sent to your printer and then cut out by the machine. I chose to print on 110lb white index cardstock but printing on photo paper would also look really nice.

Take a look at your mats prior to cutting. Cricut will just place four of the stacking layers on one 12″ x 12″ mat, but you can actually fit six. I was using paper that was 8.5″ x 11″ for these layers, but if you are using 12″ x 12″ paper I’d recommend taking the time to move the layers around until six are on one page. The same applies for the craft plastic layers.

Assembling the Ornaments

Step One: Cut out all of the pieces using a cutting machine.

Step Two: Decorate the base of the ornament. Use adhesive like glue to attach the character to the ornament base. I first added a layer of sand for the Moana character to stand on.

Step Three: Adhere the stacking layers together. I stacked five layers of paper together. This was enough to allow the small confetti I was using to move around. For larger sequins, like I used in my Oscar the Grouch ornament, I needed extra stacking layers and used a total of 7. The amount depends on how large your confetti is.

Adhere the stacking layers to the ornament base and let it dry completely. Place them under a stack of books to make sure they dry flat and do not warp.

Step Four: Add the confetti and cover the shaker ornament. Add confetti in the center of the ornament. It is really important for the ornament is dry from Step Three before adding the confetti. If the glue is still wet, the confetti will stick to it.

Carefully adhere the craft plastic layer to the top of the ornament, followed by the ornament cover and finial. Try not to move the ornament too much while the glue is still wet so the confetti stays in the center while it drys.

Step Six: Add a ribbon hanging loop. The ornaments are finished! They turned out so cute and are fun to shake!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! These ornaments really can be customized to feature so many different characters that kids love. From princesses to super heroes, Cricut has a lot of fun characters to choose from!